Vet Judy

            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.

            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.

Birdsfoot trefoil is a popular legume crop in many deer food plot plantings.

Each year, the University of Minnesota conducts field trials to evaluate different varieties of birdsfoot trefoil. Results from last season (2008) were released this past January and are available here (www.maes.umn.edu/09varietaltrials/birdsfoot.pdf).

For northern climates, winterhardiness is critical for a legume like birdsfoot trefoil. Winter injury can vary greatly between varieties.

The tests at Minnesota evaluated varieties for winter injury in 2004, and found no injury in the “Dawn,” “Georgia,” “Norcen” and “Nueltin” varieties. Minimal winter injury was found in the Viking and Roseau varieties in the 2004 test.

The highest yielding variety at the Grand Rapids, MN, test location in 2008 Minnesota trials was a variety called Witt. However, a winterhardy rating for Witt was not listed in the report. The “Dawn” variety of birdsfoot trefoil was the second highest yielding, and has exhibited good winterhardiness.

For the past three years, Minnesota’s reports have recommended the “Norcen” variety of birdsfoot trefoil as an ideal, winterhardy variety performing well in grazing trials.

These test results from Minnesota illustrate the sound information that is available to evaluate varieties for deer food plot plantings. One of the most common mistakes made in deer food plots is planting varieties better suited to another growing zone. As seen by the birdsfoot trefoil test, some varieties that yield very well in both southern and northern zones may not have the winterhardiness needed for the kind of climate and conditions in northern regions.

Always be sure to verify that the crop varieties you are planting in your deer food plot are suitable to your climate.

For All The ABC’s of deer food Plots check out the resources at www.diydeerfoodplots.com

Should you need information on Soybeans, forage oats, rapeseed, chicory and ryegrass, be sure to read the free article.