Fall food plot questions.

[Bob B.]

I have a secluded piece of ground and am thinking of planting a food plot of turnips and maybe sugar beets to help the deer in late fall and early winter.  I can get it mowed and sprayed and disced in a few weeks.  I can harrow the seeds,  but have never planted this late in the season.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  The plot will be small.

Bob.

[koger]

plant by Sept. 1 at the latest. I planted one yesterday, little less than 1/2 an acre.

[Bob B.]

Thanks Sam, my plot will be less a 1/4 acre, but it is in a real safe spot for the deer, low hunting pressure with lots of over in a major transition area. I do not know if I will hunt it, but I figure it is great pot for deer to go when the heat is on.  Also, it may keep them on my property and away from the orange hoard ... That is the plan.

Bob.

[kennym]

My bro planted turnips, the deer wouldn't touch em.

I did some research and read that they like purple top turnips , his weren't.

I'm gonna plant some this fall too, I have one plot of a little less than an acre left.

[ChuckC]

I have several small plots on my place in the UP (Michigan).  the soil is poor,   VERY sandy. On top of that, I don't live there so I can't regularly water, and it has been dry the past couple years (except last weekend when we got a TON of rain in one day).

I am having difficulties finding the right combination of things that will thrive in those conditions.

Any advice from those who know what will grow there ?  A neighbor plants rye and that does OK.  Isn't anything else available ?

ChuckC

[katie]

Originally posted by ChuckC:
I have several small plots on my place in the UP (Michigan).  the soil is poor,   VERY sandy. On top of that, I don't live there so I can't regularly water, and it has been dry the past couple years (except last weekend when we got a TON of rain in one day).

I am having difficulties finding the right combination of things that will thrive in those conditions.

Any advice from those who know what will grow there ?  A neighbor plants rye and that does OK.  Isn't anything else available ?

ChuckC

Not in your area but I had a similar spot with bad soil.  I put in clover for a few seasons.  It seemed to really help my sold quality.  I had read that clover is used as cover crops in gardens when the soil needs a boost.

[Biathlonman]

I'd be inclined to try wintet wheat, rye or Kale.

[Rick Perry]

this is the right time to plant your turnips . The deer love em although they normally don't use them until late Nov , early Dec in Illinois . But they will use them until they are gone .

Great late season food plot and hunting.

[Roughrider]

Deer sometimes have to "learn" to eat some of the foodplot plants, particularly the brassicas like kale, turnips, radishes.  

Fall planting work well if you have sufficient fall moisture.  In your area I would plant ASAP with sufficient soil moisture.  Clover like Imperial Whitetail, turnips, brassicas, or radishes should all work.  Apply about 50 pounds of high nitrogen fertilizer to your 1/4 acre - like 21-0-0 or 19-19-19 (the first number is % of nitrogen) if you're not planting clover, clover does better with low nitrogen and higher phosphorus and potassium.  

Oats or rye are good fall options too - add lots of nitrogen.

In dry areas or sandy areas I've had very good luck with chicory or sunflowers, with the brassicas being right after them - requiring a bit more moisture.

[ChuckC]

dan, do the deer feed on sunflowers ?  I have turkeys too, they would eat the seeds after ripened, but I am looking for longer term feed.

Chickory didn't do much last year, although it was pretty dry at the wrong time.  I tried buckwheat for a couple years, and it came up, but the deer ate it faster than it cold grow.  

One small area has small burnett.  It is a bit tough to grow for me but the deer are constantly thru there noses down feeding as they go.  I just reseaded back there with a bunch more.  I need to get back up there and fertilize better, but it rained like heck this past weekend and it would have likely washed a bunch of it away anyway.

ChuckC

[Gatekeeper]

Yeah go for it.

Here in Missouri (KC area) late July and all of August is the right time to plant for a fall food plot. I’ve planted the purple top turnips and the deer didn’t touch them. It was a great stand of foliage with a lot of turnips but they didn’t seem to take notice. I have read that it may take the deer a couple of years to catch on to the turnips as a food source, but I don’t know that for sure. I only planted the turnips one year. The mice loved the turnips!

Last year I planted canola (another kind of brassica) and the deer seem to really like it. In this area the canola kept growing, although very slowly, in to January and the deer would come into the plots a nip off the new growth from the stalks that once had leaves growing from them. The guys at the feed store advised me not to waste money on 13-13-13 fertilizer, but instead to buy straight nitrogen fertilizer. They said it was too late in the season for the potassium and calcium to be absorbed by the plants. In 2012 we, like most of the Midwest, had very little rain but the canola came in pretty thick.

I disked the ground, drug a chain harrow over the ground after disking to break up the big clots of soil, broadcast spread the seed and fertilizer and then drug a 4’x8’ sheet of plywood weighted with 1.5 lengths of railroad ties over the ground to cover the seed and to push the seeds into the soil. Canola seed is a small seed and doesn’t require a deep planting so rolling or pressing the seed into the ground works really well and then all you need to do hope that it rains in September.

Good luck!