Deer must love sunflowers

[WTNUT]

As some of you know from other places I now not speak of :), I planted a mix of sunflowers, soybeans, sorghum and buckwheat on at least 20 acres of ground this spring. I just got to the farm and I tell you I don't think I have a single sunflower anywhere.


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[scott44]

I planted about the same mix just not as much and I don't have a single sunflower in my plot.

 

[browndog]

They love them. I got away with planting them one year about 10yrs ago. I planted a couple rows of the mammoth grey stripe and the deer never touched them until fall when the bucks decided to use everyone as rubbing posts. I tried planting them the following year and the deer never let them get over 12" tall.

 

[Btaylor]

Three years running and have yet to make a single flower. If we start getting flowers I will be concerned about the population.

 

[Catscratch]

Sunflowers were they are hitting them hard.

Currently out pacing the deer.

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[WTNUT]

I have plenty of beans.

 

[Tap]

The only way I can grow them is with an E fence.

This is a few days after the fence was removed. You can see some browsing has started.



Here's the same plot several weeks later.
I've also watched bucks scent mark stocks during the rut.
I love growing sunflowers.

 

[WTNUT]

Thought I had attached this earlier. Shows good growth of everything but the sunflowers.


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[Peplin Creek]

Does anyone add the sunflowers to there fall mix? Like in oats/rye? If so how does it work out?

 

[Semisane]

I do. But expect them to be wiped out fairly early. They don't make it past three or four inches. Deer candy and a great early draw to the plot.

 

[Peplin Creek]

Thanks Semisane, I will try a couple plots with it this fall.

 

[nitro27]

Been planting them mid Aug. for several years, one of my best archery plots. Deer eat them like candy. Within a month, an acre+ will be completely gone. I usually mix with peas or rye.

 

[huthut]

Sunflowers by me also disappear very quickly without an efence. Next year that ?might be in my plans! I wonder how long 2 acreas of mature sunflowers would last once teh fence came down?

 

[nitro27]

Sunflowers by me also disappear very quickly without an efence. Next year that ?might be in my plans! I wonder how long 2 acreas of mature sunflowers would last once teh fence came down?

At my place, deer aren't the problem for mature sunflowers, BLACKBIRDS will clean out a couple of acres in a few days.

 

[Fat Lab]

I plant 10 acres every year for a dove field. E-fence was the only thing that would keep them out. Believe me when I say a few deer can have a large field wiped out in a couple of nights. They eat them from emergence all the way until they dry down.

 

[huthut]

Looks like I need to plant a bigger sunflower field next year if I want it to last any length of time.

 

[WTNUT]

I plant 10 acres every year for a dove field. E-fence was the only thing that would keep them out. Believe me when I say a few deer can have a large field wiped out in a couple of nights. They eat them from emergence all the way until they dry down.

Do you spray Gly a time or two before planting to try and keep weeds down?


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[Nova]

Same here, I have never been able to get them more than a foot tall before they are wiped out. Last fall I planted sunflowers with rye just for a winter cover crop on a newly made plot. The rye did great, the sunflowers got 4-8" tall before they were wiped out.

 

[Fat Lab]

WTNUT. Initial burndown of Gly. Dual Magnum pre-emerg tank mixed with Nitrogen immediately after planting & Cadre over the top at about the 8 leaf stage. Don't get me wrong, some weeds will emerge this time of year after the Cadre starts to lose it soil activity but what's there will be cleaned up with Gramoxone the 2nd week of August. I would usually hit a couple rows with the bush hog after spraying gramoxone to scatter seed(Yes, its legal in my state) but we've gotten some pretty serious thunderstorms as of lately so there's enough blown down to get me through the first season.

 

[Fat Lab]