You can plant immediately after applying Roundup. The reason is that Roundup kills anything
that is green and growing. Seeds are not at that stage yet.
I have a new informational site starting on Jan 1st….in a few days.
It will cover, in detail, everything you ever wanted to know about food plots and deer habitat.
Here’s the link: http://WhitetailAmbushSecrets.com/squeeze-page

Thanks Mike

In other words, the only choice is to kill those weeds. The good news is that controlling them is pretty easy, as long as you use the right herbicide at the right time. Another good reason to have small plots.

There are countless brands on the market, and the names alone can be confusing but there are really just three classes, or types, that are important to food-plot users. These include non-selective herbicides, such as Round Up, which kill all plant growth; herbicides that kill only grasses; and those that work on broadleaf plants. Grass-specific herbicides kill a variety of grasses such as fescue, wiregrass and Johnson grass, but they also kill beneficial grasses such as wheat and rye.

Broadleaf herbicides, on the other hand, kill just about everything except grasses, while some, including Whitetail Institute’s Slay, kill a variety of broadleafs except clover and alfalfa. The best advice, of course, is to read the product’s label before you use it to make sure you’re using the right product for the plants you have.

You could mow certain plants, especially clover, in the late spring and again in the fall. Mowing not only stimulates new growth, which can result in thicker stands of clover, but it will remove the tops of weeds, preventing most of them from forming seed heads.

If the food plot is new, it’s important to wait until the planted growth is 4 to 6 inches high before mowing or spraying is begun, even if the weed growth overtakes the plot plants, says Trudeau. When it reaches that height, the planting is strong enough to handle a dose of herbicide.

Since some plants don’t start growing until mid- or even late spring, you’ll likely be faced with another rash of weed growth after that first herbicide application. Although some herbicides are residual, meaning they remain in the soil and work on plants that haven’t even started to grow yet, others, such as grass-specific herbicides, are not. You’ll need to reapply them a couple of times a year as new grasses sprout.

When you spray or mow is just as important as what you use and how you use it. The best time to use any herbicide is in the spring, right after unwanted plants start growing again. That’s usually when daytime temperatures average around 60 degrees.

Spraying when the plants are in their most active growth stage will ensure that they’ll absorb the herbicide. A big mistake I see is when people spray their food plots in the summer, that can put a lot of stress on the plants you want to save and it might not have much effect on the plants you want to kill. Many plants essentially go dormant in the summer and don’t start growing again until fall.

It’s a bad idea to mow in the summer. Just as spraying herbicides can stress clover and other food-plot plants, cutting them during the extreme heat of July and August can also shock the plants. If weed growth is heavy and those weeds are showing signs of seeding, set the mower above the desirable plants and cut only the tops of the weeds, or use a weed whacker string trimmer. Ideally, however, wait until fall when rain and cooler weather gives all the plants a quick burst of new growth.

You can spray again or you can mow, but it has to be early enough in the fall that the plants are still growing. If you wait too long, the plants will be in their winter dormancy phase and herbicides won’t have much of an effect.

Ideal temps for spraying is between 45-85 degrees.

I started my plot 2 weeks ago and I’m noticing some weed/grass competition. What can I do, other than weed by hand, to get rid of the bad stuff and maintain the good stuff (I planted Evolved Harvest ProGraze – http://store.evolved.com/home/products/harvest/perennials/prograze.aspx)

Thanks!