Different types of food plot seed

[RedSoxFan22]

I have always planted the norm (turnips, rapeseed, winter wheat, radishes, etc.) so I was wondering other than those seeds has anybody had luck with different types of annual plants such as carrots or anything like that? Just looking to change it up a little bit here in Wisconsin :-)

 

[Catscratch]

I can't advise for you northern guys but I hit the garden center closeout/clearance sales and buy seed. I come up with all sorts of crazy plants for my plots and the deer seem to like the variety.

Try playing with this website. It might give you some ideas.
https://smartmix.greencoverseed.com/

 

[Semisane]

Always chicory in the mix for me.

 

[Tap]

You're asking about annuals, right?
Sunn Hemp is one that's gaining popularity. I tried it last year. My deer liked it.
Sunflowers are deer candy. It's fantastic but you better protect a small plot with a fence or they'll destroy it as it sprouts.
I'm adding pumpkin to my plots this year. I've heard some impressive things about deer liking the pumpkins (not the plant). That's a good thing for me because deer seem to eat anything I plant. I'm hoping they will leave the actual plant alone long enough that the pumpkins will develop.

 

[MickT]

A couple years ago, the deer kept the carrots topped down level with the crimson clover in my garden.


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[Wild Thing]

Pumpkins



Sugar beets



Soybeans

 

[JFK52]

I am trying a one acre patch of iron and clay cowpeas on my farm this year. I am going to add about 5 to 10 pounds of black oil sunflower seed to a 50 pound bag of the iron and clay cowpea seed when I do the planting. I tried RR sugar beets plus regular turnips and radishes last season and the deer just ignored them.
I did plant a 6 acre field of pumpkins many years ago but the weeds took over the field. The pumpkins that did grow were eaten by the deer.
I looked into sunn hemp seed but it was just too expensive to plant in acreage increments.

 

[Tap]

Pumpkins

View attachment 18422

Sugar beets

View attachment 18423View attachment 18424

Soybeans

View attachment 18425

Nice plots!
Looks like your beets aren't fenced? Correct? Don't your deer destroy them? What's your DPSM there?
I see that your beans are growing into your wire. I struggle with that, too. I seems like I give the forages plenty of space when I 1st plant, and when the plant is just a sprout, it seems like there's lots of room between it and the fence. Boy, that space fills in quickly, doesn't it!?

 

[Tap]

I am trying a one acre patch of iron and clay cowpeas on my farm this year. I am going to add about 5 to 10 pounds of black oil sunflower seed to a 50 pound bag of the iron and clay cowpea seed when I do the planting. I tried RR sugar beets plus regular turnips and radishes last season and the deer just ignored them.
I did plant a 6 acre field of pumpkins many years ago but the weeds took over the field. The pumpkins that did grow were eaten by the deer.
I looked into sunn hemp seed but it was just too expensive to plant in acreage increments.

What type of planting method are you planning to use? You might be a little heavy on the seeding rate. The SmartMix calculator on Green Cover Seed calls for a mix of 39.4 pound of cowpeas with 6.25 pounds of sunflowers, when the planting method is "broadcast with incorporation". When drilled, the rate drops to 34.4 and 5.6 respectively.
You aren't extremely high on your rate, but it is up a bit. I tend to seed heavily, too. Seems like critters get a good portion of my seed!

 

[Wild Thing]

Nice plots!
Looks like your beets aren't fenced? Correct? Don't your deer destroy them? What's your DPSM there?
I see that your beans are growing into your wire. I struggle with that, too. I seems like I give the forages plenty of space when I 1st plant, and when the plant is just a sprout, it seems like there's lots of room between it and the fence. Boy, that space fills in quickly, doesn't it!?

Those sugar beets were not fenced Tap. That was in 2016 and we were still recovering from back-to-back, to back-to-back, to back-to-back very brutal winters (2012-2014) and our deer density was down some. That was also my first year of planting sugar beets and I wasn't sure how bad the deer would browse them so I planted this 1/2 acre patch of them and left them unfenced and I planted another 1/2 plot of them 2 forties south of this one and I did fence that plot. Both plots did very well and I had deer eating sugar beets into mid-February before they ran out. In the spring I found 11 shed antlers in those two 1/2 acre plots.

