What should I plant here??

I agree Ty. They will eat the tops early season but they don't eat them to the ground till late season. Even in small plots.

 

Up here in upper Michigan, it's game on for brassicas in early September. Frost or no frost, they get hit. Which is why I like a heavy dose of grains for kill plots up here. Grains will keep growing once the deer start browsing them. I love hunting over a nice brassica plot, but up here, small kill plots of turnips and rape don't last long.

 

Location and area make up of food always must be factored no doubt.

 

I live in Virginia, in the Appalachians....Territory around here CAN be rough, but Im hunting a 45 to 50 acre farm that belongs to my Uncle, so I have the mountains and the fields. These are just small food plots Im working with, so Im hoping they will produce, I know the deer are here, plenty of them on Camera...here are 3 from last year, one in the middle bit the dust, though....

 

Damn, Wish I could have that type of space to do a plot.

If you were going to do a clover/chicory type plot you would have wanted it planted already this spring as it takes a year to establish with a few cuts during the summer to stimulate root growth. You could also use Buck forage oats as a cover crop. It grows like a weed and the deer really like it from what I have experienced. Looks like overgrown grass.

If you want to do something for this fall you could possibly do something like soybeans on half and maybe a turnip/radish on the other half. Possibly even some Forage Oats thrown in with the soybeans as it will help the soybeans establish themselves. Both of these will just come in for this fall and then not return in the spring. Definitely get a soil test ASAP so you know what amount of Lime and Fertilizer to apply.

Here is a picture of my little 1/4 acre plot I did last year by our Cabin. Its literally 50 yards in the woods at a spot where they like to cross the road from our land and across the street. The tall grassy stuff is the Buck Forage Oats and underneath is chicory, Small Burnett, and 2 different types of Alfalfa. After the forage oats died off last fall I noticed that the main crops didn't establish that well so this spring I hand tossed some White clover to see if I could fill it in. If it doesn't, I will get some oats this August really fill it in because it grows so quick and thick. That will in September I will have nice green blot of atleast something they like in hopes of killing a buck on it. Good Luck, Food plots are addicting

 

Guys don't be afraid of getting clover plots started in the fall, I've done it many a time. Is it true that the clover won't be much during hunting season, yes...but you get a great start for the coming spring. Throwing Chicory/Clover down in the fall with some cereal grains like winter rye and oats is a great way to provide some grains this fall for the deer, yet get the clover and chicory potential ahead of the game for the coming spring.

Frost seed that thing then in the spring and let the already present clover/chicory and the frost seeded clover start growing well ahead of anything else weed wise. Then that first mowing will help limit the weed issues, take care of any left over rye that has regrown in the spring (and it will!) and you've got a great plot set up for the spring but more importantly going into the fall in it's first real and true full year.

I'm a big fan of mixes though personally.

 

Actually I think the best time to plant clover is in the fall. Much better at controlling weeds giving the clover a jump start.

 

I agree, from my minimal knowledge perennials develop their root system first before putting on top growth giving weeds the ability to choke them out.


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Yeah I realized I didn't even mention that aspect of it. I think the whole clover=spring planting is the misnomer that all the frost seeding which is encouraged and done is on barren brand new plots...when in reality frost seeding is generally used by a lot of us to thicken up our clover plots each year, not to start them from scratch (although that does work to an extent). Weed competition is far far less in the fall like Brad stated here, another reason why fall clover plots shouldn't be frowned upon or scared off from.

 

I've already have one going that I planted in the spring, it's around the edge of the field say 200 yds long, and 6 to 8 ft wide...I used REAL WORLD SEED, it's a Chicory and Clover blend, and since we started getting a little rain here, it's growing like mad...I know next year will be the best for it, but it is coming in good as of now.....

I've kicked around the idea of throwing some oats in...Do the Deer really like them that much?
Creeks!

 

That looks good man...Thanks for the info
Creeks!

 

Thanks
Creeks

 

Thanks Brad
Creeks!

 

"Inner Sanctum"

It has forage oats, 2 annual clovers, high sugar perennial rye, ladino clover, alsike clover and rape. It tolerates lower shade, lower pH's and also can handle if things get wet.

 

Thanks Nutritionist