Food Plots Honey Suckle

[Bone Collector]

I want to put some on my property. I know it is invasive, but have heard good things about it as far as deer and wildlife are concerned.

My question is i have tried to read up on planting it and it says to take "clippings" and put them in the ground. what does that mean? just the flowers, the leaves, or do I need to just pull up the vines and transplant them? Also when do you plant? I assume now, but want to be sure.

I know i need to put some chicken wire or something to protect them from the deer.

 

[260rem]

that should be the vines but if you can get some roots it would be better, you need to be sure what type some not good.

 

[Bone Collector]

I believe what I am seeing is Japanese Honey Suckle, which from what i read is good.

 

[Quailman]

I know it is invasive, but have heard good things about it as far as deer and wildlife are concerned.

If you know it is invasive, why plant it? Will it make the difference in your deer herd from a nutritional standpoint? Is it worth the risk?

 

[TheLBLman]

If you know it is invasive, why plant it? Will it make the difference in your deer herd from a nutritional standpoint? Is it worth the risk?

What say you, Quailman?
Surely you don't put honeysuckle in the same class as fescue and johnsongrass?

 

[Quailman]

If you know it is invasive, why plant it? Will it make the difference in your deer herd from a nutritional standpoint? Is it worth the risk?

What say you, Quailman?
Surely you don't put honeysuckle in the same class as fescue and johnsongrass?

Of course not Wes! As you well know, deer don't eat grass (usually).

I guess I'm just trying to understand the logic of planting something that we know is invasive in the hopes that it will provide adequate nutrition?? As I've stated before, if a landowner has to rely on honeysuckle for nutritional benefits, they may want to re-think their management strategy.

 

[Hunter 257W]

Isn't the key that no one plant is or should be relied on when it comes to deer or any other species for that matter. Variety is the key since wild animals don't stand in one spot filling their gut the way domestic animals do. Why not add honeysuckle to the mix?

What surprises me in the discussion is that there is a farm anywhere in TN that doesn't already have honeysuckle. All our fencerows have the stuff.

And I've never quite understood the word "invasive". Some of the species that are considered "invasive" have been in this country 100 years or more and can hardly be considered such an unknown threat anymore. And all "weeds" are invasive. They spread like a horror movie disease under the best of circumstances yet many of them are not considered "invasive". Yet label a plant as "invasive" and we are supposed to recoil in horor and avoid it completely. Makes no sense to me.

 

[diamond hunter]

Honeysuckle is highly preferred and the perfect food for deer and I wish I had more of it.If you fertilize it with some nitrogen that will make it even more desirable.As soon as I get a spreader big enough to do something I will have a bumper crop and wish I had more.

 

[Quailman]

Yet label a plant as "invasive" and we are supposed to recoil in horor and avoid it completely. Makes no sense to me.

Not telling anyone to recoil in horror, but as an actual biologist that does this for a living, I'm not going to recommend that anyone promote a plant that out-competes native plants and will rapdily spread if left unchecked. If so, we might as well promote Chinese privet and kudzu. Deer eat these plants as well, don't they?

If you all want to plant and promote honeysuckle, by all means do so. It won't bother me one bit and I'm sure your deer herd will thank you for helping them survive our brutal winters.

 

[Football Hunter]

On another note,you better plant lots of it and protect it.Otherwise deer will just wipe out a few srigs here and there.And there is at least one type of honeysuckle that deer don't like,and you sure don't want that.I wouldn't recommend planting it at all really.

 

[barkscraper]

Dont worry with plants just build a fence the birds will do the rest. I use mine for a blind to get to my tree stand and it does not spread into my soybeans or other foodplots it cant overtake the other weeds in my plots

 

[Boone 58]

Wayne county is full of it and it is a major food source for the deer. In my experience deer eat what they like..........and they love honeysuckle.

 

[BSK]

Quailman,

I understand your thoughts on invasive species, and somewhat your skepticism of Japanese Honeysuckle, but what else do you recommend that will produce 12% protein, fairly good digestibility, and considerable tonnage in the dead of winter?

 

[jeff ll]

What about honeysuckle that grows natural on a property? Don't know how to tell the difference in different types of honeysuckle though?

 

[BSK]

jeff II,

The two primary types of honeysuckle we see in TN are vining Japanese honeysuckle, which deer eat, especially in winter, but IS an invasive; and bush honeysuckle, which deer rarely eat, is native to the region, but can become a real problem in a hardwood environment as it will dominate the shady understory.

If you look at the taxonomy of plants in the honeysuckle family, there are a huge number of varieties worldwide, with most found in China. However, there are about 20 varieties native to the U.S.

 

[jeff ll]

Ok Thanks for the information. Back to the drawing board.