Vet Judy

Have you ever wondered why everyone talking about deer food plots speaks about cool season and warm season annuals and then further complicates it with north and south, biennials and perennials.

Even more intimidating is the fact that there is no easy separation between these food plot plants in all areas. In other words, you have annuals that can act like perennials in the right areas and can be encouraged to reseed, but in other deer food plot regions reseeding is not viable. A plant may be an annual in one area a perennial somewhere else.

Seeding times may vary and are not as easy plant in the north on such and such a week and in the south do something different. Then there is the deep  south, mid south, regular south, south east, south west, the plains…..yikes. It is no wonder that things are a little confusing.

Mostly all coverage of the deer food plot plants is given in a list of plant profiles which give the technical classification. Occasionally you are lucky enough to have someone say north versus south. But that still leaves out east versus west.  Then you have acid versus basic soils, loamy versus sandy.

So you go online to find a seed mixture and notice that even though everyone is talking annual, perennial, biennial  all of these are in a mix together: now what is going on?

Here are some general concepts that may help you out:

The legume list for deer food plots and small game is the longest.

Legumes are almost always mixed with something else. AS a matter of a fact, in most cases food plots are a mixture of plants. It is important to remember that just because you want different plants in your plot thoughout the year, does not mean they have to seeded in the form of a mix.

 Here is a plot where rapeseed and chicory were planted  one in front of the other.  http://www.diydeerfoodplots.com/articles/5-steps-to-successful-fall-planting-of-whitetail-food-plots.html

My small grains, such as oats  I also do monoculture in some locations. Mixes were created for you to help ease the burden of decision making and improve your success but they are not necessary.

The “something else” that is mixed with legumes are

1.       small grains (oats,rye,wheat),

2.       annual grasses (annual ryegrass) , corn,  milo or grain sorghum

3.       brassicas (rapeseed, turnips, kale)

4.       other:  plants like buckwheat and chicory, vetches,

The legume and “other” choice for the food plots are based on

1.       season planting

2.       soil conditions(upland, bottomland, pH, moisture, wet lands, shady )

3.       when peak growth is preferred

4.       level of browse

5.       weed competition

6.       winter conditions

7.       equipment availability

8.       size of plot

9.       need for quick growth, recover crop, or targeting specific seasonal stresses.  

Although some legumes can stand acidic conditions, shady conditions, wet conditions, sandy soil etc, in general  food plot legumes do better in near neutral pH’s in well drained soil. 

Soybeans  are susceptible to overgrazing and therefore should not be used on small plots unless you have the ability to fence the areas off until they get established as deer tend to eat them immediately after germination and the weeds take the plot over.

Cool season Legumes are generally planted in the fall (Sept-Nov)

Warm season legumes are generally planted in the spring(Feb-June)

Both cool season and warm season plants are mixed together depending on the goals of the plot.

For example: buckwheat, alyceclover, American jointvetch are often combined with rape and forage turnips even though the last two are considered cool season annuals. The mix itself is considered warm season mix because it is predominantly warm season forages. It is planted early summer and will provide feed for early fall before mast is available.

Even perennials mixes often contain annual grains and rapeseed (brassica) because of the benefits of thse plants for protection nd cover while establishing alfalfa and ladino clover

Most legumes grow both north and south but sometimes perennials or biennials can become annuals depending on location and conditions.

The further north or south you go and the more severe temperatures are then the selection of plants can become narrower.

The deep south is the most difficult area because of the heat and moisture stress.

The far north only creates a problem when needing plants to overwinter and become active in the spring. In extreme far north conditions (when there is a lack of snow cover or inadequate cover crop protection, or prolonged severe temperatures) there may be some limitations if wanting to choose perennials or biennials. Successful deer food plotting in some regions is limited to cool season annual with rapid growth phases for late fall hunting or summer annuals for early fall hunting.

Looking for a list of fall planted legumes you can plant this year after you spend the early and mid part of this year preparing your whitetail deer food plot.

Consider the following legumes if you have well drained soils:

• subterranean clover,
• arrowleaf clover,
• crimson clover,
• hairy vetch,
• australian winter peas,
• alfalfa,
• red clover,
• white dutch,
• birdsfoot trefoil,
• sweet clovers.

If you have rather wet soils consider berseem, alsike, white dutch or ladino white clovers as good choices.

If you have acidic soil well drained the best choices are often subterranean clover and hairy vetch.

If you have acidic wet soil consider alsike clover. Remember almost always clovers are put with small grains, or annual rye grass.

There is often more than one clover in a mix with both small grains and annual ryegrass to improve success of your plot.

