Splitting my plot?

[wisconsinteacher]

I'm already thinking about next year's food plot. This year was not a success for me. I planted my oats too early and my brassicas did not do well in the summer drought. This was my 2nd attempt at brassicas and the deer are not eating them like they eat other crops. I'm thinking about splitting my plot but instead of 1/2 being brassicas and 1/2 being cereal, I'm thinking 1/2 clover and 1/2 cereal. From there, I could rotate the sides of the fields every 3-4 years after the clover. On the clover side, I would plant white clover and on cereal side plant peas and oats with a few follow up overseedings of winter rye. In my kill plot I have white clover now and the deer are loving it.

 

[jsasker007]

Experimenting with different things in different spots is about the only way to find out.

 

[omicron1792]

I would just combine those and do a mix of clover and cereals. They work well together, keeping the carbon and nitrogen balanced.

I truly would never plant grains without clover. Nor would I plant clover without grains.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

My thinking is to split them so I don't have to plow/kill the clover every year. Maybe I'm off on my thinking???

 

[omicron1792]

My thinking is to split them so I don't have to plow/kill the clover every year. Maybe I'm off on my thinking???

Have you read the throw and mow thread here by @Crimson n' Camo?

 

[jsasker007]

My thinking is to split them so I don't have to plow/kill the clover every year. Maybe I'm off on my thinking???

Why are you killing the clover every year? Clover usually does much better in it's second year.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

Why are you killing the clover every year? Clover usually does much better in it's second year.

My thoughts would be to kill the clover every 3 years and then rotate the plot.

 

[Tree Spud]

When did you plant the brassicas? As it has gotten colder, with multiple hard frosts, the deer are hammering my radishes & turnips.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I planted them late July. Some of them look good with bulbs that are the size of baseballs. Other are not big and are the size of golfballs.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I planted them late July. Some of them look good with bulbs that are the size of baseballs. Other are not big and are the size of golfballs.

You may be surprised. I find that many times the deer by us favor the smaller bulbs. Also many times, they don’t eat any of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RGrizzzz]

I found that deer liked radishes and turnips only when our phosphorus levels were adequate.

 

[Tree Spud]

Food plot preference can come down to what else is available nearby. Corn, beans, acorns, alfalfa, etc. are all higher draws until they are exhausted. Right now the frosts are killing the green stuff so if your brassicas are cold tolerant, they may be more in demand as we get into November. I plant Appin & Bakrant which are forage turnips, along with ground hog and PPT. Plot also has red & white clower and WR.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

If this is only your second year of brassicas, I would wait to see how they do over winter. They didn't touch the bulbs the first year on our place, but eventually started destroying all parts of the brassicas in the second and third years. Some will do better as smaller bulbs, and some they will just be happy to have food over the winter.

I would wait and see how they do after a few hard frosts.

 

[Prairie Acres]

Right now the frosts are killing the green stuff so if your brassicas are cold tolerant, they may be more in demand as we get into November.

Deer are eating the greens of my brassica plot. What kind of temps kill the greens from the brassicas? How late into November have you seen deer eating the greens? Thanks.

 

[swat1018]

I would always have clover. I like doing a border around the plots, so it's near the stands., Not sure on your location, but the first couple years in NEMO brassicas were not used. By the third year, I couldn't plant enough. Rye/Oaats/Wheat mix always get some additional radish and medium red clover.

 

[Tree Spud]

Deer are eating the greens of my brassica plot. What kind of temps kill the greens from the brassicas? How late into November have you seen deer eating the greens? Thanks.

I have had green brassica leaves covered with snow in December. I think a lot depends when the ground actually freezes. The will eventually die with more continuous freezing temps. As the leaves start to die because of cold temps, the bulbs sweeten.

 

[omicron1792]

Can take several years for deer to develop a preference for something. Give it a good 2-3 years before considered a bust.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Yeah, the brassicas in my plots have been demolished for a couple weeks already.. clover and rye is what’s left.

I used to dig the idea of split plots but it ends up being too many different planting/spraying trips to justify for me. Clover, chicory, brassicas, peas, and a light dose of oats in late July. Broadcast rye over it all in sept. Rinse and repeat the next year.

 

[Tree Spud]

Deer are eating the greens of my brassica plot. What kind of temps kill the greens from the brassicas? How late into November have you seen deer eating the greens? Thanks.

I think I missed part of your question. The deer will eat the greens as long as they are available. They will dig through snow to get at greens and bulbs. Below is mid December.

 

[Brian662]

Deer are eating the greens of my brassica plot. What kind of temps kill the greens from the brassicas? How late into November have you seen deer eating the greens? Thanks.

Between the time this pic was taken and mid December, they had every green eaten off this field and then they started in on the bulbs.