Food Plots Winter wheat

[cecil30-30]

Was looking at planting a fall/winter plot. Was thinking on winter wheat. Can anyone give some info on it. Also what the protocol for planting it? Mow low, spray and then disc? Could one get away without spraying? Also what kind of soil does it need? I have never had this soil tested but am sure it is pretty poor being a ridge top basically.

 

[Jcalder]

I've got WW growing in my truck bed. It doesn't take much prep work

 

[cecil30-30]

I have the tractor and bush hog. Just need a disc. My plans was to bushhog as low as I can in September, and then disc it up real good and the sow it heavy. I just didn't want to waste my time doing that if it is recommended to spray also.

 

[Jcalder]

I've done this and it works out just fine. I would prefer a spray but it's not needed.

 

[BSK]

Depends on how tall the growth is in the opening I'm going to plant. If it's low, I'll just spray, wait a week to 10 days, then turn and spread seed. If the growth is tall, mow first, then a wait a week for a little regrowth, then spray, turn, seed.

I've been using winter wheat in my fall plots for many years. I prefer it over oats (more cold tolerant), and rye (more preferred as a food source, although rye is probably more tolerant of very poor soils than wheat).

 

[deerfever]

Winter wheat is easy to grow! I mow , spray , till and drag. What you plan should work out great and the deer hit it good. I mix it in every fall, they been in it quite a bit lately. I expect the colder it gets, they will use it even more . Lots of great advice and top notch plot guys on here. Good luck!

 

[BSK]

And I would also recommend mixing it with an annual cool-season clover, like Crimson. They complement each other well. I find deer go for the clover in mid to late fall and then concentrate on the wheat during the coldest winter months.

 

[Bucket]

One thing you have to watch out for is if you mow before spraying, you have to allow adequate time for regrowth so there will be enough green growth for the glyphosate to work. Unless it's really tall, I recommend spraying, wait a couple of weeks, then sow and mow prior to rain.

 

[Chaneylake]

I have never seen a deer grazing in a wheat field in Haywood County.
I guess that there is to much other available food in my area.

 

[BSK]

One thing you have to watch out for is if you mow before spraying, you have to allow adequate time for regrowth so there will be enough green growth for the glyphosate to work. Unless it's really tall, I recommend spraying, wait a couple of weeks, then sow and mow prior to rain.

Agree completely. Don't spray very tall grasses and expect to get a good kill. If the grasses/weeds are tall (over 3 feet), mow, wait a week or two to get some regrowth, then spray.

 

[Jcalder]

I've tied my sprayer to the bushhog several times and got a good kill. Just don't dilute your spray too much like I did this year. That was a waste lol

 

[diamond hunter]

They are killing my wheat now and there is 5 acres of beans available.

 

[BSK]

For fall plots, I plant a mixture of buckwheat, Austrian winter peas, crimson clover and wheat. The deer eat this mixture in a predictable pattern. They first hammer the buckwheat until the first freeze (which kills the buckwheat). Then they hammer the winter peas. When those are gone, they move to the clover. Once the coldest temps arrive, they move to the wheat.

 

[Jcalder]

For fall plots, I plant a mixture of buckwheat, Austrian winter peas, crimson clover and wheat. The deer eat this mixture in a predictable pattern. They first hammer the buckwheat until the first freeze (which kills the buckwheat). Then they hammer the winter peas. When those are gone, they move to the clover. Once the coldest temps arrive, they move to the wheat.

My fall clover is barely above ground, are you fall planting or spring planting? Anytime I've planted in the fall it'll sprout but won't really have any meaningful growth till spring

 

[BSK]

My fall clover is barely above ground, are you fall planting or spring planting? Anytime I've planted in the fall it'll sprout but won't really have any meaningful growth till spring

My fall plots are "fall" planted. I put that in quotes because I actually plant them in late summer (mid to late August).

As long as we get adequate rain, they look like the pics below in late September.

