Questions about food plots

[Richard A]

Thinking about putting a food plot on some land I still hunt on. It would be probaly 40 feet wide and 100 feet long. With this size in mind , what is the best food to plant. Can you buy seed at a feed store ? When should you plant? Thanks for any advice. Richard

[VaFisher54]

I have seen some good information on plot management on his TV show so you should be able to get the information you are looking for by reading or send him a email.

The Management Advantage (http://www.themanagementadvantage.com/)

[Croakers]

I planted a plot about that size a couple years back. Got the seed at Southern States. It was just some sort of wildlife food plot, can't remember the exact name. It had a lot of seed in it called Rape, which I think is some sort of beet or turnip plant. It was pretty much a no till operation and I did not get it in the ground till end of July. Anyway, when it came up, it really came up, and kept growing well into Jan. The deer ate hell out of it, they'd prune the green tops and it would grow back 2 fold. That worked real well, till I got lazy and went to a corn feeder which puts the deer exactly where I want them. T.

[SEA DREAMS]

A lot of questions in my mind before a recommendation as I started plots years ago and lots of money wasted in trial and error. What type of soil? dry or wet? sun or shade? soil samples? gets complicated quickly. I have found the best sucess for a 40x100 plot would be corn and or saugam(sp). I hunt in King Goerge and deer love winter wheat and clover but am unable to get it to grow. Imperial sells clover 140.00 per bag and still nothing, so I stick with corn. Good luck. Mike

[mar-a-lee]

I would stick with corn last year we planted 2 1/4 acre plots with bio-logic it grew great but the deer would'nt touch it untill late december and at night.

[Tail Chaser]

Check out QDMA forums, which should answer a lot of your questions & there are some good books as well on the site that will help you out.

Quality Deer Management Association (http://www.qdma.com)

[Stickin Em]

If you want to plant this spring, the first thing you need to do is get a soil sample run and see what kind of pH you have. You need to get your lime down ASAP. If you want to hunt over it in October and early November, chicory and clover mixes are good. The broadleafs like dwarf essex rape are fantastic, but they are usually more productive later in the season. It usually takes a good frost to turn the starch to sugar and it becomes candy to the whitetails.

[MeOff]

Before you waste your money on name brand seed; read their label and go to your local farm seed and feed and buy it for a fourth of their cost. Check your soil PH before you plant and make adjustments based on recommendations from your soil report. SOIL PREPARATION is the key to success! Even if it says NO TILL; till anyway ! Seed to soil contact makes all the difference in the world especially with MOISTURE RETENTION.

[tubby]

turnips are the key lots of green and the deer will eat the turnips to.

[Ida Mae]

LIME....LIME...LIME... a couple of guts already said it....soil preperation is the key!:yes::thumbup:

[GregB]

As mentioned earlier, go to QDMA.com and check out their message board. There are many seed types that would work well for a small hunting plot. I would think a grain like oats or rye mixed with crimson clover and greens would be great. The only problem is that the deer could wipe out one small plot very fast.

[VaFisher54]

Soil has to be right for sure but you need to do your research in order to get it right the first time instead of saying I should have done this or that. If you read up on the different sites you will get a good feel for what's involved to get it done right.