I was reading some articles on food plots and such and I came across an article on a plant called amaranth. I had never heard or even seen it grown up here in Wisconsin. This article I read the person writing it believed it was going to be the next big thing in food plots. I'm still pretty unsure about the stuff. I have been told it acts like a weed because it drops so many seeds even when it gets bumped by something walking by or the wind. I guess people use the seeds from it to put in their salads. The seeds are pretty small and look like a poppy seed. People also pop the seeds like you would popcorn. You can also eat the leaves on the plant which have some nutritional value. I guess the seeds have a nutty flavor to them, which if so I can imagine the deer are going to love them. Anyways, I just bought a pack of seeds on eBay 800 seeds for 3.25 so I am not going to be out much if the deer don't react to them. I plan on planting them someplace next time I'm at my cabin, I just don't know where because I don't want them to overtake my food plots if they do act like weeds and the one food plot I want to plant it by we are baiting bear this year right there so I won't get real good results there. I'm going to have to think of someplace to plant them and get a test plot for everybody to see. It might be a bust who knows. Anybody else ever hear about this stuff?
Well now I have read articles saying deer dont like so who knows. I'm going to have to trace that other article down and read it again.
Well palmer amaranth is a major weed problem in southern iowa, illinois and so on. Don't know if it's same. Hope that isn't the next big thing.
Pigweed is an amaranth species. There are also the decorative ones. However, amaranth is also a grain producing species and likely this is what the article was taking about, not the other varieties. They like is because it thrives in poor environments and produces a lot of grain.
QDMA Quality Food Plots book does not mention it as a planting option and that book is my go to when it comes to food plot planting questions.
I have the seeds I am going to try planting them in a couple weeks. Only problem is we are baiting bear now and pushing most deer off our land because of that... but I'll give it a try anyways. Don't know if I have enough cameras to put over it. I have read that deer love some of it and hate some of it because there are many different species of it. Lets hope I got the right species.
I know when I planted brassicas the first year the deer didn't touch it because they didn't know what it was. Once they "learned" it was a food they hammered it, so don't get too discouraged if they don't get on it the first year. It might be something they have to learn to eat - this will be interesting. I'm excited to see what you figure out with this stuff.
I ended up not planting them last year due to us bear baiting right next to our foot plots. I didn't want something crazy to happen and I ruin the bait for this guy we were baiting for. I have a lot of work to on our foot plots come spring so I will portion off an area and see what I can get. I might not have any deer left around after this last winter so I don't expect any amazing results. A picture of a animal interested in it is all I am looking for at this point. I do have more cameras now so I will be able to track things better this year as well with all my cameras mainly at bait sites last year.
Sorry everybody looking for results this year. I had too many risks involved with it last year. With the bear and such. I promise to get it planted as soon as this snow melts and I will get a camera over it
Another Wisconsin food plotter here, and I'm interested in seeing how it works out for you. Always looking for some variety in my plots.
