Wildlife Food Plantings
Now is the time to begin land preparation for winter food plots for deer. These should be completed by mid- to late September.
As a general recommendation for fall and winter forage, plant wheat, rye, oats and clover. Try to dispense different plot types throughout your area.
A very good general food plot mix is 1 ½ bushels of wheat or rye, ½ bushels of oats, ⅔ pound of Osceola clover, 5 pounds of Crimson clover and 10-15 pounds of Hairy Vetch mixed together per acre.
Clovers may be planted with wheat or rye in a mixture or planted alone. However, as with legumes clover requires the proper pH to develop and grow. Many of the sandy soils have pH ranges of 4-5. Clovers need pH in the 6.5 to 7.0 range.
On soils low in pH, lime will be needed to raise the pH.
It is best to take a soil sample to determine the pH and get a recommendation on the amount of lime per acre to increase the pH to the proper range.
Proper Land Preparation
As with any agronomic crop planting, it is critical to prepare the land before to have success with your food plots for deer. Here are directions for general land preparation for food plots.
● Disk the area to plant two to five times to make a clean seed bed.
● Fertilize with 250-300 pounds of 8-24-24 fertilizer per acre.
● Use 1 ½ bushels of wheat or cereal rye (Elben, Abrusse, or Forage).
**Note: Rye and ryegrass are different. Mix 3-5 pounds of a well- Inoculated
subclover, berseem or ladino white clover seed with the rye or wheat.
● Broadcast seed mix on the seedbed when the soil is moist or rain is
imminent. Do not over plant. Wheat and rye can choke out clover.
● Lightly disk-harrow or cultipack so seed can get in contact with the soil.
● Maintain the area by mowing to get succulent growth.
Things to do now in the yard: Prune roses by early September to get in shape for fall blooming season. Everblooming old garden roses, shrub roses, landscape roses and other groups require generally less severe pruning now and is done mostly to shape the bush or control size. Climbing roses, species roses and old garden roses that bloom only once in spring and early summer should not be pruned much now. Cutting them back hard now will effect flower production. The time to prune them is anytime from when they finish blooming through June.
Vegetables to plant: Beets, broccoli (transplant or seeds through September), brussels sprouts (transplants or seeds), cabbage (transplants or seeds), Chinese cabbage (transplants or seeds), cauliflower (transplants or seeds), collards (transplants or seeds), endive, carrots, English Peas, onion peas, garlic (late September) kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard, onions (seeds late September), parsley, snap beans (early September), radishes, rutabaga, shallots, spinach, Swiss chard, turnips and kale.