WHAT FOOD PLOTS TO PLANT IN 2024
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ธ.ค. 2023
- In this video I discuss how I determine what food plots to plant on each of the farms. Corn, soybeans, lab-lab, alfalfa, turnips, radishes, clover, rye, winter wheat, and oats all have a place on my farms but certain plots do well in certain areas, kill plots, large destination plots, and everything in between. I breakdown how I decide which food plot goes on each of the farms and explain how they help us harvest mature bucks in the deer hunting season.
You hit the nail on the head. Diversity is key and can help with keeping your deer happy through a variety of weather conditions. My primary plots each have clover/chicory, oats/clover, brassicas, and soybeans, with a lot of apple trees throughout the woods. Have enough food and enough bedding areas so they have no reason to leave. Above all, have fun and enjoy the results.
Absolutely!!! Enjoy the results of your hard work is a very big part of it! Bedding and food go hand in hand. Sounds like you have a great mix to keep those whitetails fat and happy all year! Thanks for watching and commenting!
going to work on getting my clover plots in better shape the deer really love clover
Good deal! I’ve got a few spots that I think makes sense to sew some clover in. So I’m gonna get ready to frost seed here pretty soon! Thanks for watching and commenting! Good luck with the plots
Another thing on the brassica's is to make sure you have a good pH. I had a food plot seed company for many years and I liked to keep my test plots fertility up and a pH between 6.5-6.8 for most plantings. By doing this I would plant my brassica mix mid July here in lower Michigan and have deer all over them a month later while they were still growing like weeds. A huge part of that was the varieties I used, but I know from research and experiance that proper pH and soil fertility make plants not only more nutritious and productive, but also make them taste better and I even think they digest better.
Yes sir, I 100% agree with you, ph is singled handily the most important aspect of quality food plots….throw out all the fertilizer in the world, but if the ph isn’t correct to uptake the nutrients, not doing any good! Thanks for watching
As natural food sources go chestnut trees use to be the number one food source. In the Adirondacks we have a few that have survived and the deer hammer those chestnuts. I added over 40 trees to my property .
That’s awesome! We don’t have any left around here that I’m aware of, but I’ve always heard they are deer magnets! How old are the trees you planted and how many years until the make a crop? Thanks for watching and commenting!
As always an informative video that I click on as soon as I get the notification.
You are spot on with deer density and in particular winter density determines what my fall planting are in WV. I have a lot of hungry deer to feed in the wintertime as there is ZERO agriculture in my county.
As such if I am not carrying a large base of green ceral grains and brassicas into the fall the deer start the following year off with ribs and hip bones showing.
Thanks for the s support Darin! I really appreciate that. It can be really tough to get ahead of them on some farms where ag is limited and to keep deer off of it long enough to get a good bit of growth on the fall plots. Thanks for watching and commenting!
For me it's time to get to work in the woods first. When it comes to planting I will plant corn again, and add to my clover plot making it bigger and add an acre of chicory.
Sounds like a good combination! Hope you had a good hunting season! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Love it 👍☘️🦌
Thanks for all the help !!
Yes sir! Thanks so much for all the support! I really appreciate it!
Scare crow is too much work for me.....Motion activated deer repellers. Chinese junk from Amazon for pennies, but worth their weight in gold. When motion activated they have lights and have obnoxious sound. I used 3 in a food plot this year and the deer didn't eat a single bite out of it until i removed them....... love the videos, Wes. Keep it up!
Thanks for the support I really appreciate that! That’s awesome you got those kind of results….any particular brand that you’re having luck with? I hadn’t tried any of them but I’ll sure have to make a video of one next year and give them a try! Thanks for watching and commenting!
@DIYfoodplotpro that's an Amazon link to what i used. They are cheap Chinese garbage but damn they worked like magic. I'm in the Ozarks in Missouri (i.e. no ag) and had a brassica/clover plot the deer were mowing down in sept........ ordered the repellers and the deer didn't touch the plot until i took them out.
@@earthangelmushrooms2118that’s awesome! I’ll have to give them a try next year! Thanks for the suggestion!
Where is the link to amazon?
Great info as always wes. Up here in northern Wisconsin I plant rye oats and brassicas. I want to try a summer crop. And try your scarecrow, absolutely brilliant.
That’s a great combination you’re planting….i plant that mix a good bit. The scarecrow has worked well for me, it’s something you have to monitor, and when they start getting use to it, you’ve gotta change it up, because they will get use to it and start coming back in the plot after a period of time. It’s Not as good as an electric fence, but it’s a lot easier and a good bit cheaper. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Wes, great comments. Over the years we have concentrated on only one planting targeting Oct. through Nov. for bow hunting.. In the spring we concentrate on a cheap weed free cover crop to add matter and to hold the soil. We plant most of our food plots in August to include..........brassicas, oats, WR. peas, beans, and radishes. We do frost plant some clover and chicory in the spring some corn and beans. Most of the crops around our area are no till because of the rolling hills here in SWWI Keep up the good work.
Happy New Year. Bob.
Bob that is great program y’all have going on there, thanks for sharing! Happy new years and thank you for the support and watching the videos!
Wes, have you ever tried pumpkins/ squash for food plots?
I've been doing them for 15 years and even though I have great clover/ brassica plots, pumpkins are by far my favorite.
Cheap and easy to plant.
Dave I haven’t planted any pumpkins or squash but I’d have a few guys recommend it. I’m gonna try to plant some next year and see how the deer like them in my area! Thanks for the suggestion! Appreciate you watching and commenting
mil organite works well for us. we keep the deer off for 4 weeks.then its up high enough to keep them from wiping the food plots out. we plant a lab lab blend.
