The Fishman
5 year old buck +
I would suggest that you graft over 4-5 different pear varieties on your root stock. Choose varieties that drop from August through December so you have fruit dropping over several months and not just a few weeks.
Deer don't need turnip leaves or bulbs to experience a frost to turn them "sweeter". That's just marketingTurnip leaves are rather stringent. After a hard frost the leaves turn sweeter, more palatable. Which is good, the deer usually let hem grow and target other food sources until the first frosts.
"ADF: All of the brassica leaves provided highly digestible forage – less than 19% ADF – that was above 32% crude protein before and after frost, which is very high. It is not uncommon in some areas to observe deer eating brassica leaves early in deer season. Deer seek foods higher in digestible carbohydrates and fats as sources of energy when the weather gets cold. Deer may select the energy-rich taproots later in the season, but our results show these forages are equally high in sugar before and after frost. In other words: No, brassicas do not get sweeter after frost."If you look at the bar charts the turnip roots lost a lot of starch after the frost.
what happened to it?
what temperature is freezing in Tennessee any who?
Sure. But it takes years to get a fruit crop.But aren't sweet tasting fruits more of a draw than a turnip?
I agree with you - not so much about turnips - but about food plots in general. To me, fruit is maybe a four month draw - at best, if the coons and possums dont eat it all. On my ground a food plot provides nutrition year round. And I can vary the species of the food plot to the benefit of the intended species or myself. In general I like cereal grain and clover. Cheap, easy, quick. Cereal grain in the fall and winter for my hunting and high protein clover in spring and summer for a high protein food source when does are carrying and nursing fawns and bucks are growing antler. Turkeys use the plots year round and doves in the mature wheat. Plant a variety of grain crops for deer, ducks, doves, and quail. Not sure what fruit provides those benefitsFor a short season, yes, fruit can be a good draw (I've done it myself) but for overall production, you can't beat browseable food. A 1/2 acre of turnips can produce 10 tons of food and provide it from October through the winter months.
My rule of thumb is "plamnt twice as many fruit trees as you think you need". Nature tends to thin them out.I live in an area that is almost all woods with basically no ag. There are a couple hay fields around but very few and not much acreage. The woods are mostly oaks.
We have 7 acres and there were 5 wild crabapple trees here when we moved in so I planted about 20 more apple trees, 1 grafted persimmon, a handful of chestnut trees, 6 pear trees, and 6 pawpaw. I have 20 pear root stocks ordered to graft and plant as well.
I have been cutting down trees that have no wildlife value and replacing but since my plantings are for attraction during hunting season, can I get to a point that I'm going overboard? Our deer density is supposed to be around 16 dpsm in my unit. We are higher here around my house.
After spring '23 I'll have over 100 fruit trees in the ground. I'm also planting more turnips every year. The deer here like them plenty. Got the kids pumpkin seeds from Canada for Christmas. Going to be a new plot next yr.My rule of thumb is "plamnt twice as many fruit trees as you think you need". Nature tends to thin them out.
I have about 100 trees too. My brother asks me when is enough... I say about 70....... years old.After spring '23 I'll have over 100 fruit trees in the ground. I'm also planting more turnips every year. The deer here like them plenty. Got the kids pumpkin seeds from Canada for Christmas. Going to be a new plot next yr.
It's a prok. I bought it off an arborist south of me who said I was at the edge of their range. He said try one to see if it lives then buy more if it does. It's been 5 years and the tree has grown well so I might get more.Why have you only one persimmon?