Habitat experiments for 2025.

[4wanderingeyes]

My son wants to expand his food plot this year, so we will be starting that sometime next month. I am going back to the basics this year, Winter rye and clover, with a little sunflower mixed in mid season. I have had the last 3 years be a bust from drought.

 

[West_Fork]

Probably trucking in water so everything doesn't die. We are getting our first real winter storm of the wet season today, 45 days late.

 

[somich]

We're going to plant some paw paws pretty soon. They're in peat moss in the refrigerator right now. They're from a local guy so should do fine here. Got about 30 seeds.

 

[SwampCat]

It took my deer a while to figure out that pumpkins were food, but they now go crazy for pumpkins.

We get a few pigs every spring and it is interesting to see that some breeds of pigs love pumpkins and some don't. They all like the pumpkin guts with the seeds, but not every pig likes the rinds. Your wild pigs must have a lot of food options if they are that picky.

I find both the deer and the pigs may take a couple years around a planting before they get used to eating it. My deer have not developed a taste for apples in the five years I have had producing trees. Never has there been a bumper crop laying on the ground, but they will walk past apples on the tree, four ft off the ground - and never touch them

 

[omicron1792]

Do you just throw it out there - top sow? Any fertilizer or does it make a decent head without?

I just throw it. If you do at beginning of season and mow the stand it will do even better. Nice thing is you only need a couple of pounds per acre.

 

[RGrizzzz]

We're going to plant some paw paws pretty soon. They're in peat moss in the refrigerator right now. They're from a local guy so should do fine here. Got about 30 seeds.


View attachment 74033

Paw paws grow SLOW from seed. They're the toughest seed I've tried to grow. If you're serious about growing them, I suggest seedlings. MDC sells them, but I'm not sure if they sold out.

 

[PatinPA]

Picking up this mix from the local conservation district. Seems like it has a lot of what I want to try. Not sure how well it'll broadcast but I'll give it a shot. I'll just try to rake it in well.

 

[omicron1792]

Picking up this mix from the local conservation district. Seems like it has a lot of what I want to try. Not sure how well it'll broadcast but I'll give it a shot. I'll just try to rake it in well.
View attachment 74047

Looks like a great mix

 

[Electrodigical]

I want to put a mannequin in hunting clothes out in the woods with a trail cam on it to see how the animals react / interact with it. Then try different scents with it.

 

[PatinPA]

Looks like a great mix

I hope so. No matter what i'll top it off with oats and rye if it doesn't work out.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

My plans are to plant some spruce in my swamp for future bedding and along my plots. I also want to plant red osier, grey and silky dogwood in my wetlands. That area is full of canary grass, so I want to use a grass specific spray to see if I can knock it back and let the natural plants get started. I think it will be a tough battle but I want to try it out. I'm also working on getting clover established in all 3 of my plots. Last year, I had it growing well in one plot and the deer pounded it hard. I'd also like to experiment with putting a broadhead through the lungs of a 145" buck and see if he runs towards the truck before tipping over!!!

 

[somich]

Paw paws grow SLOW from seed. They're the toughest seed I've tried to grow. If you're serious about growing them, I suggest seedlings. MDC sells them, but I'm not sure if they sold out.

I've got the seeds and It's not a disaster if we don't get many or any trees. Looking to start these soon.

I've read some on keeping the seedlings in the semi-shade and then when more mature they want full sun. I don't mind nursing some but, with them having a long delicate taproot i don't want to plant and then transplant. I'm looking at about !8" pots; how long could they stay in that pot.

The guy we got them from they'll likely need a different gene pool to fruit and he's not sure if my seeds are different as he has lots across his property. May need to buy some any way.

Not sure if I read it here, a good way to get pollination is to hang a dead animal or two near the area as they don't get pollinated by bees but, the flies that visit the dead animals also visit the trees. I'll be learning something new , even though I'm an old dog.

 

[Westwind]

I’m going to spray all my non-permanent clover plots that have white clover in them. Want to try using medium red clover in my mixes and a mix of mrc and Alsike in my partial shade timber plots.

Also going to try overseeding some chicory in my mostly clover plots.

 

[Someday isle]

Not really an experiment but last year I hired a forestry mulcher for a couple days to expand my food plots.. this year I’ll be working on amending the soil and establishing some late spring/early summer food plots and reestablishing a percentage of my plots in clover. Up until now I had used my old logging roads as clover trails with some pretty good success but that’s where I expanded a couple areas. When I did my fall plots last year I added some Durana for the first time instead of just medium red and ladino. I’m going to frost seed some more Durana in a couple of weeks. In my part of Missouri we experience frequent droughts and hot summers so the clover is great in the spring but goes pretty dormant and even just disappears in the summer. I’m hoping Durana will hang in there a little better and I’ll always have a portion of each plot area in clover.

Cover and bedding - I’ve made some conservative efforts to create a little cover and bedding in the past but this winter I’m being much more aggressive in a few different areas to really open up the canopy, lots of hack n squirt, girdling some trees, dropping some trees, and do a little hinge cutting, and hopefully put more browse opportunities on my property.

I’m also going to try some Milo strips on the edges of my food plots as a screen between the food plots and the bedding areas. I know it won’t provide much extra food and be a draw but where I’m working on creating bedding areas is about fifty yards off my plots so I don’t want the deer to be able to see into the plot from the bedding areas. I don’t know if it’ll make a difference but I’m going to give it a try.