I kept meaning to try some of that around here last year but I never got a chance to! Thanks for sharing your experience, I’ll try to make a video with it this year! Thanks for watching
Looking forward to this spring videos!! Really hoping you give the chicory a shot, think you’ll be happy with it
Thanks man! I’m gonna give it a whirl and try it….trying to find a place to put it right now. Thanks for the recommendation! I appreciate you watching and commenting!
@@DIYfoodplotpro I’d try at least a 1/4-1/2 acre cause mine is about 1/4 and they’re keeping it mowed
Sounds good! I’ve got a few spots I’ve got in mind for it!
I want to do beans but only have a couple plots that are about an acre each. Are they too small? How effective are your scare crows? How do u make them,?
Good stuff Wes!
Are you wanting them to actually go to seed and make beans for the deer to eat later in the winter or are you just wanting the forage to feed the deer all summer? The scarecrows work but deer get use to them, and you got to keep changing them up. It’s not a put it out there and show back up 2 months later kinda thing, you need to be around pretty close to monitor when the deer start showing back up in the plot. I make mine out of either 1” pvc or 1x1 lumber, make them about 8 feet tall if your going to bury them in the ground a couple of feet deep. Thanks for watching and commenting
Wes I have a question about your lime video. If I add lime on a still green food plot this wkend. Will it still help the soil for next planting season. And thanks for all the videos. I have learned quite a bit from them
Yes it will help the soil for next season! Go ahead and roll the lime to it! Thanks for the support!! I’m glad you’re finding the videos helpful and enjoying the content! Thanks for watching!
How about planting WGF (wild game food/milo)?? That is about the only summer plot seed that I can count on to have success with. Its easy to overseed in the fall with a fall seed blend.
I’ve never planted any Milo, there was some raised around here in western KY for several years. It is extremely drought tolerant and fast maturing…I always looked at Milo for upland game type of plot, but I’m sure deer would eat it as well. If it’s working in your area then stick with it! I may have to try a plot of this next season and see how it does in my neck of the woods, thanks for the suggestion. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@DIYfoodplotpro WGF has a fairly long maturity date so try to get it in somewhat early...about the same as corn.
@@clarkwheeler8764sounds good! Thanks for the tips!
I don't think you've ever been here in NE Iowa. We have brassicas and winter wheat and rye growing before we harvest our crops. Spread it with drones. I think if u live and depend on acorns and corn u should talk about digging 150+ gallon plastic water holes.
Hey Thanks for watching, I wasn’t meaning anything bad about north east Iowa, just that y’all have some amazing soil in that area of the country.
I’m going to plant a secluded water trough.
Bagus videonya
I just ordered aberlasting clover , I want to mix it with chicory. Hopefully this will work out good I live in Virginia.
That will likely work out fine, it a perennial clover, very drought tolerant and browse tolerant. Make sure your soil is right and make sure the seed has been treated with inoculant in order for it to make its own nitrogen. Thanks for watching and commenting
@@DIYfoodplotpro awesome thank you so much for your response and advice. What do you mean by inoculated? They have this writing underneath the description.(PRE-INOCULATED & COATED) can you please explain what this means? Thanks
clover must have a seed treatment of inoculant so it can fix its only nitrogen. Most soils already have the rhizobia bacteria in the soils but I always recommend going ahead and putting the inoculant on the seed just in cast. You will be able to look at the label and see if it has been treated with inoculant.
Wheres the best place to get a soil test for our food plots? Also I don't use a drill and I have a clover plot. If I plant Buckwheat do I need to kill off the clover or can I just spread it and call it good? Only equipment I have is a seed spreader and a lawn roller lol. I plan on planting oats, wheat and turnips late summer
Brandon a university extension office is the best place to send them. Most all states have extensions offices in every county. So long as the buckwheat gets seed to soil contact, I suspect it would do fine….ive never planted buckwheat b4. Try to time it right before a good rain event, that will really help! Thanks for watching
@DIYfoodplotpro no problem neighbor and thanks for the info as usual. 🇺🇸
Yes sir! Glad to help!
Deer will walk past acorns to get to chestnuts. Chestnuts have no tannins. Acorns do. And deer have taste buds the same as humans. So they'll walk past acorns to get to chestnuts. And you can start getting chestnuts a few short years after planting. If you have a plot with Oak trees around...AND you plant chestnuts in the plot....well that's a gold mine.
I’ve really wanted to try chestnuts and hope to soon….i don’t know if anyone who has them in my area. Thanks for watching and commenting
What is a good water holding capacity for buckwheat in a creek bottom mini plot surrounded by hardwoods?
Hey shon! Thanks for watching the video, I really appreciate it! I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking…Buckwheat raises the amount of organic matter, which increases the water holding capacity of the soil. Buckwheat is great for sandy soil where trying to build the organic matter is the goal.
@@DIYfoodplotpro I guess what Im asking is if BW is a good choice for a no till micro plot creek bottom spot for this spring and summer. I am trying to improve the soil for a fall planting of kale, brassica, winter wheat and clover mix. Or should I plant the mix both spring and fall. Can you tell I'm second guessing myself? lol
@@tntrapper23are you planning on no tilling the fall food plot mix or are you planning on working the ground and sewing it? Yes buckwheat should fit with what you’re planning on doing.
@@DIYfoodplotpro No till is what I am planning.
@@tntrapper23 buckwheat will do good with what your wanting to do. If you were planning on going in and tilling, the leftover residue from buckwheat can be a problem.
Any experience with grain sorghum??
I’ve not planted any grain sorghum, it’s a very drought tolerant crop in my opinion very comparable to corn, it’s a little cheaper to produce…but I think whitetails find corn much more attractive than grain sorghum. So I’ve always stuck with the corn for whitetails. Thanks for watching and commenting!