Ok guys I'm not trying to be lazy I live 2 hours away from my land and can't get over there but about once a month to do any work. I need a low maintenance seed that will be there for at least 3-4 months. Last year we planted Iron/clay peas and they were destroyed before we got a chance to hunt them. We planted rye grass (its florida and it grows year round just about) and it did ok but not what we really wanted. I was thinking about going to Turnips and Rape or just Clovers with a few Corn plots for mid season. I'm a newb so any help is greatly appreciated. Also if you want to add how you set up on or off of the food plots that would be greatly appreciated.
Oats will grow on cement...........low maintenance as it gets and great forage plot. Expect to do some work on your soil (lime, fert, etc) for the others.
thanks Guys, I am getting the soil tested to get the PH right, most of the land has planted pines and the soil is real acidic. IS there any name brand or certain oat that is better than others?
X100 Oats are my seed of choice. Planted in early September, ideally they never reach maturity. 6-8 inches is perfect. The deer are on them early on when the beans in the area are brown and they stay on them until covered by snow. They also stand up to grazing well. Couple that with their relative affordability and ability to grow in poor conditions, they're perfect.
Oats for your purpose can come from anywhere. If you buy them from an ag store, you'll likely pay 12/bushel this year. THey have gone up in price but still are cheap by comparison. The thing to do is find a farmer that thrashes his own. They will usually buy seed oats one year and then use their own the next and so on. If they have old stock, they sell them real cheap and they will work for you if you can find em.
Yep. Winter Rye (not grass), is an awesome low maintenace crop that also has natural weed supressing capabilities. It's nest served as a cover crop, though.
Thanks for all of the Info Guys. I will be going with the oats, thanks again. one follow up question. How do you keep the deer from eating the whole plot before the growth reaches its potential? We planted 4acres of peas last year and they all were gone as soon as they hit 2 inches.
Build a fence around it. Like snow fence or surround it in branches. Make a good barrier. One thing i do is place like tomato cages in the plot kinda here and there to alow the plant to grow up and deer wont knaw it off the ground.