Fast forward to a remarkable deer recovery with almost every doe having 2 and sometimes 3 fawns and our deer density has since sky-rocketed. I planted 4 sugar beet plots last year and left them all unfenced and the deer just anhilalated them. I am planting two full acre sized plots of sugar beets this year and they will both be E-Fenced!

Yes, the beans eventually grow into the wire if I don't cut them back. Good observation Tap. Roundup controls grasses and other weeds but it doesn't do anything for the Roundup Ready beans as you know. That was a small plot so I just went around it with the weed-whacker when they started shorting out my fence. Could have nuked them with 2-4,D but decided to just cut them back instead. Here is what the rest of that plot looked like:



And here is the other sugar beet plot that was fenced and also did well:

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I think milo/sorghum is under rated for us food plotters. Easy to grow (even in poor soil) and can be seeded late in the spring or early summer for procrastinators such as myself. Deer leave it alone in the growing stage so you dont have the issues some guys have with say soy beans getting browsed so hard they have a failed crop.

I am going to try a little milo experiment this yr. Going to very lightly over seed my 2 acre clover plot with milo then mow. Thinking I should get a little security cover an structure within the plot. Anyone ever try this?

 

[Bill]

I think milo/sorghum is under rated for us food plotters. Easy to grow (even in poor soil) and can be seeded late in the spring or early summer for procrastinators such as myself. Deer leave it alone in the growing stage so you dont have the issues some guys have with say soy beans getting browsed so hard they have a failed crop.

I am going to try a little milo experiment this yr. Going to very lightly over seed my 2 acre clover plot with milo then mow. Thinking I should get a little security cover an structure within the plot. Anyone ever try this?

I put in about 2 acres of WGF sorghum one year. Wanted to try something cheaper than corn. Like you said it was ignored until the seed head hit a certain stage then lookout. Planted in a fallow field so it wasn't the best crop. Seed heads were small. I only hunted over it once but observed two gluttonous bucks in it. They would bite below the seed heads and pull. Basically striped the entire seed head in one fowl swoop. It didn't last long once they hit it. May have worked better if the plants were healthy.

 

[Wild Thing]

I think milo/sorghum is under rated for us food plotters. Easy to grow (even in poor soil) and can be seeded late in the spring or early summer for procrastinators such as myself. Deer leave it alone in the growing stage so you dont have the issues some guys have with say soy beans getting browsed so hard they have a failed crop.

I am going to try a little milo experiment this yr. Going to very lightly over seed my 2 acre clover plot with milo then mow. Thinking I should get a little security cover an structure within the plot. Anyone ever try this?

This plot was a smorgasbord of milo, grain sorghum, WGF sorghum, corn, soybeans, sunflowers, peas and I think I even broadcasted a little brassica seed in there once it came up. It was a brand new plot I had just opened up the year prior by logging it off, liming it, etc, and I was just getting into the soil building process and decided to plant a "roll your own" power plant type mix. It created a great "screen" type plot and I'm sure I seeded it way too heavy but there was quite a bit of food in it as well:



Corn



Wild Game Food Sorghum:



Beans and sunflowers:

 

[scott44]

This plot was a smorgasbord of milo, grain sorghum, WGF sorghum, corn, soybeans, sunflowers, peas and I think I even broadcasted a little brassica seed in there once it came up. It was a brand new plot I had just opened up the year prior by logging it off, liming it, etc, and I was just getting into the soil building process and decided to plant a "roll your own" power plant type mix. It created a great "screen" type plot and I'm sure I seeded it way too heavy but there was quite a bit of food in it as well:

View attachment 18434

Corn

View attachment 18435

Wild Game Food Sorghum:

View attachment 18436

Beans and sunflowers:

View attachment 18437View attachment 18438

This is about what I planted yesterday minus the corn. I've had good luck with it the last couple years.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Nice plot Wildthing! I did a smorgasbord plot this wk too! Milo, Corn an beans:) For once I have had a couple great rains back to back! Cant wait to see how it comes in.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I put in about 2 acres of WGF sorghum one year. Wanted to try something cheaper than corn. Like you said it was ignored until the seed head hit a certain stage then lookout. Planted in a fallow field so it wasn't the best crop. Seed heads were small. I only hunted over it once but observed two gluttonous bucks in it. They would bite below the seed heads and pull. Basically striped the entire seed head in one fowl swoop. It didn't last long once they hit it. May have worked better if the plants were healthy.

