Food plot question


bowhunter97

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Im going to put in a summer plot i guess since my deer season starts in august. My question is if i were to plant a plot this weekend, disk it up, seed it and all what would i want to plant? For best protein, to pull in the most deer and to keep them there until into august? This is my first food plot im puttin in and i want to make sure i plant the right stuff.

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About half an acre, not sure on the soil type as it always has grass/weeds on it, i we get a fair amount of rain but i want something that can take allot of sunlight because it gets allot throughout the day as it is pretty open. I was thinking something like peas or clover or something like that. I know i cant tell you too much about it because i dont know anything about planting.

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Don't know how early you would want to plant there. Usually summer(late May to July) plantings here and the beans get hammered on into season.

Brad at eagle seeds is a member here but he has not been around in a while, if you have a dealer local would ask them.

Beans are a good source of high protein and deer love them.

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My go to seed for all around protein and green is clover....BUT you must lime & fertilize...and may have to clip it if it starts to flower, plus before you plant kill off all competition with roundup

Clover is the way to go. Fertilizer is a must as you want it to choke out weeds and grass as soon as possible.

1/2 acre of beans in my area would be demolished if no other bean field existed right next to it. Check out grant woods growing deer tv for more information on that. If you are dead set on beans is recommend eagle seed forage beans.

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Clovers are great, no doubt about that, but rr varieties of beans imho are easier to get good results with. You can spray as needed to control the weeds.

I have no doubt deer will eat beans where you are. Unless you have a high density 1/2 acre of eagle seeds should make it. Never had any problems with over browsing plots that size here.

Problem you would likely face with clovers with new ground would be weeds. I plant covers in the fall here due to less competition from invasive weeds.

If you do decide to go with clovers, would be sure to burn down your plot site. Generic roundup(glyphosate) and 2 4 d will do a good job. Would wait a few weeks and hit it again when the seed from what you sprayed starts coming in. Be sure to check your soil and adjust accordingly with lime. A poor stand of clover due to improper ph is not going to do as well at drawing deer as one that has ph in range.

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I guess my first question is what are you going to put it in with?

Tractor? ATV? Jeep? Shovel? :)

How you prepare your seed bed and how you plant will dictate what kind of plot you can make as much as anything.

Do you have a tractor, plow, disc and grain drill or broadcast and cultipack afterwards?

I plow and disc my plots every other year and just broadcast a big rack mix from my local seed/feed co op.

I wish I could find a cultipacker for a reasonable price.

I used to have an old JD drill and would put in a couple of acres of rye but I sold that.

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