 

[cecil30-30]

I was looking at red clover yesterday at rural king. I think i will add it to the mix also. I'm thinking of just doing 10-15 ft wide strips through the field and leave the rest to grow up. Thoughts on that? This will be my first attempt at any kind of food plot.

 

[TNJones4530]

For fall plots, I plant a mixture of buckwheat, Austrian winter peas, crimson clover and wheat. The deer eat this mixture in a predictable pattern. They first hammer the buckwheat until the first freeze (which kills the buckwheat). Then they hammer the winter peas. When those are gone, they move to the clover. Once the coldest temps arrive, they move to the wheat.

What mixture rates are you using? And are you planting the big seeds first and then just layering the clover on top afterwards? Sounds like a good mixture

 

[BSK]

What mixture rates are you using? And are you planting the big seeds first and then just layering the clover on top afterwards? Sounds like a good mixture

That's what I should do, but considering I'm usually doing this on my own, I don't take the time. I plant VERY heavy for three reasons: 1) I'm broadcast seeding; 2) I'm covering seed with a drag (chain harrow); and 3) deer are going to be pounding these plots, so overseeding will not produce plant crowding issues. The deer will take care of any overcrowding.

Broadcast seeding and dragging reduce germination rates below what you would get with drilling. For broadcasting and then dragging, recommended seeding rates are 50% more than drilling.

And an old rule of thumb for planting seed mixtures for food plots is: when planting two species, reduce the seeding rate of each by 1/3 from recommended for a single species planting. When planting 3 or more species, reduce the single species seeding rate by 1/2 for each.

 

[Jcalder]

My fall plots are "fall" planted. I put that in quotes because I actually plant them in late summer (mid to late August).

As long as we get adequate rain, they look like the pics below in late September.

I've planted as early as Labor Day, but clover rarely gets over half an inch. Now springtime it looks as yours does.

 

[Jcalder]

I was looking at red clover yesterday at rural king. I think i will add it to the mix also. I'm thinking of just doing 10-15 ft wide strips through the field and leave the rest to grow up. Thoughts on that? This will be my first attempt at any kind of food plot.

If I ever get my hunting house built I'll go to strips instead of a field type food plot.

 

[BSK]

If I ever get my hunting house built I'll go to strips instead of a field type food plot.

That works amazingly well in overgrown fields like yours. In fact, I've seen hunters work old fields in multiple strips, some mowed (to promote grasses), some disked (to promote weeds), and some planted in cereal grains for hunting. These alternating strips of different habitat type can be a real draw.

 

[DeerCamp]

One quick add...
If you will kill the field off one year, and overseed with Rye really heavy, the next year the rye will get up to 3-4 feet tall and smother out all the weeds.

Then it falls over and creates a great mulch layer.

You can then broadcast or drill whatever you want directly into it.

 

[Kelljp]

I've tied my sprayer to the bushhog several times and got a good kill. Just don't dilute your spray too much like I did this year. That was a waste lol

Add dish detergent to the mixture to break down oils on weeds so poison can work.

 

[Jcalder]

Add dish detergent to the mixture to break down oils on weeds so poison can work.

I agree using it as a surfactant but I just plain mixed my spray to light.

 

[deerhunter10]

We went only do clover winter wheat and oats. We also have corn and beans. We cut out everything else. Spray disc and either lightly disc or drag and you will be good. We drill ours and buy it in bulk from local farmers. We also do dove fields. We switched to only doing this 3 years ago and we have a much better return on investment imo. Deer use our plots a lot more evenly and the food can withstand the winter. We let our head out mainly for turkeys and nest and bugs. But super easy to kill off in the spring and go into spring planting. Yesterday alone out of one of our tripods you can see 3 different food plots total 10ish acres and had 34 deer in them. We add oats to our mainly for the earlyish benefits October and first of November they seem to love them. This cold snap will really get them We are about to have.