Vet Judy

Do you have a small piece of property on which you would like to grow a whitetail deer food plot. Short on equipment? Got more time than equipment or money for tilling? Have to do small plots for hunting or photography to allow good distance ratios? Have you a piece of rented land that is a mere 40 to 50 feet wide?

On our property we have some such areas and in addition to being small they are limited to fall annual planting due to the fact that they are low spots and we usually can’t get in there until mid Mayor later. Also, the soil conditions are such that the location is best best suited to fall attractant type plots. See more on annuals at www.diydeerfoodplots.com/ at the resource page.

Usually, we have to  wait until the winter run off water retreats and find an area that kind of interfaces one of our fields and a known bedding area. Then a soil test is done. If we manage to have picked an area where soil treatments are minimal, then we consider this gold.

Usually the area is covered in poor nutritional and poor tasting grasses (See the piece on food deer love), so it doesn’t hurt my feelings to give that a full coverage of glyphosphate and a surfactant in May. This is when plant growth is really just getting accelerated and things are turning green. Since the plot is so small, we can utilize a backpack sprayer. Usually, there are two sprays required or three for some really tough locations, usually 2 to 3 weeks apart, as new greenery starts to show up.

Late July or early August we can tramp through all the dead junk there. But here is the kicker about no plow, no tillage planting. You have to get that dead thatch out of the way! So here comes the back breaking labor. Oh, well, you saved on tillage right?

Out with a weedwacker and trim the dead stuff. Can’t use a lawnmower where we are at, because just too rough in there. After that, it is manual pick up. Again, no equipment access and just too rough, so it’s pick up the stuff  by hand or rake off the plot to the bush. With a rake we just rough up the soil a little just to allow a little seed to soil contact.

Using a hand seeder, we have used whitetail Institutes No Plow for these plots. It  is nice for these tough spots. Then finally we rake after broadcasting the seed.

Just a heads up about using this approach. Saving on tillage doesn’t mean you can entirely ignore all parts of the growing process.  Make sure to soil test for best results. This mix has cereal grains, brassicas and clover which all do better on near neutral soils. It is not that you can’t put this on more acidic soils, it is just that best growth, palatability and sustainability occurs when conditions are more ideal.  The more the conditions deviate from suitable, the more likely you are to have excessive weed competition and disappointing efforts.

It is always a great idea to use products both suited for deer plots and suited to the region you are in, but unless you tend to some of the agricultural needs, you may still be disappointed. We have found that NO PLOW from whitetail institute is one of the best options our there for no till food plot plans.

I have a few other ideas up my sleeve for those of you wanting some results but are short of property, money or time. I shall keep you posted.

For more information please visit our DIY Deer Food Plots Website

            When it comes to your basic cool-season legume for deer forage, alfalfa (Medicago sativa) can’t be beat.  It is a perennial, but it can also be used as an annual in deer food plots, especially in more southern regions. 

            Alfalfa does not do well on clay soils; keep that in mind if your plot is located in such an area.  At about 19% protein and 1.35% calcium, alfalfa is especially good to supplement whitetailed diets in the spring and early summer.

            Alfalfa is a common forage crop used to make hay for cattle and sheep.  If there are alfalfa fields located at or near your hunting ground, be sure to factor that into your food plot design.  Deer that are used to grazing alfalfa elsewhere may not be as tempted to try it in a new planting.

            There are other legumes that are often recommended for deer food plots.  A number of these are warm-season annuals: hairy indigo, partridge pea, cowpea and deer vetch (also known as Aeschonomyne).  Of these warm-season annuals, cowpea can have good early-season forage potential for deer in some regions.  A cool-season annual, Austrian winter pea, has also performed well in more southern regions.

            For a fall forage legume in my part of the world, though, you almost have to go with a cool-season annual like vetch (Vicia) or birdsfoot trefoil.  These can be important legume forage sources that can complement the grasses and grains in your food plot’s design.  Don’t forget to properly inoculate the seed before planting.

            And never plant a legume without taking a look at soybeans, which I’ll deal with in the next blog.

            You don’t have to go out and purchase a complete line of farm machinery to establish your deer food plots.  But if I had to choose one piece of equipment to acquire, assuming that I already had some sort of broadcast spreader that could spread fertilizer and many seeds, it would be a disk.

            A disk, or harrow, can serve as both your primary and secondary tillage tool for a one-half to one-acre food plot.  Unless you’re working in extremely compacted soils, tillage from a disk should be enough to prepare an adequate seedbed for the grasses, grains, and legumes that make the best of a deer food plot.

            Although they won’t win any heavy-duty equipment awards, there are disk options out there for small lawn-type tractors and even ATVs.  The problem with these for deer food plot establishment is that it normally takes the weight of a 6-8 foot (width) disk to cut through existing sod.

