Vet Judy

            Because we’ve all been trained to keep fire out of forests, prescribed burning can be a controversial topic.  But well-managed “burns” are one of the professional wildlife manager’s best tools in the control of habitat.  They might also be an option for you in planning for your deer food plot.

            Like you already know, I’m a vet.  So let me issue a little disclaimer here that, if your local regulations allow you to choose to use prescribed burning, be sure to notify the appropriate local authorities.  If you’ve never performed any large scale burning for your food plots before, it’s also a good idea to get a land management professional to help you devise a plan.

            A plan is essential for a prescribed burn, and it’s crucial to the success of your food plot (or other land management goal) that you have an adequate goal in mind for the burn and a plan that helps you meet that goal. 

            A quick search of the Internet reveals other benefits to prescribed burning.  Burning can help reduce invasive trees and shrubs, manage grassland, and remove excessive leaf cover.  It can also help in diversifying the species on your ground and aid in controlling some kinds of plant diseases.

            For deer food plot establishment, especially a design that is seeking to intersperse natives with supplemental plantings, burning offers another benefit.  There are some native legumes and grasses that are beneficial to deer where the seed actually benefits from the seed coat being burned (called scarification).  Burning can help “open up” these seeds for better germination.

            Always, always do any kind of open burning under appropriate weather conditions and with the proper authorities notified.

            Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a cool-season annual grass.  In the Midwestern U.S., it is usually seeded in the fall for early to mid-summer grain production.  As you move further north, it is more common to find wheat planted in the spring and harvested in the late summer or early fall.

            Wheat’s coldhardiness makes it a great choice for fall deer food plot plantings.  It is also a fairly easy crop to seed in large fields to improve the forage options during the early spring.  To improve your wheat stand, consider adding about 75 pounds of urea or ammonium nitrate per acre in the early spring.

            But wheat probably performs best as part of a food plots rotation in larger fields.  It may be seeded in the fall for fall and winter forage; then red or ladino clover can be “frost seeded” into the wheat field in the late winter or early spring.  The natural freezing and thawing of the ground works the clover seed into the ground.  The wheat may then be harvested for grain or straw, and the clover will be established in the field for summer forage.

            Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) should not be confused with wheat.  Its purpose in a deer plot planting is to provide a green forage and cover in the early season, along with grain in the fall.  You’ll find a variety of opinions on the use of buckwheat in deer food plots.  I’m not persuaded that deer will choose buckwheat over other plants in our setting, but this may be due to my northern location.

 For more annual deer plot forage choices check out the article:  http://www.diydeerfoodplots.com/articles/annual-forages.html

            Oats (Avena) seeded for fall forage in well-drained ground is one of my favorite choices for deer plots.  “Forage oats” seem to be very good deer attractant on our farm.  I think this is because oats tend to remain greener longer into the winter—I’ve even seen deer seek out oats from underneath snowcover.

            Either winter or spring oat varieties can be utilized for winter and fall forage.  (Spring oats have been developed to produce grain when planted in the spring).  Spring oats can be planted for fall forage from late July to early September, depending on your region and climate.  For forage, plant winter oat varieties about two weeks later than spring oat varieties.  In a field devoted solely to oats, the seeding rate will be about 100 pounds per acre.

            Oats are also a proven crop to help establish grass and legume seedings.  You might consider sowing oats along with alfalfa, a strategy used often by American farmers to help establish alfalfa plantings.

            Oats may also be a crop that can be used if you’re establishing food plot plantings on former pasture ground, especially in climates south of where I live.  Frost seeding forage oats into closely-grazed pasture ground in the late winter can result in suitable spring forage for wildlife in the early spring.  You could then come in during the later spring or summer and begin preparing the ground for your fall deer plot.

For more information on plant selection consider reading  http://www.diydeerfoodplots.com/articles/annual-forages.html 

The number 1 thing you can do to ensure the success of your food plots is to match your seed to your soil.

Why: because different plants have different root structures, moisture needs, pH requirements and sensitivities, as well as fertility needs.

There are generally three main types of soil: Clay, Sandy, and Loam. Loam is further divided into sandy loam, silt loam and clay loam.

In general clay is fine particles, holds moisture well, but doesn’t drain good. Sandy soil is the hardest to deal with because it doesn’t hold nutrients, organic matter or treatments for long. Loam or variations are the best to deal with and are generally the darkest rich dark soil. It is the highest in organic matter.

How do you determine your soil type? Use the ball test. This is pretty simple stuff, but you would be surprised how easy it is to go wrong right at this stage. Take a wad of soil, put in your fist, squeeze to make a ball.

Sandy soil will not make a ball, doesn’t matter what you do. Think the beach…

Loam balls easily, little like flour talc when dry.

Sandy loam would make a ball, but it wouldn’t hold its shape.

Clay Loam: makes a hard ball and if you smash it flat, it holds its new shape.

Here are some hints and choices from the things I like the best.

Clay Soil Forages for your deer plots:

Use plants with shallow creeping roots such as ladino clover, alsike clover, certain vetches, and ryegrass. Don’t blend your perennial and annual clovers together either!

Loam Soil Forages for your deer plots:

            Sandy Loam: alfalfa, brassicas, oats, wheat, chicory

            Loam Clay or Silt: doesn’t drain as well so change to clover, corn, beans

Sandy Soils recommendations for your food plot:

In general I recommend to stick with annuals such as wheat (arid varieties), chicory(ok in dryer places), and sometimes brassicas if not too sandy and don’t plant too early.

If you want to try perennials then I suggest Durango clover, small burnett, and chicory (perennial variety).

For more articles and free resources on deer plots, feel free to visit my other website: www.diydeerfoodplots.com

Fawn in clover stand above:

Clovers are where the deer plots craze started, and, for good reason.  Over time however, mixes and forages have changed, advanced and been created to provide specific deer plots needs and  functions. 

While fall deer attractants can provide a better hunting resource, and winter food availability in northern regions, clovers provide the optimum spring health development food source.  That is why they are an integral part of deer habitat management in most areas.

When considering a clover planting, you should plant as a blend.  The basic clovers are red, white and alsike.  While almost any clover will do well in the spring, a well-blended plot should perform well year-round under all but the most extreme conditions.  I have found a simple mix of three pounds per acre of each red clover, alsike and Ladino, a white clover, has worked well for me. 

Another reason you should consider clover in your food plot planting program, is clovers fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. 

Simply put, as the clover planting begins to deteriorate and weeds begin to take over your stand and you should consider rotating back into annual forages, such as chicory or rapeseed for a year or two. 

These Annual Forages need nitrogen in order to grow and reach their maximum potential.  The clover, once tilled under, will provide some of that nitrogen need in the soil, thus reducing your investment necessary for commercial fertilizer. 

clover is also easy to seed.  Just be sure the weeds are gone.  The site prep starts before planting.  If the site is following a year or two of Annual Forage, you would simply include a spraying of emerging weeds, usually this is about the middle of May, unless you are located far to the south.  A tillage pass should follow that application to bury any dead plant residue.  If more weeds emerge, a second spraying may be in order just prior to seeding. 

You could conduct a light tillage just before you put in your food plot seed.  I try and plant my clover paddocks the last week of May or 1^st week in June.  The seed can then be broadcasted, no need for a drill, and then just run a drag over it when you’re done seeding.