Food Plot Preparation
Filed under: Ask Grant, Herbicide
Dear Grant,
I’m at the beginning stages of learning food plot preparation, currently in Michigan. I have a small area at the back of my rural 5 acres which joins up with a small mixed hardwoods stand as well as several farm fields. I’ll be making about a 3/4 to 1 acre food plot and would like to know what the proper way is to prep the ground. My plan at this point is to break (rototill or disk) the ground to incorporate and kill off the existing grass and weeds that I have kept mowed to normal lawn length. Then I am going to spray the emerging weeds in late April with a 41% Glyphosate herbicide. After the recommended 2 week wait for the product to be absorbed I will plant, either by broadcast or Plotmaster 400, a combination seed plot blend called Bird & Buck gourmet produced by Dr. Paul Morrow. Please let me know what you think of my plan and if there is anything you would do differently.
Thanks,
Gerald
Gerald,
Your plan sounds fine! I always add ammonia sulfate and surfactant to Glyphosate (if it’s not included in the brand I purchased). The ammonia sulfate is readily taken up by most plants. This serves to improve the uptake of the Glyphosate.
The function of a surfactant (an abbreviation for “surface active reagent”) is to spread the spray droplet evenly over the leaf surface, help it to adhere to the leaf, and increase penetration of the herbicide into the waxy cuticle that covers the leaf surface. Just applying water to a waxy leaf surface would cause the spray droplet to bead up, so surfactants greatly facilitates spray coverage and aids in enhancing herbicide uptake (and of course the weed dies much better as well!).
Growing Deer together,
Grant
