How much fertilizer for a food plot
The honest answer is: it depends on the blend and the crop. The most common food-plot pattern is ~300 lbs/acre of a balanced blend (19-19-19 or 13-13-13) at planting, followed by a nitrogen top-dress on brassicas and cereal grains a month or so later. Legume plots skip the nitrogen because clover, beans, and peas fix it from the air.
The numbers on the bag (e.g. 19-19-19) are percentages of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). A 50 lb bag of 19-19-19 contains 9.5 lbs of each. The calculator above shows the actual N-P-K you'll apply at your chosen rate.
Common food plot fertilizer blends
| Blend | Typical rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 19-19-19 | 300 lbs/ac | The standard food-plot blend. Good first pick for brassicas, mixed plots, and most cereal grains. |
| 13-13-13 | 350 lbs/ac | Lower analysis means cheaper per bag but you need more lbs to deliver the same nutrients. |
| 10-10-10 | 250 lbs/ac | General-purpose. Common for clover plots and lighter maintenance feeds. |
| 5-10-15 | 300 lbs/ac | Low-N starter for clovers and legumes. Heavy on phosphorus and potash for root and stand development. |
| 0-20-20 | 250 lbs/ac | For pure legume plots (clover, soybeans, peas, lablab) that fix their own nitrogen. |
| 34-0-0 | 125 lbs/ac | Ammonium-nitrate-type N to top-dress brassicas and cereal grains 4–6 weeks after planting. |
| 46-0-0 | 100 lbs/ac | Urea, the highest-N common option. Apply before rain to avoid volatilization loss. |
Match the blend to the crop
Legumes (clover, soybeans, cowpeas, lablab, alfalfa, Austrian winter peas) make their own nitrogen — feed them phosphorus and potassium only. Use 0-20-20 or 5-10-15 at planting.
Brassicas (turnips, radish, rape, kale, blends) and cereal grains (rye, wheat, oats, triticale) are heavy nitrogen feeders. Start with a balanced blend at planting (19-19-19 or 13-13-13), then top-dress with 34-0-0 or urea (46-0-0) four to six weeks later.
Mixed plots (clover + chicory, grain + brassica blends) usually take a moderate balanced blend like 19-19-19 at 250–300 lbs/acre.
When and how to apply
Broadcast at planting and lightly incorporate, or top-dress just before a rain so the fertilizer dissolves into the root zone. Urea (46-0-0) is especially sensitive — apply within a few days of rain to avoid nitrogen volatilizing back into the air. Never lime and fertilize at the same time on the same pass; lime should go down months before fertilizer so the pH shift happens first.
FAQ
- How much fertilizer do you put on a food plot?
- It depends on the blend and crop. The most common food-plot rule of thumb is ~300 lbs/acre of a balanced blend like 19-19-19 at planting, with a follow-up nitrogen top-dress (about 100–150 lbs/acre of 34-0-0) on brassicas and cereal grains 4–6 weeks after planting. Pure legume plots (clover, soybeans) skip nitrogen and use 200–300 lbs/acre of 0-20-20 instead. A soil test fine-tunes these numbers.
- What N-P-K should I use for a deer food plot?
- A balanced blend (10-10-10, 13-13-13, or 19-19-19) is the all-purpose choice for mixed plots. Use a low- or no-nitrogen blend (5-10-15 or 0-20-20) for legumes that fix their own nitrogen. Nitrogen-heavy blends (34-0-0, 46-0-0) are top-dresses, not starters.
- How many 50 lb bags of fertilizer per acre?
- At 300 lbs/acre — the typical 19-19-19 rate — that's six 50 lb bags per acre. Cut that to about five bags at 250 lbs/acre, or four at 200 lbs/acre. The calculator above does the math for any rate.
- Should I lime before fertilizing?
- Yes. Lime fixes soil pH so the plants can actually use the fertilizer you apply. In acidic soil (most untouched dirt sits around 5.0–5.8), the fertilizer gets locked up. See the soil test and lime guide for how much lime your plot needs first.