Vet Judy

A client of mine recently sent me an email asking the following questions:

What do you proposed for a seeder ?  I want one that would give me  the possibility of planting anything. I have seen broadcast spreader, pendulum  spreader, drop seeder, complex all in one food plot machines.

There are probably a few others starting out in whitetail deer food plots, that have asked the same question. I thought I would post the question and the response in case it helps someone else out.

 Most simple broadcast/drop seeders all operate the same way, just a fanning action to spread it around in a radius around you. These are all fine for most of the food plot seeds you will use, most of them can be dialed using a control which depends on seeds size: most are for fertilizer lime or small grass seed and wouldn’t work for larger seeds but not because of the product itself but because the seed has to go deep (1-3 inches). (same with soybeans, awp also for the most part-some exceptions)

 The aerator seeders are generally smilar to broadcasters, except they have small discs underneath the drop spout that put a little trail in the soil where the seed goes. The idea here is that the seed would theoretically be in contact with the soil more precisely. Most plots have to have a properly prepared seedbed anyway and this offers no advantage to just broadcasting and then dragging after or in some cases you don’t even need to drag. If they had a little roller or drag behind them might be ok, but have to watch seed doesn’t get too deep either. (usually no deeper than 1/4 to 1/2 inch for most things)

 The idea behind the pendulum spreader is “precision” which would be more important for orchards and so forth than for food plots. It is an expense I think you could pass on. The big selling feature here is less edge concentration and overlap and ability to apply fertilizer precisely to rows of plants etc. Not really necessary for the type of plants and planting you will be doing.

 To do corn, soybeans, awp ideally you would need a drill. Some people broadcast these too into finely tilled soil at a higher rate, expect losses so seed heavier/acre and then drag and use a roller in fine soil and hope it gets 1-3 inches deep for corn. If you buy a drill, make sure it has attachments for smaller seeds. Most are made for larger seeds and have to have an adapter with them so you can change between them.

Check out the blog www.vetjudy.com and see the videos on food plotting,  all these plots were done with atv and minimal equipment. 

As far as the all in one goes. See these two links and then see my comments too

http://www.theplotmaster.com/plotmaster.html

http://www.theplotmaster.com/index.html

 In the second link you will see the guy is on basically turf type underground. So it would likely be ok there. But in a new food plot it is not likely to be very successful on first pass: like it suggests it could be. In the article : http://www.diydeerfoodplots.com/articles/5-steps-to-successful-fall-planting-of-whitetail-food-plots.html  you will see what most food plot sites start out like, and by the time the soil is prepared properly enough for this unit to be successful, then we no longer needed an all in one. Most people in the forums  are not that impressed with them for the cost. In certain circumstances they are viable, just be cautious that it may not be as great as you would originally hope for.