Here is an article for fall planting and spring to mid summer preparation that we found works very well: 5 steps to successful fall planting of whitetail food plots

Also see our latest video for application of these techniques.

Step 1: Soil Testing

Soil test: Most of the no-till blends are cereals, grains, and clover mixes (+/- brassicas) and most of these plants really like near neutral pH.  If you don’t know the pH range of your soil, you may be wasting your time and money.

Step 2: Mid May

Let the weeds grow 3 to 4 inches, then spray the field with Roundup (glyphosate). If it is taller than 3 to 4 inchers, cut it down first so you get better contact.

Step 3: Late May-Early June

Remove the dead thatch. Manual removal or controlled burning (with permits and qualified personnel) are both good options. If your soil test shows that your pH is below 6.5, use lime at recommended rates, or if no soil test is available add a minimum of two tons of lime per acre. Cheapest form of lime is bulk. Disk in lime to a depth of 4 to 6 inches

Step 4: Late June or early July

After 3 to 4 inches of new growth do a second spraying. Two sprayings will usually do an adequate job of weed control. If you have a particularly problematic plot it may take an additional spraying after next new growth.

Step 5: Late July Early August

Final Preparation of Seed Bed, Planting and fertilizing according to soil test. Add fertilizer as recommended in your soil test. Harrow drag the fertilizer into the top 1-3 inches of soil.

We are please to provide you with resources on the subject of deer food plots. This is the first in a series of educational videos on doing your own deer food plots. If you are interested in food plots stay tuned for our series.

Visit our Website www.diydeerfoodplots.com

for more information on planting your food plots. We can make the process easier for you.

For those of you also interested in small game and turkey food plots, the good news is, there is overlap and you can achieve results for small game hunting with your whitetail food plot.

Have you read about using native grasses as part of your deer food plot strategy? A friend of mine and I recently had a discussion about the use of this native grass for whitetail deer food plots. Here are some thoughts:

It makes for excellent escape and bedding cover - Native grass stands like switchgrass, or plantings with more diversity, big bluestem, indiangrass etc, are excellent ideas for land managers improving wildlife cover for deer habitat. But I would use these types of plantings as stand alone habitat improvement projects - the larger the better.

I could see where these strips of switchgrass and brush, evergreens could break up a paddock enough to create a situation where a buck would need to investigate things a bit more. I can also see it on a site where it’s a large open area where these strips would add more diversity, edge and cover. But most paddocks sites, acre or so in size - I don’t see much value to it.  Large sites, yeah I can see it, but the plantings of switch
and trees would be more of a habitat improvement plan than a “hunting” thing. 

A person could structure the strips to converge at a tree stand area, as when they do become established they will create travel lanes.  I don’t see ten or twenty foot wide strips doing it though - more like 50′ plus. 

Also, you would want to plan a tall variety of switchgrass - there are several different varieties out there.    It may take, and usually does take three years for it to establish.These warm season grasses need good sun to soil contact for the grasses to come and they grow well from late June through August.  

Some people have recommended clover with it. However, I would not plant anything with it.    clover would already be up and would shade the ground and would certainly set-back growth of your switchgrass.   

If you manage your food plots well ie mowing, spraying and tillage I don’t see the switchgrass spreading much - so that wouldn’t concern me.  I do see a place for it if you have a large food plot area.  The best place for this type of an approach would be a larger area where dedicating both food plots and additional cover interspressed together. 

Say you have a fallow field of twenty acres or so, here you would really only need about five acres of food plot - which can be a lot to manage depending upon the equipment you have.  If you created cover areas, with native grass, evergreens and shrubs and spread the paddocks out in the area it would add a lot of diversity, edge and habitat. 

Trees, shrubs do take quite awhile to estiblish, as you well know, and the switchgrass, native grass planting does come much faster and is some really nice cover.  I really don’t see a 10 foot wide strip of swithcgrass creating much cover, or something deer would really use all that much.  The thing is though - there are sites where creating a corridor of grass cover may really help “dictate” deer travel.

So I can see some value to it depending on the site - sites would have to be large enough where the site demands both both food plot and habitat improvement “cover” together.   Most food plots are small, and if they are too big to cover from one stand, you likely would want different stand locations at the food plot anyway to address varying wind directions.

Native grass - switchgrass can be an awesome habitat improvement tool - I just don’t see small narrow strips of grass really doing much.  Now, a strip of natives, say fifty feet wide or so with some evergreens planted with it…. You may have something there!

For a free Chapter Download of deer food Plots Made Easy

Visit our website: www.diydeerfoodplots.com