What should I plant?

[craig mack]

I will be making the plot in Jackson County Michigan and was wondering what would be good to plant. I want the deer to be drawn to the plot during hunting season (oct,nov,and dec)

[dogdoc]

Re: What should I plant?

for the dates you mentioned you either need to plant a perennial such as clover and trefoil or if you are wanting to plant annuals like wheat/rye/brassicas then you need to wait until August to plant. You can plant the perennial now and if does ok and survives the summer it should give you plenty of attractiveness during hunting season. The only caution of a spring planting is you have more weed competition during the summer and if you have a dry summer you are more prone to plot failure while the clover is very young. I have had great success using the perennial mixes by Hamann Farms.

good luck

todd

[Tominator]

Re: What should I plant?

Well, I can tell you this: I planted a sample plot from the whitetail institute last year. It has a blend of rye grass, clover and brassicas. I planted it last August and it came up pretty good. This spring, all 3 plants have come back. I'd say 75% of the brassicas did not last the winter, but I didn't expect any of them to return. The clover and rye came back fine. Of the 3 plants the deer pretty much ignore the brassicas, sometimes hit the clover, but seem to like the rye grass the best, which kind of surprised me, because that brassica was like eating candy it was so sweet last fall, and right now. Both my daughter and I were trimming flower heads yesterday and munching on the stems and cut leaves--delicious.

Anyway--I'd recommend some type of rye grass, or go with Todd's suggestions. I'm going to go with Hamann farm seed this year for another plot, and a buddy's plot.

[craig mack]

Re: What should I plant?

Well I went to Cabela's yesterday and bought some Biologic Full Draw. I hope it works out.

[wtnhunt]

Re: What should I plant?

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Well I went to Cabela's yesterday and bought some Biologic Full Draw. I hope it works out.

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Think I would take it back if I was you. My experience with biologic full draw was very poor. With the prep work I put in I was very disappointed, and the deer did not seem to care for the full draw at all.

Pennington makes some good blends in their rackmaster line. We planted clover and rye supreme from pennington and the deer were drawn to that plot like a magnet. Hamannfarms also has good mixes. The trefoil grower mix we planted here gets a lot of activity.

Most ryes are annuals like a wintergrazer rye and will not come back year after year, but the tender rye is a preferred food for deer and turkeys.

[dogdoc]

Re: What should I plant?

Craig--I don't want to sound negative but I have had the same results with the full draw blend. I planted it 3 years in a roll and I couldn't get the deer to touch the brassicas in the full draw. At the end of the season Wal-Mart always puts the small bags on sale really really cheap--so i usually pick up a bag or two---last time I will waste my time planting the full draw. I planted a strip right next to a brassica mix I got from Hamann Farms--the deer stripped the hamann farms brassicas and never touched the full draw. It might be different in your location--the deer might tear up the brassicas but they just won't touch it here. I did plant a 1/2 acre of another biologic product called Green Patch Plus--they did eat it--it is also an annual but has different type of brassicas.

todd

[craig mack]

Re: What should I plant?

Thanks for the info guys I guess I'll take it back and try to find something else. Maybe I'll try the Hamann Farms stuff.

[Tominator]

Re: What should I plant?

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Thanks for the info guys I guess I'll take it back and try to find something else. Maybe I'll try the Hamann Farms stuff.

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There ya' go. Oneida Man is the man. I know William and Todd highly recommend his stuff, and now that you posted that the biologic is going back, I'll piggy back on what the others said, the deer really do seem to ignore the brassicas.

[paul23]

Re: What should I plant?

I planted the green patch plus last year about a month before the first frost. Wish I could of gotten it in earlier. The turkeys were in it all the time, using it as a dusting bed half the time. I don't know if it made a difference with the deer or not. It's on the end of a long narrow hayfield. I did see plenty of deer tracks through it but I would say the deer didn't prefer it over the rest of the field.