Food Plots Planting in the spring

[BigAl]

I didn't really get to put in a food plot this year due to the drought. Was thinking about doing it differently this year. Would like to try and plant clover in the spring and see if it will holdover until the deer season. I can also do some additional planting in the fall if time and weather permit.
Any thoughts? Should I plant something with it? Do's and don'ts?

 

[lafn96]

Not sure about holding over till deer season; but I've read frost seeding clover produces much better results than waiting to spring to plant it. I spread mine about a month ago throughout the trails and small clearings I have in the wooded areas; which all lead various larger food plots.

 

[megalomaniac]

you can probably go ahead now and plant winter wheat with crimson clover right now and it will probably pop by late spring. But is going to burn out/ dry up by summer. If you bushhog after the flowers dry up, you will get some reseeding.

Frost seeding with a hard freeze early in the AM, but temps climbing up to the low to mid 40's middday in February also works well

Tellico can help you with the perennial clovers. I can't get them to last more than a season and quit fooling with them.

 

[deerhunter10]

We frost seed our clover. Very simple and very effective. We personally love you time it with a snow in February if we are very lucky.

 

[BSK]

Tellico can help you with the perennial clovers. I can't get them to last more than a season and quit fooling with them.

I found them to be more trouble than their worth. Plus, the only perennial clover that would make it on my place is Durana, and it's crazy expensive.

I may try some biannual Red Clover this summer, although I'll be turning it under in fall, so only one season.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

We used to try to do perennial clover plots and eventually gave up, but that was quite a few years ago. I've learned a lot since then and we just established 4 clover plots this fall. @tellico4x4 helped me out with when to do what, and some of the mixes he uses. From what I've been able to gather, the right blend is just as important as the maintenance.

 

[deerhunter10]

I found them to be more trouble than their worth. Plus, the only perennial clover that would make it on my place is Durana, and it's crazy expensive.

I may try some biannual Red Clover this summer, although I'll be turning it under in fall, so only one season.

We have had great luck out of ours the field behind our house is 7 year old.

 

[BSK]

We have had great luck out of ours the field behind our house is 7 year old.

Durana or Red?

 

[deerhunter10]

Durana

 

[BSK]

Durana

Durana is a great perennial for ridge-and-hollow ridge-tops. I have a client that has amazingly productive Durana clover fields growing on ridge-tops that are pure chert gravel. But last time I checked it was going for over $5/lb.

 

[deerhunter10]

Durana is a great perennial for ridge-and-hollow ridge-tops. I have a client that has amazingly productive Durana clover fields growing on ridge-tops that are pure chert gravel. But last time I checked it was going for over $5/lb.

Yes it has gotten ridiculous. We don't clip our but 2 times a year max 3 times. Fertilize usually in the spring sometimes in fall

 

[BSK]

I'm also in the very unusual circumstance of NOT growing the bucks I hunt. We have very few bucks that live on our property in summer, and most of those are yearlings. About 75% of the bucks we will have to hunt in November come from adjoining river-bottom agricultural land. During the summer, "someone else" is feeding the bucks we will be hunting in fall. Because of this, our summer plots are nowhere near as important as our fall plots. We pour everything into producing the maximum food volume in our plots for fall/winter, even at the expense of summer plots. Perennial clovers, or summer crops left standing, such as standing dead beans, or grains such as milo, etc. can't outproduce what we plant for fall. For this reason, we turn all our summer plots under to plant fall plots because that needs to be our main focus due to the massive influx of deer we normally see only in the fall.

 

[Popcorn]

I didn't really get to put in a food plot this year due to the drought. Was thinking about doing it differently this year. Would like to try and plant clover in the spring and see if it will holdover until the deer season. I can also do some additional planting in the fall if time and weather permit.
Any thoughts? Should I plant something with it? Do's and don'ts?

Plant a blend that will give you a longer season, a better seed back and more tolerance difficult situations.
Ladino is in all my plots, berseem is a good one, arrowleaf is more heat tolerant, crimson is a great early and cool season annual, pick 3 and plant.
I always plant clover with a cover crop, wheat is good, cereal rye is more cold tolerant for planting in winter. The rye will protect the young clover against browse pressure and early season hot days. Let the rye go to seed and mow it. The clover will love the thatch and partial shade.
Clover at a total of 5 to 8 lb per acre, rye at 100 lb per acre. Fertilize with 6/24/24 or even 6/12/12.
Every 2 or 3 years overseed in late fall with 2 to 3 lb per acre of clover and 50 lb of wheat per acre, control weeds and you will always have a good clover plot.
I grow a lot of clover and this works for me in good soil, poor soil, red clay and Chert gravel. Just don't believe anyone who tells you you can spray clover with a weak mix of roundup!!! Do not, if your soil ph is bad or the clover is under a lot of stress you will kill it all.

