Food Plots Soybeans

JCDEERMAN

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I see you got word, just as I did, that the soybeans just arrived at Percy P. If I can't find cereal rye and at a descent price within the next 5-6 weeks, I certainly plan on using some in my mix this fall. They will come up and be a good early, tender crop.

This will be an unusual year for us, since we have several bags of stuff leftover from last year and I got some new stuff. Kind of a kitchen sink mix:

15-20 lbs soybeans (if I can't find cereal rye)
4 lbs buckwheat
7.5 lbs crimson clover
2 lbs rape
2 lbs purple top turnips

This is per acre and with a drill
 

BSK

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Last year, Army Worms wiped out my winter rye. Don't think I'll be using it again. I'll stick with Buckwheat, Wheat (or oats), Crimson Clover, and Austrian Winter Peas. Although I probably wouldn't recommend Austrian Winter Peas west of KY Lake. In the sandier soils, deer don't seem to like them as much as when grown in more clay/loam soils.
 

backyardtndeer

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West Tennessee
Depends on their maturation
Yes, it does depend on the beans maturity. Most will start producing relatively quickly though, and if enough are planted to withstand early browsing, a bean plot could do well even planted late. I just got my second soybean plot in this weekend. I want my soybeans to still be a draw after the area ag crops are coming out.
 

BSK

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That's what I plant when I plant beans. I grew some in the worst dirt around and they did great
IF I decide to plant soybeans again next year, and I'm not sure I will, I will probably go with Eagle beans considering how high the price will be on generic RR soybeans (at least, that is what I was told at the Co-op; generic RR beans will be sky-high next year).
 

Popcorn

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IF I decide to plant soybeans again next year, and I'm not sure I will, I will probably go with Eagle beans considering how high the price will be on generic RR soybeans (at least, that is what I was told at the Co-op; generic RR beans will be sky-high next year).
I highly recommend the wildlife managers blend of beans. I have planted them many times and they do very well. This year they have survived western Ky's drought and with recent rains they took a big leap, now they are the most palatable food around and are getting hammered! They will try hard to continue growing till a hard frost kills them then the pods will be revisited later in winter. Just plant your winter wheat in the standing beans to continue a food source. Nonstop
 

BSK

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I highly recommend the wildlife managers blend of beans. I have planted them many times and they do very well. This year they have survived western Ky's drought and with recent rains they took a big leap, now they are the most palatable food around and are getting hammered! They will try hard to continue growing till a hard frost kills them then the pods will be revisited later in winter. Just plant your winter wheat in the standing beans to continue a food source. Nonstop
Unfortunately, I have such limited acreage for plots, and fall-season plots are so critical to attracting and holding deer on our place in a poor acorn year, that every inch of ground is utilized for maximum fall forage, hence whatever is grown in summer is turned under for fall planting. Fall food is far more important to us than summer crops (we continue to see few deer using our property in summer, despite our summer food plot efforts). But I will ABSOLUTELY be using the Wildlife Managers Mix if I decide to plant soybeans again.
 

megalomaniac

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Mississippi
Unfortunately, I have such limited acreage for plots, and fall-season plots are so critical to attracting and holding deer on our place in a poor acorn year, that every inch of ground is utilized for maximum fall forage, hence whatever is grown in summer is turned under for fall planting. Fall food is far more important to us than summer crops (we continue to see few deer using our property in summer, despite our summer food plot efforts). But I will ABSOLUTELY be using the Wildlife Managers Mix if I decide to plant soybeans again.
What popcorn is saying is that you can drill or even broadcast your fall blend right into the standing beans a couple weeks before leaf drop. New fall crop gets plenty of sunshine after the leaves are off, plus natural fertilizer from decomposition of the soybean leaves...

Of course this assumes you got a good stand of beans which choked out competing weeds. On small plots, I doubt the beans would get lush enough due to browsing to outcompete weed growth.

I'm going to experiment with that technique on one of my plots this fall that is chock full of dwarf sorgham and millet. Going to drill fall crop right through the summer crop and let the game feed on the grain heads as the fall crop comes up through it.
 

BSK

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What popcorn is saying is that you can drill or even broadcast your fall blend right into the standing beans a couple weeks before leaf drop. New fall crop gets plenty of sunshine after the leaves are off, plus natural fertilizer from decomposition of the soybean leaves...
My problem is, I need fall crops up and going like gangbusters by late September or at the latest early October. That's when deer are transitioning out of the bottomlands.

These are what I want my plots looking like by early October (pics actually taken late September):
 

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