Turkey Gold

[Ricochet]

Well, I'm finally going to get some chufa in the ground this Saturday at my hunt club.  I hope it works out and the turkeys appreciate it.  I believe I'm the first member to ever plant food plots solely for turkeys there.  Hopefully the hogs will leave it alone - if not, I'll be looking to shot them over it!  

I'll also try to update this thread with some pics of the chufa plots, and maybe some trailcam pics in a few months as well when they start digging it up.

[ElkTurkMan]

Look forward to the Pics JP.  I hope you can keep the hogs out.  I hate them good for nothing things.

[harvester]

How is it coming up? Is the hogs staying out of it?

[Ricochet]

Here are photos of my 3 chufa food plots in the SC lowcountry.  We finally planted them on Saturday (we need some rain) and I haven't check yet to see if the hogs are leaving them alone.  I'll get out there in the next few days to check and maybe setup some trailcams.  These plots are not the ideal size (small), so they are an experiment of sorts and I'm keeping my fingers crossed - it may just determine where the best place on the hunt club is for chufa i.e. the least hog presents.  Then I might just do one big one next year, depending on the results...we shall see.    If the hogs find them - I will setup a blind and blast them!  

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[Ricochet]

Well, we finally got the rain we needed this week and I can see little chufa sprouts in all three food plots now!    There is some possible hog sign in that wooded spot, and I'm going to put a trailcam out there soon to find out for sure.

[mfd1027]

I'm following along JP so keep  reporting and take a pic. once in a while.   

[gob09]

I'm following along JP so keep  reporting and take a pic. once in a while.   

heck yeah please keep reporting what part of the country are you in what kind of soil is the plots in

[Ricochet]

Well, the hogs hit 1 of my chufa plots hard and they found the plot we thought they were going to hit hard.  So, the one they hit hard was 75% destroyed.  The one in the woods had about 20% damage, but I think I was able to salvage most of the uprooted chufa plants since they were at least 10 inches tall and doing well...it appears the hogs had hit there that morning or the previous night.  The 3rd plot is doing well with no hog sign but has too many weeds in it already.  

I wish I had a tractor and the equipment to do it myself, so I could've picked better spots and sprayed for weeds before disc'ing and planting it all.  However, I knew this was a gamble going in and I'm taking notes on where and what (clover and/or chicory) to plant for next year.

I'm going to setup a blind at the wooded plot this week, and shot some hogs from it!  

Here are some photos...#1 = 3rd plot, #2 = 3rd plot close up of chufa, #3 = wooded plot; I was disgusted after seeing the destroyed plot and I didn't take any photos of it.  

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[Ricochet]

I'm following along JP so keep  reporting and take a pic. once in a while.   

heck yeah please keep reporting what part of the country are you in what kind of soil is the plots in

I'm in the South Carolina lowcountry near Charleston and the soil is loamy, which is the best type of soil for chufa but it will grow in just about anything (I know it works in GA clay type soil as well).

[Ricochet]

The woods plot (surprisingly) is my best plot of the 3 - the chufa looks real good there.  The other good plot isn't doing as good - apparently the soil is not the best there.   

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[gob09]

Ricochet,
cant really tell and i dont have a lot of knowledge about chufa i cant even say ive ever seen it in person but with all  that. i do however have extensive experence with yellow and purple nutsedge .   thats exactly what that looks like in the pics you posted if it is nutsegde you need a plan your local extenstion agent will be able to identify nutsedge in about 2 sec.
this was in june how did the food plots do

[gob09]

I'm sorry,
i looked up photos and you sir are correct. like i said before i have extensive experience in turf but not so much in food plots. there are some similarity but huge differences  between the two.
in my experience with turf and fescue especially if you spray out a weed grass with roundup that product has to be watered out after the undesirable plants have turned color and died. and not be planted for atleast 45 days the round up is somewhat soil active the label says its not but it is
i assume that's where the turning of the ground comes in but if its  anything like nutsedge you can spray roundup directly on the plant and it wont kill it might turn color a little but it will come right back

[Ricochet]

Yep, it's a nut sedge type of plant.  The woods plot did well, but I didn't do enough prep work so weeds came in hard in August.  The turkeys found it, so it wasn't a total waste of effort. I didn't have the equipment to to the prep work properly - unfortunately.  Some day I will have my own tractor, implements and sprayer to the job right.  I had to rely on my hunt club members, and they aren't familiar with chufa nor do they do proper prep work (as listed here).  I might just haul my grandpa's tractor over from GA and do it myself this year.

[gob09]

awe heck, man i gonna transplant some nut sedge. i have it in  just about every lawn we have if it is the same stuff i'm thinking about .round up wont kill it. it will turn it colors but it wont kill it and it comes back year after year .very haerty stuff
john for weed control i would use 2-4-d ester with a sticker oil early in the season if you will PM me when you get close to doing it i can give you more info the 2-4-d will kill out broad leaf weeds clover dandylions ect.

[joshb311]

Do the deer forage on chufa as well?