food plots

[Scott M]

Thanks BLB. Perchjerker showed me a thing or two this past weekend that put some light bulbs in my head. He said the two of you were doing a lot of texting last weekend

The good thing is I have ample access to Alfalfa...grew up on a farm and have two neighbors that are seed dealers. Wouldn't take much more than a rototiller and a weekend of labor to put in I suppose....

Whaddaya think? Give it a try or what?

[PerchJerker]

At first I thought my soil was junky too, but it's really great for clover. Good amounts of clay and loam, and just a little sand. There's only a few inches of that kind of soil on top of the clay base but that's all that clover needs. It's nice heavy soil and stays moist, ideal for clover. Here's another bonus - at my place the soil ph is close to what clover needs, so not much liming needed. I couldn't be happier with how clover grows for me.

Clover does okay in the shade, although it needs some direct sunlight and more is better. If it's shady for sure try to plant early in the year before the trees leaf out. I notice a definate difference in how slow stuff germinates and grows in the shady parts of my plots.

In the far end of that plot you hunted over is a clover blend I got at Itasca County Farm Service in Grand Rapids. Not very expensive, and a blend with a few different kinds of clover, some that grow better in marginal soil. That blend seems to work good at my place and might be something to try at your place.

The Whitetail Institute has a seed blend called No PLow that's supposed to do well in broken sunlight, but it's not cheap.

We can discuss in more detail (ie. for hours on end) while ice fishing this winter

[bigbucks]

I suppose you could plant hostas. They grow well in shade & I've heard deer will eat them out of peoples flower gardens. It might be a little spendy though...

[UdeLakeTom]

Sometimes you can get hostas free if you know somebody that has them and they need to be cleaned out....I friend of mine near Prior Lake is looking to have hers separated. It's work doing this, but worth it. I've had hosta's before, but put them in the wrong area and the got covered by water and froze out. Before that though, they were munched down quite well.

[soldoncass]

Looking for some pointers....

We are thinking of planting some kind of food plot for deer next year. Have about 3 acres tops cleared available to plant with about 20 acres in swamp edge, brushy trees, heavy "grouse" type cover. The clearing was planted in clover in 2000, but has reverted back to grasses mostly and the deer don't use it much at all. They don't seem to use the "bedding" cover hardly either now. I'm thinking the deer would use the cover if they had better food near-by, because they will bed as close as possible to their food source, if the cover is there.

My questions are:

Is it better to plant all one thing the whole 3 acres, or split it into a couple different types of food?

Plant the whole thing in a perenial mix?

Plant half next year in a mix, then in say 2 years plant the other half with a mix. Then keep rotating to keep a fresh plot?

Soybeans really worth considering on a small piece?

Anyone have experiences they will share? Have your food plots helped keep deer in the area more?

Appreciate any thoughts, advise you can give. Thanks!

[Nova]

I am far from the expert here, but BLB got me started on food plots and there are others with great knowledge. I have been planting plots now for 3 years. Corn, soybeans, and some of the different blends that MDHA puts out. BLB sells these every year in the spring.

I am not a big fan of the perenials. I like to plant a fresh plot every year. The corn and soy beans didn't turn out real well this last fall due to the drought conditions but they did produce some and the deer are using them still. I did buy the MDHA cold weather blend last year and so did a buddy of mine. They have been tearing this stuff up since mid October and are still in there all the time. Same with my buddies plots. I have never sat over this plot this year without seeing deer in it from bow hunting all the way through the gun season. I am going with all the same stuff again this year. They really don't hit the beans too much after mid October for some reason. The corn they are still hitting and I assume will continue until it's all gone. I am doubleing the size of my cold weather plot for next year. I can't say enough about that stuff. I would say cut the plot in half and plant 2 differnt food sources. Beans that they will hit early september through mid October and the cold weather blend they will move to as the plants get going good and you get a frost. Good luck, but be warned. Food plotting is very addicting

[UdeLakeTom]

With all the droppings from deer and other animals on my food plot, I mean every 3 to 5 ft, do I have to fertilize again next spring, or will that be enough?

[crazyice]

I would still go out there with some kind of fertilizer. The ground where the animals "dropped" isn't going to saturate the rest of the area enough in my opinion to get an effective amount to everything that you want to grow.

[UdeLakeTom]

Thanks...sounds ok to me.