I planted Sainfoin about ten years ago, still going. although the deer pick it off as fast as they can. interested in sunn hemp!
Gosh I have a a ton of pics but can't access the at the moment. I started planting both sunn hemp and kenaf 10 years ago. In fact I had to call local authorities to tell them what I was planting and why. They laughed but it was near the road and I didn't want a pounding on my door over what someone driving by may have seen. Hemp looks like golden rod but kenaf looks more like pot..lol . This didn't matter because the deer passed up soybeans to devour the hemp and kenaf. I now plant it with cow peas and buckwheat. The buck wheat to grow tall fast to cover the hemp and beans enough to survive browsing. As they are browsed they send out lateral shoots or branch. Sainfoin is a great plant for your herd health, it's a natural dewormer, thus healthier bigger deer.
That Sainfoin really peeks my interest. I will talk to my local Ag store and see what kind of price they can get me. Meat
Good luck. I went to my Co-op and ended up having to order it online and was lucky that I called when I did. Apparently, the demand has jumped and I got mine right before they sold out. But yeah, the benefits of it sound amazing.
Great Basin seed has it for 2.95 plus shipping . Do not forget inoculant but not through them I think that price is a tad high Look around
I just checked my pics, may kill hubby! He went into my pics to down load his work pics..now I seem to be missing a whole lot of my saved pics. here are a few different areas from 2017, first the small oak flats plot is a Italian sweet rye and clover plot. Turkey are in a small mid wood plot that connects to 3 trail plots this is my busiest hub. It was at it's end there but I didn't redo it because the sm. Burnett left in it just kept drawing every thing in. This year I'm still getting a bunch of video off it but it gets redone if the rain ever stops. Next is the end of garden plot where I have 12 wild apple 6 hazelnut and 2 mulberry plus a grove of plums. The plot is a late summer grain ,brassica, clover. I have 13 such plots positioned around the property.
It does not work real well to plant pumpkins around a established food plot, seems the deer are programmed to eat what ever is around the plot. Dang deer would eat every blossom the plant put out.
Sorta, been doing this for years now. Those tall plants in the background are hemp plants. In the pumpkins is a combo of clover and young turnips, plus weeds. the first pic is browsed hemp with cowpeas. BTW, the reason I have so many pics of plots and plantings is I have spent the last 30 some years doing stuff guys insisted doesn't work. like small plots, years ago buckwheat, stand locations even the blinds I build the list is very long
Here is a very small un-fenced soybean plot everyone told me would never make it. It did actually get beans..and a few buck as well. I had a local farmer tell me soybeans won't grow up here on the hill...when he saw I had 39" tall beans loaded with pods, he's planted them every year since,crop farmer.
exactly I grow squash and pumpkins for markets. if I don't fence them deer eat the pumpkins as fast as they set! lol would make great plot if they left them alone till October!
Must be the deer then, because for years We have been giving them away, the grand son picks a few, I freeze a bunch and the deer have an abundance of them to eat. They will only thump the very ripest and hollow them out. They walk through the pumpkins a lot, but only browse the cover plants like clovers, brassica cow peas and they love acorn squash. I believe it's the easy eating due to size. We are in a very high density area as well.
Wierd how deer can be so varied from one local to another. Been planting pumpkins/ squash for years and have never seen a deer touch a flower. They walk right through the plots on their way to other groceries. But once the fruits ripen, it's total chaos! The small sugar pie pumpkins and acorn squash are what I plant. I do fertalize the crap out of them. Perhaps that make a difference in how they taste?
I hear ya on the pumpkins! They absolutely love them come fall around here as well. They don’t like the plant itself tho. My family owns a greenhouse/garden center and may be wrong but they avoid the plants due to the prickly leaves and stems. Once the stems and leaves start to die off you will only wish there was more pumpkins
Think of the 3 sisters method of planting. They did this for several reasons. Potection of their corn and beans being one.
