Corn Failed-Now what to plant???

[jmb4wd]

My dad and I drug out the corn planter, got her tuned up and planted him about 12 of RR corn just for roasting ears and then tooled back to my food plot and planted about 18 row maybe 75 or 80 yards long. Weeks go by and hes got about 85% stand and my plot had about 3 stalks that have come up. So.... what should I plant now??

 

[RKenney]

Just leave it alone and let it it grow up with good and natural
weeds. If we have a few more rains, it should produce a big
variety of nutritious native plants before the summer is over.
I'm not against corn or food plots, but in your situation, it
seems like that's the best thing to do. Let it go another year
or two and bushes will appear and maybe some honeysucle and
sumac will move in. A double bonus...good food and good cover
also.

 

[Mathews Hunter]

Lime

 

[hard county]

Buckwheat is an easy to establish late plantable plant that also has a good rotational crop affect. If you sow buckwheat now, your fall plot will do better.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Since your corn failed, there would seem to be a problem. Probably a lime and fertlizer problem. Have you done a soil test? If not I would recommend doing that and applying the appropriate amounts of lime and fertilizer.

 

[Chaneylake]

I would be willing to bet the failure is weather related or cutworm related

the two have been a common problem this spring, if no insecticide was applied then cutworm could have eaten the corn up in 2 days or less

different soil types could be the problem, moving from 1 field to another sometimes requires changing seed debth, this was quite common this spring

 

[Chaneylake]

it is still not to late to plant corn, I live in west tennessee and i will not have mine planted till sometime early july, i am not worried the least bit about planting it that late, have done so for the past 10 years and it has done fine with planting late

 

[jmb4wd]

I thought about replanting it, and still might. The plot was limed and fert. according to soil test and the moisture was good when I planted. Cut worms might be the culprit, as alot of the local farmers have had to replant this year. Never had any dealing with buckwheat, but I might give it a try

 

[hard county]

With buckwheat being 60 cents a pound, there's not a lot of risk involved. Also, you might be interested in grain sorghum (milo), this plant is treated by the deer in almost the same way they treat corn, but it normally produces higher volumes at a lower price.

 

[hard county]

JMHO, but planting sorghum is a waste of energy unless you are planning on flooding it for ducks or mowing it for doves or quail.

I just do not understand going through all the trouble to plant something for deer management only to plant something which doesn't offer maximum rewards and benefits to the herd.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, milo has always been heavily utilized by the deer on my place, around bow season the heads are being bitten off like crazy. I would say that per acre I can get get a better poundage rate of milo seed than corn and that both would be completely gone within the same period of time.
If your referring to the nutritional value of milo, see this chart www.extension.missouri.edu/agconnection ... -99-10.htm It compares corn and milo's value to ruminant animals. The added bonus in my agricultural area, is that the milo is not grown anywhere close by, while corn is planted in every other field. This makes it easier to attract deer than trying to pull them off of a 200 acre corn field.

 

[jmb4wd]

The whole reason I planted corn this year is that our farm and been leased for the last 5 years and the all the crop ground has been in cotton. When fall comes around all you have is hard stick like stubble left. THe time before the cotton, when it was in beans and corn, it was covered up with deer all fall and winter ,and the last 5 years I hardly see any deer passing through at all. About a week after I planted my food plot corn they planted about 40 acres of soybeans just over the hill, so my plot probably wont be utilized anyway. Why eat a 1/4 of corn when you have a buffet of beans 100 yards away. I might sow it down with some different stuff just to experiment just a little. Thanks for all the suggestions guys, keep em coming. I find this stuff very interesting!

 

[hard county]

If you have beans close by as you describe corn isn't a bad idea. It offers a higher dose of carbs which the deer will utilize through the fall. Without beans over the hill, I would have beans and beans only.

Stay away from the Milo IMHO, it won't be any help and sure they will eat it, but it does them little if any good and is not going to compete with the beans next door.

Whatever you do, turn it all under around the first of october and plant a oat, clover, rape mix and watch the deer pour in.

Milo is simlarly high in carbs, the deer prefer it over corn in my area and it produces more seed than corn. Also, milo will probably not be utilized until after the beans have been harvested (as will corn).
In agricultural areas such as the one you described, I would go for perrennials; chicory, perrenial clovers, and alfalfa would all be good options for year round nutrition.

 

[hard county]

The only problem with planting a perennial is droughts and the fact that many times it takes a long time for them to get established. They are excellent if the manager has the time to keep the weeds out of them and mow them when the time comes.

Compare the time spent maintaining pererenials with the time spent planting annuals! Whitetail institute has a product called extreme which will grow in fifteen inches of annual rainfall. To save money buy the seed generic, the main components are small burnet and chicory.

 

[Quailman]

The only problem with planting a perennial is droughts and the fact that many times it takes a long time for them to get established. They are excellent if the manager has the time to keep the weeds out of them and mow them when the time comes.

Compare the time spent maintaining pererenials with the time spent planting annuals! Whitetail institute has a product called extreme which will grow in fifteen inches of annual rainfall. To save money buy the seed generic, the main components are small burnet and chicory.

First of all the Whitetail Institute is full of it, they market these products as if it is something revolutionary when in reality others have been planting and selling the same thing for eons. Just a marketing company who puts a big buck on a bag of seed and dupes people into thinking it is something special. Extreme is not necessary in this part of the world. If you want to plant perennials why not plant a forage which is better and we have luxury of being able to grow in this part of the world. Ladino clover for example. CHicory is great, but it takes a long time to get established.

I do agree with you about buying the seed separately rather then from a company who is marking it up 40% more then it should be, just because some think it is special.

I have about 70% of my plots in high quality perennials (ladino, red, crimson (reseeding annual), and chicory. I want nutrition available when deer need it the most, during the spring and summer. Chicory takes no longer to establish than clover does, and I definitely recommend it for planting.

I have slowly shifted my food plot arrangement towards a higher percentage of perennials. You only have to re-plant about every 4-5 years, and they are easy to maintain through mowing, as well as spraying if needed to control competition.

 

[hard county]

I have a thick plot of chicory planted this year that is 16" high. Clovers are great, the reason I listed the perrenials I did was you said perrenials are prone to drought, because you said that, I listed the plants I did. Clover is great for bottom lands but for good year round foliage, I opt for perrenial clovers, ladino or red rather than crimson or arrowleaf.

 

[jmb4wd]

Since I am kind of new at food plots, what is the plant that you seen on all the hunting shows on TV that is real thick, like big lettuce leaves. Look like the deer really love it. I am really thinking about planting a bag of seed I found in my garage that I bought last fall, that I forgot I had. It is made by Tecomate Ultimate Forage I think that is what it is called. I will probably wait till closer to fall to plant.

 

[pepperusmc]

soybeans
from (Agricultural Extension Service
The University of Tennessee) The suggested planting dates for all soybean varieties in Tennessee are April 25 to June 15.

 

[CWT]

Good info for "all" plantings....
http://www.huntfish.info/article_upload ... gchart.pdf

 

[Chaneylake]

I planted 4.4 acres of corn this morning 7/3/08. I know from past experience that it will do just fine. If it rains any at all this summer, it will produce somewhere around 60-80 bushels per acre

 

[Chaneylake]

I also planted 7.6 acres of soybeans this afternoon, all no-til, it was a real easy project, filled planter with seed, tank with roundup and planted, I will post before and after pictures later.

 

[Chaneylake]

corn is up and soybeans are up, food plots are looking great