Dang they wiped out 2 acres! You are in a pretty high deer density area! I am hoping to have enough to provide some late winter food but mainly interested in the built in security cover within the plot. Our deer are cagey. They don't like to step out in the open much.
Its been a couple years since I planted milo. Last time a I did I had a stud 8 with huge brows step out in early sep. I proceeded to high shoulder shoot him
I posted about it on here just after I shot him. Still feel like I let you all down. Maybe get a redo this yr God willing!

 

[SWIFFY]

I like the smorgasbord plots but I dont see the point of putting corn in them other that having some thicker stems... it seems like you just never get a cob. It doesnt do well with all that competition. Sorghum does seem to to be easy and effective, alone or in a mix.

 

[j-bird]

Summer annuals I have tried:
Cowpeas, corn, soybeans, sunflower, sorghum......I have had best luck with corn and soybeans because of them being round-up ready for weed control and typically in a mono-culture planting. The others have been in mixes or added to the other simply to see what happens. For the most part the deer seem to stick with what they know in my area....and that is corn and soybeans. In my exp sorghum and sunflowers are for birds.

Cool season annuals I have tried:
Rye, winter wheat, austrian/frostmaster peas, radish and turnips.....My deer seem to prefer the radish over the turnips and they will eat either of the rye or wheat. These I tend to not worry so much about weeds as they are fall planted. A great fall plot is a mix of soybeans and AWP/winter peas as the deer love them.

This year I am trying a little experiment with some garden peas (snap peas) and pole beans. We will see how that goes.....

 

[Tap]

Summer annuals I have tried:
Cowpeas, corn, soybeans, ... In my exp sorghum and sunflowers are for birds.

Man, our deer destroy sunflowers. The only part they don't eat is the stalk, and even then, they do eat the very top of the stalk. They devour the leaves, the seeds, and even the rest of the head. Sunflowers produce an amazing amount of tonnage.
I've watched them picking at the dry stalk in the middle of winter and I've also watched bucks rubbing stalks.

I love the stuff. I just wish it would stop raining so I could prep the plot.

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[j-bird]

Man, our deer destroy sunflowers. The only part they don't eat is the stalk, and even then, they do eat the very top of the stalk. They devour the leaves, the seeds, and even the rest of the head. Sunflowers produce an amazing amount of tonnage.
I've watched them picking at the dry stalk in the middle of winter and I've also watched bucks rubbing stalks.

I love the stuff. I just wish it would stop raining so I could prep the plot.

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I have NEVER had deer destroy a plot.....EVER! The shear amount of food we have vs the number of deer is just astounding! I can plant a 1/4 acre plot of unprotected ag soybeans and they will produce tons of pods in the fall.....

I live in a sea of corn or soybeans...... 100's of acres (like 400 to 500) of just like this for square mile (640 acres) after square mile..... I would have to pull up the actual figures but like roughly 75% of the land use in my area is corn or soybean production!


I added these sunflowers (the yellow in the distance) to my beans and corn to see how they would work out...... I ended up mowing them down a few weekends ago and not a single sign of use by deer..... I could till this plot and more than likely have enough volunteer growth to not need to replant it. In fact I may just try...... This was a small 3/4 acre plot.


I can even plant small 1/4 plots like this with ZERO protection..... The deer finally stripped all the grain in the plot in Jan/feb. Most folks would never be able to do that....I have no reason to fear it.


Most people tell me, "Plant something the deer can only get at your place". Funny thing is, I plant something for diversity and the deer pretty much ignore it and would prefer to pick over a harvested bean or corn field.....