Fall Foodplots with Some Height

Barker

A good 3 year old buck
Had a failed summer food plot and I'm looking for something that I can plant going forward into the fall that will get some height on it.

I've noticed the bucks feel most comfortable coming out into taller food plots that offer more security (corn in the past). Can anyone recommend something that I can ant that will get a little height on it by fall?

Growing zone 6
 
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Buckwheat is a good soil builder and will also grow pretty tall. Cereal rye is another good one but it might be a little early for that.


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If you could get enough rain between now and then, chicory would be 5 feet tall by fall (assuming you planted enough that it all didn't get eat up before then). However, this summer isn't looking like a good time to plant anything.
 
Egyptian wheat
Dwarf BMR Sorghum
Forage corn
Cowpeas
Sunflowers
White sweet clover
An annual clover
Forage collards
Squash


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Millet can grow pretty tall. What are you growing it in?

What you think caused the failed plot in the summer?

MY plot of crimson clover didn't do well in parts of my little plot this summer. MY problem is compaction in heavier clay loam. One section where most of the existing clover died from being underater for about a week. I dragged some spring harrows around a few passes to get a seed bed. That spot is doing great. A second spot in my home plot is an expansion of the plot. I got 3 dump truck loads of wood chips last fall. I put about a 1.5 to 2 inch layer of them over what was lawn. That spot is spotty, but doing ok. The last section I just srpead the crimson clover and rolled it into the soil with a lawn roller. That spot is about 95% red aramath, my main weed problem. I was worried 2,4D would harm some young apple and white cedar trees on the edge of the plot, so only sprayed with gly. I read that farmers in washington actualy spray 2,4D between their apple tree rows to kill weeds. I''m guessing they use a spray hood so the 2,4D doesn't get on the leaves.

Rainfall I do not think was an issue with my plot this summer. I am learning not every spot can do a good throw n mow method.

Trying to get some height this deep into summer might be challenging. I suggest whatever you pick, you may want to fertilize the plot 2 or 3 weeks after it comes out. Trying to put nitrgoen fertilizer in while you plant might harm the seedlings.

There was interesting thread over the winter about someone growing Ethiopian cabbage. There was another one about drought tolerant foodplot mixes for the southern states.

Planting some wheat into some millet with some peas clover and brassicas could be a nice mix. Perhaps mix the taller stuff more towards the plot edges.

My plot at home is my backyard. However I have a deer staging area. Behind my house is another house with 80 acres. They leave a dozen acres unmowed as a privacy buffer between me and him. I have 2 hiding holes where its a little 12x12 cave inside the brush. They get a little spooked they dart into the the travel lane, then pop right back out. I try to leave my food plots at camp brushy on the edges. While it is nice to have open forest right next to your food plot, I do think it makes them more nocturnal in their visits. IF they have a quick and easy way to hide, they use it during the daylight more. I have "Wasted" fertilizer many time on growing brushy edges, just toss it in there. I also cut tops of trees off. One plot at camp is next to the road. I take birch and maple trees and cut off anything growing past 12 feet tall or so. Not ideal for brushy edges, but it shades it up quicker. A nice tall treestand overlooking the brushy edge and seeing both food plot and more open forest is a nice place to be. I'm on mostly brich trees at camp by my 2 or 3 spots. Most of my treestands are only 8ft tall. With the tree canopy the way it is, I wouldn't get a good look into the forested spots.
 
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I planted a plot/screen this year with egyptian wheat,milo,sunflowers and iron and clay cow peas.
 
I like all 3 I mentioned as they also add good OM to your soil. Sunn Hemp is actually a good nitrogen scavenger.
 
I like all 3 I mentioned as they also add good OM to your soil. Sunn Hemp is actually a good nitrogen scavenger.
I'm highly considering a blend with those next spring. My only reservation is that I would like to keep the plot standing going into the fall instead of terminating for a fall plot. Maybe I'll try broadcasting some brassicas into it and see if I get any germination.
Millet can grow pretty tall. What are you growing it in?

What you think caused the failed plot in the summer?
This is the first year I tried to plant corn (non-GMO) no-till and I think the soil was just a bit too wet as the furrows didn't completely close (heavy clay soil).

I also used Resicore XL as my preemergent herbicide which worked well for about a month but unfortunately the barnyard grass and crabgrass have started filling in. I am concerned about using this herbicide as it has a long time interval between planting. Anything I might try to plant now to salvage the plot has a strong chance of failing. I notice there are zero broadleaves in the areas that were sprayed.
 
90 DAY CORN?

WGF SORGUM, SUNFLOWERS, AND FORAGE PEAS
 
If you could get enough rain between now and then, chicory would be 5 feet tall by fall (assuming you planted enough that it all didn't get eat up before then). However, this summer isn't looking like a good time to plant anything.
I must be doping something wrong. My chicory doesn't ever get 12" tall.
 
I must be doping something wrong. My chicory doesn't ever get 12" tall.

The red clover in this picture is 2 feet tall, and as you can see the chicory (blue flowers) is at my eye level. I'm 5' 9''.


Chicory1.jpg
 
Chicory in my plots hardly ever gets to flower and then the flowers might get to around 2'. Maybe the deer are eating my chicory more than i thought. If I had any ambition at all I'd put an exclusion cage out there.
 
Had a failed summer food plot and I'm looking for something that I can plant going forward into the fall that will get some height on it.

I've noticed the bucks feel most comfortable coming out into taller food plots that offer more security (corn in the past). Can anyone recommend something that I can ant that will get a little height on it by fall?

Growing zone 6
Milo is easy and is a 90 day crop. Plant now.
 
I planted a plot/screen this year with egyptian wheat,milo,sunflowers and iron and clay cow peas.
This is a good one.

Any of the big companies screen seed blends will work. But sorghum, sorghum Sudan, Egyptian wheat all work great. I’ve been using teosinte to add heigh lately.
 
Chicory in my plots hardly ever gets to flower and then the flowers might get to around 2'. Maybe the deer are eating my chicory more than i thought. If I had any ambition at all I'd put an exclusion cage out there.
At my new place I’m gonna try a chicory plot. I mean plant only chicory for a year and let it get well established. Then overseed with clovers. I have been doing it the the other way before. The clovers never let the chicory really flourish. Then the heat kills the clover and just leaves intermittent chicory.
 
At my new place I’m gonna try a chicory plot. I mean plant only chicory for a year and let it get well established. Then overseed with clovers. I have been doing it the the other way before. The clovers never let the chicory really flourish. Then the heat kills the clover and just leaves intermittent chicory.
New place you say?
 
This is a good one.

Any of the big companies screen seed blends will work. But sorghum, sorghum Sudan, Egyptian wheat all work great. I’ve been using teosinte to add heigh lately.
Hoping the peas climb everything else and make it a 5' tall buffet.
 
At my new place I’m gonna try a chicory plot. I mean plant only chicory for a year and let it get well established. Then overseed with clovers. I have been doing it the the other way before. The clovers never let the chicory really flourish. Then the heat kills the clover and just leaves intermittent chicory.
My clover always out competes the chicory so I go pretty light on the clover to get a few more years of a mixed plot. Clover always wins here. Eventually have to disk things up and start from scratch again. A 50/50 mix of clover and chicory will be almost all clover in a couple of years in my plots. Minnesota
 
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