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Spring plot screen planting

Boone

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I found time this weekend to plant a screen for one of our exposed food plots. The screens we have planted in the past have made the deer more active in the plot during shooting light. This year we had some leftover corn and planted it with the millet we bought. The millet is relatively cheap and is tall enough to encourage deer to use the plot. It also germinates well using the limited amount of equipment we have available to prepare the soil. The first picture is before field prep. The second picture shows the millet in the spreader and the last is the finished product.
 

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jagermeister

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Looking good, Boone. That millet should make a nice little screen plot. How moist is the soil in that area?... Is it traditionally saturated throughout the season?

Jesse, if you see this, millet would probably grow like wildfire down in the bottom at your farm. Best of all, it's pretty cheap.
 

Boone

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Looking good, Boone. That millet should make a nice little screen plot. How moist is the soil in that area?... Is it traditionally saturated throughout the season?

Jesse, if you see this, millet would probably grow like wildfire down in the bottom at your farm. Best of all, it's pretty cheap.

Thanks. The spot we platned is well-draining as it is on a side of a hill. The millet is really cheap so it couldn't hurt to try it about anywhere. If you have a bottom area that dries out in summer, you could wait until june or July and then plant it.
 

hickslawns

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How tall does this get? Do the deer eat it or bed in it? Just curious because we need to get some privacy on one property, but we don't really want to draw them closer to the road.
 

jagermeister

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How tall does this get? Do the deer eat it or bed in it? Just curious because we need to get some privacy on one property, but we don't really want to draw them closer to the road.

Deer might eat it some when it's immature, but millet is mainly an attractant for birds, especially waterfowl (when it's planted in/near water). It can grow pretty dang thick, but only gets to be a few feet tall. I don't know if deer will bed in it or not... Most of the millet I've ever been around has been flooded, and obviously deer don't care much for laying in water.
 

hickslawns

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:smiley_blackeye::smiley_clap::smiley_crocodile:

Now now Beener. Shame on you. If we don't go with egyptian wheat we will probably go with sorgham.
 

Boone

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How tall does this get? Do the deer eat it or bed in it? Just curious because we need to get some privacy on one property, but we don't really want to draw them closer to the road.

We used the millet last year after our corn stip came up like crap due to all of the rain we had. The millet worked so well for us we decided to use it again this year. Last year it grew about 5 feet tall on average when planted in July.
We bought pearl millet this year from a local feed store, but you can find info on it here: http://www.welterseed.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=131 http://www.welterseed.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=133

We planted it at a high rate so it would get taller. It was more of a barrier than a food source or bedding area for us, but they did eat the heads off in late fall. We mowed a path through it in spots to guide the deer where we wanted them to go.

I have never tried egyptian wheat, but I bet it would work similarly. Do you have any pictures of the prior wheat you planted?
 

Boone

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Is there anyway to keep turkeys from eating seeds? Do you just throw seeds on top or do you cover seeds with dirt

We have a low buget operation, so after discing the corn in, we broadcast the millet and then rode over it with atvs. :smiley_crocodile: It would be nice to have a cultipacker. The seeds are pretty small and we didn't have a problem with the turkeys last year.
 

hickslawns

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No pictures. It was recommended to me by a fellow TOOzer last fall/winter. We have not planted any of it yet.