Vet Judy

            Deer food plot planters are well aware that the best food plots are those that are well planned.  In this fall season, I want to take a look at the flexibility that a fall-seeded small grain like wheat may give you next spring.

As I’ve mentioned in this blog before, wheat can be a most valuable deer food plot crop for winter and fall forage, especially in larger plantings.  But it’s time to review another advantage to winter wheat plantings beyond the food value: as preparation for planting spring legumes.

You have a couple options with the 60-120 pounds of wheat that you seed per acre in a fall planting.  It may be utilized for winter forage, and then fertilized in February to provide standing grain cover and habitat the following summer.  Larger wheat plantings, of course, can also be harvested for their grain value.

But wheat seedings in food plots may be most valuable for the flexibility that they give for frost seeded legumes in the early spring.  You can overseed clover or lespedeza into a wheat planting and provide valuable legume forage in the early spring and summer months.  Other legumes may be appropriate for seeding into a wheat stand depending on your location.

Legume Lowdown: Clovers

            In an earlier blog, I touted the research reports from Minnesota concerning birdsfoot trefoil, an important legume in deer food plot plantings.  I’ve also written about how it’s critical to inoculate legumes at planting.  Now, I want to list some of the benefits of clover for deer food plots. 

            Clovers are perennials that are high-quality sources of green deer forage .  It comes in several varieties that are deer friendly.  Like alfalfa, fresh clover gives deer a browse option that combines the high protein with the high calcium of a legume.  Red clover (Trifolium pretense) is a cool-season legume that can be fall-seeded in more moderate climates or spring seeded in northern climates like mine.  It is an exceptional source of calcium at 1.70%. 

            White clover, also called ladino clover (Trifolium repens), can be more susceptible than red clover to nematodes attacking its root system.  Both red and white clovers are seeded in soils with a pH range of 6.0.  Ladino clover tends perform a little better than red clover in poorly drained soils.  It also can last a couple years longer in a deer food plot seeding than does red clover.  In larger fields, some land managers find that seeding ladino in the spring over a wheat planting is an effective management tool.

            Red and white clovers are often mixed with grass to provide a grazing option for white tailed deer.  Their status as cool-season, perennial plants make them a great source of nutrition in the spring and summer.  Food plots requiring a source of forage in the summer months should include red or white clovers in the mix.

            Don’t confuse red or white clover with another plant often marketed for deer food plots, alyceclover (Alysicarpus vaginalis).  Alyceclover is a warm-season annual plant that performs well for deer food plots further south.

            Clovers, red and white, are an important part of deer food plot plantings, especially when seeded with appropriate grasses. For more detailed information about planting clover in your food plot see my article:

http://www.diydeerfoodplots.com/articles/perennial-food-plots-clover.html

 Soybeans (Glycine max) are a legume that deer  love to consume.  In fact, you may have acquired the right to hunt near farmland where the owners or managers are hoping your efforts will help manage deer populations that have enjoyed eating soybean a little too much!

            There are two kinds of soybeans used in deer food plot plantings: soybeans used for grain production and “forage soybeans” or soybeans planted to provide green forage in the early fall.  Grain soybeans can be planted from spring through the summer for deer forage, and may especially attract deer if soybeans aren’t widely grown in your area.  Some varieties of soybeans have been bred to be resistant to Roundup™.  If you want to utilize such varieties into a new food plot, that can potentially make weed control a lot easier.

            I like soybeans best in larger food plots.  Whitetail deer will keep the soybean from maturing in plantings of an acre or less, especially if there are not other soybean options nearby.  Soybeans can be used as a source of winter feed, but soybean stems tend to lodge (bend/break) in the winter, making them less reliable than some of the other grains commonly used in deer food plots.

            Be sure to use an inoculant when planting soybeans.  Plantings in areas with nearby soybean acreage for fall and winter browsing should be made in the spring.  Soybeans planted as Annual Forage  legumes in fall food plots can be seeded between mid-August and mid-September.  Personally, though, I prefer other fall forage options.

            Some soybean varieties have been bred to be more ideally suited for forage, but many managers find that grain soybeans are suitable for late summer seeding—and in a new food plot, the “Roundup Ready” option of soybeans that can be sprayed with glyphosate may be especially attractive in the first year.

Oats (Avena) seeded for fall forage in well-drained ground is one of my favorite choices for deer food plots. “Forage oats” seem to be very attractive to the deer 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 deer plot 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 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 food plot.

For more information on annuals: see  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