            Here again, it may not be practical for you to purchase a whole six foot disk—especially if you’re only going to be using it for an acre or two per year.  Some farmers or landowners can be hired to perform disking services.  Better yet, rent the equipment and perform the initial disking by yourself.  Depending on the type of disk, you’ll need a 20-40 horsepower tractor to comfortably pull a six foot disk.

            Owning your own disk can also be of great benefit in managing your ground for deer and other wildlife.  “Strip disking” is the practice of disking strips at least 10-15 wide that follow the contour of the ground.  This disturbs the ground and breaks up the grass mat or sod, allowing other plant species to grow or be planted.  It’s a common wildlife management practice, especially for game birds like quail. 

            If your new deer food plot site lacks some surrounding cover, strip disking could help create the kind of edge that would have greater appeal to deer.  Disturbing the ground on one side of the plot, especially in former pasture or hay ground, can give the native plants and shrubs a better chance to begin.  And that can be more inviting to the native whitetails, who may take some time to acclimate to your new food plot.

            Okay, I have a confession: besides the broadcast seeder and your disk, you really should also have some sort of cultipacker to help you plant your deer food plot.  And no—this is not just another excuse to purchase another piece of heavy equipment.

            If you’re unfamiliar with farming equipment, a cultipacker is a type of heavy roller that is used to go over tilled ground where a broadcast seeder has sown seed.  “Cultipacking” pushes the seeds into the soil, while also breaking up any small clods or clumps of soil that the disk might have missed.  The end result of cultipacking is increasing the amount of seed-to-soil contact.  Better seed-to-soil contact results in better germination, resulting in a better deer food plot stand and a better return on your investment.

            Okay, so you probably don’t need to go buy a cultipacker to seed an acre or two of deer food plots.  But you should consider borrowing one from a neighbor, or renting one from a local farm or landscape store, to help make sure that your hard work in seeding the food plot results in a crop.

            Of course, if you’re direct seeding crops like wheat and soybeans, the grain drill or planter puts the seed well into the soil, where seed to soil contact isn’t a problem.  And if you don’t have access to a cultipacker, there are all sorts of harrows and drags that you can drag along disked ground to help prepare a finer seedbed.

            But if you’re going to go to the trouble of properly preparing a deer food plot, especially for those plots that are heavily seeded with grasses, don’t forget the cultipacker.

You hear a lot about “legumes,” like clover and alfalfa, in the discussion of deer food plots.  In this blog, I will explain why legumes are so important to deer and why inoculating legumes is critical in planting deer food plots.

Legumes

            Legumes are more than just some of the tastiest forages available to deer and other wildlife.  They also contain high levels of protein—especially when compared to other grasses.

            Legumes are generally divided up into a half dozen groups.   These include:

            Alfalfa

            Birdsfoot trefoil

            Clovers

            Crownvetch

            Peas

            Soybean

            Some of these crops (alfalfa, trefoil, vetch, and clovers) are grown for their forage.  Others, like peas and soybeans, contain protein-rich grain.  All these groups will be recognized by the deer food plot manager as being part of successful deer food plots in different regions.

Rhizobia

            Legumes are unique plants because they have the ability to form a symbiotic relationship with a kind of soil bacteria contained in the genus Rhizobia.  Rhizobia bacteria can take, or “fix” nitrogen out of the air contained in the soil and make it available to the plant growing in the soil.

            Rhizobia bacteria occur naturally in fields where legumes have grown.  In places where legumes haven’t been grown (your deer food plot site, perhaps?), rhizobia need to be added to the soil.  This is done by a process called “inoculating.”  Inoculating ensures that rhizobia bacteria are present, providing more available nitrogen for the legumes and the other plants in your plot.

Tips for Using Legume Inoculants

            Inoculating legume seed is very simple.  It involves coating the seeds with a rhizobium inoculant, a usually a powder or dust containing the essential bacteria.  This inoculant should be available at a minimal cost from wherever you purchase your legume seed.

ü  Be sure that you’re using an inoculant containing the proper strain of bacteria for your crop.  For example, alfalfa and sweet clovers prefer a different strain of Rhizobia than soybeans.  This should be provided in the inoculant labeling information.

ü  If you purchase the inoculant before you intend to use it, be sure to store it at the recommended temperatures.  The Rhizobia prefer certain temperature ranges to flourish.

ü  Inoculant can come in powder or dust or liquids.  For some legumes, “pre-inoculated” seed is even available.  Simply be sure to follow the instructions for using the inoculant suited to your crop.

            Inoculating legumes is a proven, crucial practice to improving legume yields and providing nitrogen to crops grown in that space for years to come.  Don’t skip this essential step when establishing your deer food plot.

Interested in successful deer food plots? Step by step instructions that are simple to use in: Deer Food Plots Made Easy.