yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Sure, but you are better off doing it from a crop perspective. Salt, we don't need to add to food plots. That is largely the attractant otherwise deer would ignore the minerals. It is the salt (or sugar in some recipes) they are looking for. Di-cal is short for Di-calcium phosphate. You would be adding calcium and phosphorus. If you need calcium, you can get that by choosing the right kind of lime when you apply lime. MAP and DAP are common sources for P in fertilizer. If your soils are low in a specific mineral for a specific crop, you can see that in your soil test. For example if you are low in Sulfur, and you are planting soybeans which can be sensitive to sulfur or if you are low on Boron, there are appropriate additives you can have added to your MAP or DAP and potash when you apply fertilizer. Your local coop will have most of these available. Crop Production Services seem to have a lot of this sort of thing.
Once again, I'd suggest we change our perspective from "adding back into the soil" which is what farmers do. They take from the soil when they harvest and add back in when they fertilize. We may need this approach at first if we are starting on ground that has been depleted or is marginal, however our goal should be a more sustainable approach. Since we don't harvest, we are not depleting the soil if we take care in the techniques we use and don't damage the soils. Minimizing tillage, selecting complementary crop mixes, and using approaches that improve nutrient cycling are ways to move us to a long term sustainable approach to deer management.
Thanks,
jack
