Lets talk clover

[scott44]

Do yall plant a little more pounds per acre than what is normally recommended?
Durana and patriot sounds good to me!

I would say I try to stick to what they recommend but I'm usually only guessing of the size of the plot so it might be heavy sometimes and it might be light sometimes but I think it all works out in the end.

 

[huntall]

This is a mix of Red, some annual clovers from a BOB bag, and Durana which was planted last fall with some mixed cereal grains.

Right now the Red is getting hammered more than any plot I have ever seen in this area, but there is so much of it for the number of deer here, they can't keep up with it.

I've only been food plotting for two years, so a novice here - but a lucky novice. No soil test and no fertilizer. Now if I just knew how to manage it the rest of the year.

Was thinking about letting everything go to seed and then mowing at about 7 inches late in the summer so it would be coming in nice this fall. Any thoughts on managing this would be appreciated.

Any updates on this plot?

 

[huntall]

I only planted Dixie Crimson and wheat last yr and it did good. I bought
Durana and patriot and going to mix them and add a little wheat .
Think that's going to be a good combo for my growing zone.

 

[Native Hunter]

Any updates on this plot?

Yes, I can give you an update. I did do the mowing in late summer a few weeks ago like I had planned. After the mowing, it seemed to run the deer off from it for about 9 days, and then they were back. The red clover is what is coming back the most after mowing, and they are still hammering it. It did get to seed before I mowed.

I took the following pic this weekend and you can see that it is still being eaten heavily. In fact, they are using the red clover instead of starting on the new plots I planted about 2 weeks ago. I have peas in the new plots getting pretty big already in the second pic below, which was taken this afternoon.

I'm still sold on red clover and chicory being the ultimate plot for me for a big part of the year.



Peas in new plot with cereal grains and clover that hasn't done much yet. Also a light dusting of brassicas.

 

[Native Hunter]

I've been a lucky dog on getting rains after planting fall plots up until this year. This time I planted and got one rain to make lots of stuff germinate. Then we went into a dry spell and no rain forecasted here for the next 10 days. When I checked this afternoon the shady, low places looked great and the drier areas not so great. I don't think much of the clover did germinate from the first rain - just peas, brassicas and cereal grains. Maybe I will be okay since we are getting some heavy dew at night. Time will tell.

This low spot has a lot of oats and wheat that looks pretty decent - if it just doesn't get too dry.



One more pic - look at the edge of the tree line at the small kill plot. This is 200 yards away from my vantage point in my elevated blind. You can see the little green spot. This is a low shady spot so the little drought hasn't hurt it much yet. It's mostly cereal grains and a few brassicas. I won't actually walk to this spot again until after deer season. The grass cover near that spot is tall and thick.

 

[huntall]

Looks good Native Hunter. Looks like it is established really good now.
How big is the clover plot. Looks like it holds up good to the browsing pressure.

 

[Native Hunter]

Looks good Native Hunter. Looks like it is established really good now.
How big is the clover plot. Looks like it holds up good to the browsing pressure.

Thanks huntall. With the expansion I did this fall, this main plot is around 2 acres. The original plot was only 1/2 acre, and I've just kept expanding it a little each year. Part of it is red clover and some is Durana. At one spot I mixed the two just for academic purposes to see which if either might eventually dominate the other. Really, I think that mowing more would help the Durana, and mowing less would help the red.

This year I also added some small 1/4 acre kill plots and some of them have clover too. Others were just planted with annuals for fall attraction. All total, I probably have 3 acres of plots this year.

The main plot does hold up to browsing pressure well - especially in late spring and fall when it grows the best. There have been about 20 deer this year that have literally lived in it, and they couldn't keep it at bay. I was lucky that where I wanted the main plot was on the most fertile ground on the place.

 

[huntall]

I have 5 pounds of durana clover and 5 pounds of patriot clover for a plot.
Dixie Crimson reseeding clover is cheap....only$ 39 for 50# I'm going to go back and buy 50# of of the Dixie Crimson clover and plant my whole PowerLine in it.
This should be a fine place to find a turkey come spring.