Without question, one
of the Whitetail Institute’s most successful products is Imperial Whitetail
No-Plow. In fact, No-Plow is the second longest-running food plot product in
the Whitetail Institute’s forage product line, right behind Imperial Whitetail
Clover. It owes its huge popularity to two things: its superior attractiveness
to deer and versatility.
Superior Attractiveness
As with all Whitetail
Institute forage products, No-Plow is exceptionally attractive to deer, and the
reason is simple: attractiveness to deer is the overriding forage-development
goal of the Whitetail Institute. Other research goals include rapid stand establishment,
early seedling vigor, nutritional content, and tolerance of cold, heat and drought.
But no matter how much protein a forage has, how quickly it establishes and
grows, or how well it can tolerate tough climates, it will never make it to
Whitetail Institute product status unless it’s highly attractive to deer. No-Plow
is a blend of multiple, diverse forages. Each is highly attractive, and when
combined in the exact ratios in which you’ll find them in No-Plow, they’re even
more attractive. One reason is the different yet complementary forage
components in the product. Forage grasses, annual clovers and brassica have
always been the component groups in No-Plow, and the reason is simple: The
performance of these components is outstanding, and they continue to be a
reason why No-Plow maintains its dominant place in the market. In its
continuing quest to improve its products, the Whitetail Institute has also
added another forage component to No-Plow: a specially selected radish. The
radish’s main function is to serve as a nurse crop as the other forages develop
and then as an additional late-season food source. The radishes also provide a
secondary benefit to soil quality: Their thick roots leave spaces in the soil,
which can be of great benefit in heavy soils that are compacted. Also, any
radish tubers that are left after winter add organic matter to the soil as they
break down at the end of the planting’s life span. No-Plow establishes and
grows quickly, often appearing above ground just a few days after planting, and
it starts attracting deer right away. Usually, deer tend to concentrate on the
forage grasses first and then clovers. After the first frosts of fall arrive,
the brassicas in No- Plow become even sweeter and continue to attract and hold
deer into the coldest months, and the radishes also provide extremely
attractive winter forage. After winter, the annual clovers continue to provide much-needed
nutrition for deer as they recover their winter health losses and bucks begin
to regrow antlers.
Versatility
The Whitetail Institute
developed No-Plow as an answer to a dilemma many hunters face: what to plant in
areas that can’t be accessed with equipment. However, as I hope you realized
when you read the first part of this article, the Whitetail Institute’s primary
goal in designing No-Plow wasn’t just to come up with a food plot product that
could be planted with minimal seedbed preparation. No-Plow is designed to
attract deer. In addition, it can be planted with minimal ground preparation or
in a fully prepared seedbed (disked or tilled, existing vegetation removed and
soil pH adjusted to 6.5-7.0). In fact, the Whitetail Institute publishes two
sets of planting instructions for No-Plow; one for planting with minimal
seedbed preparation and the other for planting in a fully prepared seedbed.
(You can find the instructions on the back of the product bags and at
whitetailinstitute. com.) Either way, No-Plow will attract and hold deer in a
broad range of planting situations and soil types. No-Plow can tolerate as
little as three to four hours of broken, filtered or indirect sunlight per day.
It’s available in 9-pound bags that plant a half-acre and 25-pound bags that
plant 1-1/2 acres. For more information on No-Plow, go to whitetailinstitute.com,
or call (800) 688-3030.