 

[BSK]

Just don't believe anyone who tells you you can spray clover with a weak mix of roundup!!! Do not, if your soil ph is bad or the clover is under a lot of stress you will kill it all.

Excellent advice! Thanks for sharing.

 

[BigAl]

Thanks for the info guys. I will try what I can. Will probably frost seed some, try to plant something in the spring, and try again in fall. Its all time and weather dependent. Just hate it when we have years like 2022 where it doesn't rain for 12 weeks during the only time you have to plant.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Its all time and weather dependent. Just hate it when we have years like 2022 where it doesn't rain for 12 weeks during the only time you have to plant.

No kidding! Hope this is just a one-off year. It's for the birds

 

[BSK]

No kidding! Hope this is just a one-off year. It's for the birds

Having owned my property for 36 years, we've had exactly two years like this year, 2007 and 2022. So they are not that common. And I hope it's another 15 or so years before we have another. I can't help but think we will at least have a decent acorn crop next year.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Having owned my property for 36 years, we've had exactly two years like this year, 2007 and 2022. So they are not that common. And I hope it's another 15 or so years before we have another. I can't help but think we will at least have a decent acorn crop next year.

We are on year 23 and completely agree on those two years being the most horrible. As far as acorns, we are well overdue for a bumper crop year. I used to prefer years with little acorns, because that meant the deer had to move to find food. After this year and ZERO acorns, I've done a 180 on that thought. It was so bad and the bucks health was so stressed, they didn't do hardly any fall shifting. I think I've identified one buck from last year, possibly 2. Definitely will hope for acorns every year moving forward, for reasons being that they should ACTUALLY shift, and there will be plenty of energy for sign-making and observable rut activity.

I truly feel for all the deer and squirrels come Jan-Mar. It will get rough for them. Sure makes a lot of sense now why I saw so many squirrels and chipmunks digging and burying stuff all over my yard this summer. I was so mad at them burying stuff throughout my garden. Well, I suppose they simply knew something we didn't .

 

[BSK]

We are on year 23 and completely agree on those two years being the most horrible. As far as acorns, we are well overdue for a bumper crop year. I used to prefer years with little acorns, because that meant the deer had to move to find food. After this year and ZERO acorns, I've done a 180 on that thought. It was so bad and the bucks health was so stressed, they didn't do hardly any fall shifting. I think I've identified one buck from last year, possibly 2. Definitely will hope for acorns every year moving forward, for reasons being that they should ACTUALLY shift, and there will be plenty of energy for sign-making and observable rut activity.

In past years, I didn't like poor acorn years because we didn't draw as many deer from surrounding areas as we do in a good acorn year. However, those fewer deer in a poor acorn year moved a lot more, hence we as hunters experienced higher deer sighting rates. When I saw this total acorn crop coming, I thought, "Wow, the deer are going to be moving like crazy to find alternate food sources." That didn't turn out to be true. First, we saw very, very little deer range expansion/shifting (I suspect because of extremely low levels of energy reserves), and we didn't see that much more focus around easily accessible food sources like food plots. I have no idea why. But that said, I will no longer have a problem with a "poor" acorn crop year, just a non-existent acorn crop year. Poor acorn crops have their downsides, but the property still experiences good hunting. Non-existent acorn crops are apprently the death-nell of hunting for my property.

 

[tellico4x4]

Plant a blend that will give you a longer season, a better seed back and more tolerance difficult situations.
Ladino is in all my plots, berseem is a good one, arrowleaf is more heat tolerant, crimson is a great early and cool season annual, pick 3 and plant.
I always plant clover with a cover crop, wheat is good, cereal rye is more cold tolerant for planting in winter. The rye will protect the young clover against browse pressure and early season hot days. Let the rye go to seed and mow it. The clover will love the thatch and partial shade.
Clover at a total of 5 to 8 lb per acre, rye at 100 lb per acre. Fertilize with 6/24/24 or even 6/12/12.
Every 2 or 3 years overseed in late fall with 2 to 3 lb per acre of clover and 50 lb of wheat per acre, control weeds and you will always have a good clover plot.
I grow a lot of clover and this works for me in good soil, poor soil, red clay and Chert gravel. Just don't believe anyone who tells you you can spray clover with a weak mix of roundup!!! Do not, if your soil ph is bad or the clover is under a lot of stress you will kill it all.

x2
Advantage Landino, Dixie Reseeding Crimson & Yucci Arrowleaf mixture has worked very well for me over the years. Have never tried the cereal grain cover crop but will. I do a lot of frost seeding simply because I have more spare time in Jan & Feb. Have even had good luck doing in March & April in front of heavy rain. Bare soil is the key though.
Rocky/cherty soil will always be clover for me as I hate doing ground prep in it each year for annual plots.