About J. Wayne Fears

Why are my food plots yellow and not green like my neighbors? I have the same type of soil as my neighbor and I planted the seeds you recommended. My neighbor also kills more and better deer than I do. What’s going on?”

Not only is this one of the most frequent questions I get from Whitetails Unlimited readers but, as a food plot consultant, it is one the most frequent questions I get everywhere.

I usually start out answering the question with a question: “Did you use a soil test to determine if you needed to lime the plot, and determine the kind/amount of fertilizer you need to apply to the plot?” More often than not they come back with, “What is a soil test?” Then they tell me that when they planted their food plots they went to Wal-Mart and bought a few sacks of 10-10-10 fertilizer and put some on each plot. Sometimes I am told that they saved money and didn’t fertilize the plot at all because the dark soil looked fertile.

These are the wrong answers, and the reason many food plots fail to produce a healthy crop that will attract deer.

Liming Makes a Big Difference

A food plot such as this one, which has been limed and fertilized following instructions from a soil test lab report, will offer deer a maximum of tasty and nutritious food. Deer will seek it out!

Liming food plots, where necessary, is an affordable way to provide the elements necessary for optimum growth and nutrition of plants, which in turn benefits the deer that eat the plants. The need for lime, and if so, how much, is determined with a soil test that measures the concentration of hydrogen ions in the soil solution. This numerical measurement is called the pH of the soil. The pH range of a soil solution indicates whether it is acid, neutral, or alkaline.

The best way to determine the pH of a soil is to get a soil test. The laboratory analysis of your soil sample will tell you how much lime, if any, needs to be applied to the food plot. Also it will tell you how much of what mix of fertilizer the crop needs. If lime is needed, the soil analysis will tell you just how much you will need to apply so that you don’t create additional problems by having soil that is too alkaline.

Knowing the pH of a specific area of soil is vital to food plot production and the proper fertilization of foods growing in a deer habitat. A pH of 7.0 is neutral (neither acidic nor alkaline), while a soil pH below 7.0, such as 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, or 6.5 is acidic. Above the neutral measurement of 7.0, such as 7.5, 8.0, 8.5 and 9.0, is alkaline. Most deer forage crops grow best at pH values that are slightly acidic, between 5.8 and 6.5. Adjusting soil pH with lime within this range maximizes growth and increases yield, fertilizer efficiency, palatability of crops, and herbicide effectiveness. When a soil pH becomes too low for nutrients to be released for the food plot plants, it is necessary to apply lime to raise the pH to the desired level.

	In remote locations, an ATV can be used to spread lime.

If lime is not applied properly to a food plot that has a low pH, an inferior crop will be the result. This is one of the chief causes of yellow looking food plot crops that get little utilization by deer. Lime is inexpensive and getting a soil test and following the recommendations for lime and fertilizer is one easy way to have a food plot crop that will attract and hold deer.

Lime should be applied about four months before the crop is planted. Lime is not water soluble and should be incorporated into the soil. A soil test should be done about every three years for food plots growing perennials and every two years for annuals.

Reasonable Costs

In most areas where lime is required, a food plot may need one to three tons of lime per acre every other year, based on soil test results. Bulk lime may be purchased from many farm supply stores, delivered to your site, and spread on the food plot with a spreader truck for a range of $15 to $50 per ton, depending upon how near to lime quarries the store is located.

	Tools needed to take a soil test are a clean garden trowel, clean bucket, and soil test box or bag in which to send the soil test to the lab.

One of the first questions I often get when a food plot owner realizes he needs to lime his plots, is, “Can I go to the garden supply store and just buy lime in 40 pound bags?” The short answer is “yes,” but what if your soil test results called for two tons of lime per acre? That would be 100 bags of pelletized bagged lime to buy at about $3.50 per bag, or $350 per acre. Then you’d have to load the bags on a truck, haul it to the food plot, unload it, and spread it. A lot of work! If you can get it in bulk you will be ahead of the game and the spreader truck or tractor-pulled spreader trailer will do a much better job of spreading lime evenly.

The only time I have used bags of lime has been on very small food plots in locations so remote I couldn’t get a truck or tractor spreader to them. An ATV can usually be used in these situations.

How to Take a Soil Sample

Proper collection of soil samples is extremely important. The results of this test will tell you how to fertilize and lime the ground for proper balance of nutrients and optimum soil pH level. Time and money are saved when you apply only the amount of fertilizer needed. Over-fertilization wastes your or your hunting club’s money, and may even cause harm to plant materials. Here is how to take a soil sample:

• 	Most soil test kits include a box to put each food plot soil sample in, and a place to provide information about the sample.

  Go to your local county agent’s office (Cooperative Extension Service) and get a soil test kit. There is a Cooperative Extension Service office in most county seats. The kit will consist of soil sample bags or boxes, information sheets, and a shipping box. Do-it-yourself soil test kits may also be purchased from garden supply stores.

• Get the tools you will need to take the samples – a clean bucket and a clean garden trowel, spade, or soil probe.
• Following the information given in the soil test kit directions, go to 20 or more sites in each food plot to take samples. One pint of soil is needed for analysis.
• At each sample site in the food plot, scrape off any plant material from the soil surface. Push the trowel into the soil 3-4 inches deep.
• Discard the soil and cut a one-inch slice from the back of the hole. Place the slice in the bucket. Do this at each sample site.
• When all the samples in the food plot are collected, thoroughly mix the slices. Air dry the samples overnight on a flat surface lined with clean white paper. Pour the sample into the sample bag or box.
• Fill out the bag or box with the specified information. Be sure to give each food plot an identification number or name, and keep a record so the recommendation you receive from the soil lab can be associated with the food plot from which the sample came.
• Send the sample to the state testing lab listed in the kit instructions. A small fee, around $10, is usually charged. Although some large farm supply stores provide free soil tests to their customers.
• Your soil test results provide lime, nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K) recommendations for your particular food plot plant varieties.

Follow the recommendations to the letter. If you have any questions about soil testing, ask your county agent. Their service is free, and it can help you have outstanding food plots.

Deer know the difference between “cheap hamburger” and “prime steak.” A food plot planted following the recommendations of a current soil test is prime steak.