For almost two decades I've been planting food plots on land I own near Brainerd. This has always been my attempt to attract deer and other wildlife to the property. My efforts have been successful and very gratifying.
During these years I've written about my wildlife farming practices and fielded many questions from those with similar interests. I must confess, I've been a hypocrite at times when answering these queries.
"Before you do any planting, be sure to get your soil tested," I tell prospective food plotters.
Two years ago, my food plots failed to yield their usual lush plants. I wondered why. Then I realized it had been four years since I last tested the soil in my various food plots. "Do as I say, not as I do," I thought to myself as I recalled the soil test advice I had given others.
I kicked off the growing season by ordering six soil test kits from the Whitetail Institute of North America. The kits cost only $14 apiece, with each kit containing a soil container, a submission form and a preaddressed return envelope. I followed the simple instructions included with the kits and sent them off.
A few days later the results arrived via e-mail.
The results were a rude awakening for me.
I had been assuming my poor crop production was attributable to acidic soil. In other words, I thought I would need to add lime to raise the pH of the soil. But the soil tests showed that only two of the six plots had a low pH. Had I randomly applied lime to all plots, as initially planned, I would have wasted time and money and risked leaving the soil too alkaline in a couple plots.
