Vet Judy

I frequently get questions about what seed to use in my food plots and immediately after that I get questions about food plot failures. I think it is no accident that weed control is hardly ever talked about thoroughly and most people spend a lot of time on the “right seed”, high fertilizer rates and somehow just don’t manage to deal with the weed problem.

The effect of weeds can be significant and if I was to have one priority in getting a productive food plot it would be dealing properly with the weeds. Assuming you have a good location for your food plot and you have picked a plant combination that works in your soil type, then loss in yields are often due to poor weed efforts.

Effects of Weeds in deer food Plots:

Competition for nutrients, light and water

Chemical impact some weed have on other plants

Competition decreases yields of prefered plants

Can alter palatability and deer can avoid the plot because weeds make it bitter

Steps to dealing with weeds

1. Prevent them form establishing

                Control prior to seed set: We spend a lot of time pretreating and tilling the land in combination with controlled burning(if it can be done safely) to get the best weed control possible before planting.

2. Don’t bring them in

               This is often overlooked. Consider how weeds are spread: wind, water, animals,  human movement, equipment, etc.  Don’t use contaminated seed (use only plant certified crop seed) which means it is certified to be free of weeds.  Use clean equipment,  don’t drag vegetative parts of perennial weeds around as it spreads weeds.

3. Understand the enviroment

     Different enviroments promote different weeds. Tilled row crops discourage perennials and encourage annuals. Established perennial crops like alfalfa may out compete annual weeds but perennials may get going because of lack of tillage.

Stay tuned for next in the series. I will discuss annual, biennial and perennial weeds that are likely a concern in your whitetail food plot.

If you are interested in getting started with a food plot, but aren’t sure where to start: download the first chapter in my ebook “deer food Plots Made Easy” and read all about food plot Design Strategies.

http://www.diydeerfoodplots.com/index.html

If you are looking for more detailed information on specific weed control, I have found this website is helpful. It is Washington State University Extension. Check in the agriculture section under plants, then weed control. There are specific publications that may be helpful to you and online courses in weed identification also:)

http://extprograms.wsu.edu/agriculture/plants/weed/Pages/default.aspx