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Small food plot seed/companies.......


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A couple of us are looking at the best, proven food plot seed mix for a few secluded private pieces for deer this fall. 

TONS are on the market. Was looking at this NO-PLOW seed by Whitetail Institute for starters as an annual to see how it takes. 

Any suggestions from companies or seed that you have had proven experience with? Please list them here and what type of success you had with the growth....

https://whitetailinstitute.com/imperial-no-plow-annual/

Edited by LPJR
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1 minute ago, MZ7Extreme said:

I just bought and used  Throw and grow hard to reach areas made for deep woods. I just did this area by hand and seeded Friday and yesterday.

I  will post results in a few weeks. imageproxy.php?img=&key=690b23852e6d9142imageproxy.php?img=&key=690b23852e6d9142

20200524_133340.jpg

Very similar in size to what we are looking at for several spots. Exactly the type of feedback I am looking for. Thanks MZ7 :up:

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Most of the throw and grow mixes are a majority of rye grass seed which will basically grow anywhere. They throw a bunch of other seed in there that may or may not grow. They also contain a lot of filler seed and seed coatings leaving you with about 30 percent of the bag actual seed. 

Check the seed tag. 

Food plots in the woods are difficult mostly due to lack of sun light. Make sure you are getting a couple hours of sun light. 

IMO, you could purchase bags of wheat, cereal rye, oats and a mix of clovers, for probably less than what you are going to pay for a commercial annual blend and get one season if you are lucky and make your own mix. 

For small plots, guys try to plant candy crops only to say they didnt grow or got wiped out by the deer. 

The best small food plot I found that can withstand heavy grazing is clover. It takes awhile to establish but it can feed deer almost year round. The cereal grains will give you something this fall and the clover will take off the following spring. 

The use of cereal rye will help with weed suppression the following season. 

A back pack sprayer and a hand seeder , maybe a weed whacker is all that is needed. 

On my farm in Nj I plant about 4.5 acres of food plots. I have about a 1/4 acre of clover in the woods and a 15 to 20 ft strip around my big food plot. 

The deer browse the clover year round. 

Even with soybeans right next to the clover, deer spend a lot of time in the clover. 

When hunting pressure is at its peak, I can see as many as 30 to 50 deer in my food plots at one time.  That is a lot of deer to feed and clover does the bulk of the work pretty much year round. 

 

Start prepping the plots now for a planting date around labor day. 

 

Edited by tcook8296

www.liftxrentals.com

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I have 4 small plots to do. One is done with No Plow - just coming up but looks nice right now. Used a manual tiller to set that up. That beat me up too much. I'll save that for the garden patch near the house later.

Got a used ATV and a new ATV plow so doing the other three plots soon. Have to move some fallen trees I wanted to leave alone but backing up the plow on the ATV is a PIA. By removing 3 fallen tress I'll have a long round track logging road plot so the deer walk in circles. :)   And I won't have to plow in reverse. Plans is to seed it all in No Plow. ALso throwing in some Whitetail Turnips. I have a bag of throw and grow might save a spot for that or make some other small patches.

As noted by others before, definitely good ides to get soil tested. Each plot was a little different. The one I have at higher ground needs 200 pounds of lime vs bottom one only 100 pounds. First time doing this plot work so good advice,.

 

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2 hours ago, Lunatic said:

small plots can be frustrating. You plant them for deer to come. They do but since the area is small in many cases it is gone in a week or so.

Portable solar electric fences are your friend until you are ready to let the deer eat.  

 

Lou, please don't waste your hard earned money on gimmick bags of seed.  They can be as much as 75X the cost per pound!  Also, they are often using old seed that the seed company had leftover at the end of a given season.  Clover is best IMO for a small plot.  We sew it in with oats, but cereal rye will work also.  I prefer the oats myself.  

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48 minutes ago, Bucksnbows said:

Portable solar electric fences are your friend until you are ready to let the deer eat.  

 

Lou, please don't waste your hard earned money on gimmick bags of seed.  They can be as much as 75X the cost per pound!  Also, they are often using old seed that the seed company had leftover at the end of a given season.  Clover is best IMO for a small plot.  We sew it in with oats, but cereal rye will work also.  I prefer the oats myself.  

No thanks. although I am sure it would work. My days of feeding deer in any way are long over. I am a happier hunter for it and my success ratio is actually much better.
BTW I am not against feeding or food plots. I did it for years and at times it was actually fun.

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Tcook hit the nail on the head. I had basically that exact reply typed up last night but deleted it. I was expecting arguments. I’ll add to it, do a soil test. And amend with lime now. Start spraying your weeds now. Add your fertilizers when you plant. If a mix has a ryegrass in it, keep looking. If a mix has buckwheat in it keep looking (the small % is useless) not to mention it’s a summer planted forage/covercrop. The bag of seed pictured above unfortunately was a waste of time and money and sweat. The rye grass is a filler and garbage, it’s too early for brassicas, and the clover will likely do nothing right now. I would go heavy with rye grain, add some annual clovers for this fall. Then frost seed perennial clovers for the following year. Don’t waste your time with peas, beans or brassica/turnips in a small plot in the woods. You need a acreage for them to withstand browsing. The idea of a fence for an 1/8 acre sized plot sounds good but again useless. They can wipe a candy plot out overnight. 

Edited by Livesintrees
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