Designed
to deliver excellent attraction and nutrition in fully prepared seedbeds or
with minimal ground preparation, Imperial Whitetail No-Plow is one of the Whitetail
Institute’s most successful and long-running products. With all that, what more
is there to say? How about, “Now, No-Plow is even better with the inclusion of
two new, highly attractive and nutritious forages.”
WHAT MAKES NO-PLOW SPECIAL?
There’s a reason why No-Plow is one of the Whitetail
Institute’s longest-running products: It’s a result of the Whitetail Institute’s
customer driven approach. When it comes to new product development, the
Whitetail Institute has always been customer-driven. Most of its new product ideas
come from folks who actually use food plot products in the field: hunters and
managers. And when the Whitetail Institute recognizes a need, it acts by
starting research and development toward a product that will meet it. That was
the driving force behind the development of the Whitetail Institute’s first
product, Imperial Whitetail Clover, which to this day contains the only clover
varieties ever specifically developed for deer. The same is true of Imperial Whitetail
Extreme, (designed to meet the needs of folks in lower rainfall areas),
Winter-Greens, Tall Tine Tubers, and the rest of the Whitetail Institute’s
product line. For perhaps as long as humans have planted food plots for deer, hunters
have always been faced with a dilemma: finding a food plot product that would
attract and hold deer like a magnet even in sites that couldn’t be accessed
with tillage equipment. That’s why the Whitetail Institute started working to
meet that need so early in its history.
The first step the Whitetail Institute’s
scientists and agronomists took when they started the research-and-development
project that would ultimately lead to No-Plow was to identify specific
attributes the new forage product would need to possess. One might assume that their
primary research and development goal was to develop a product that could
perform well even with minimal ground preparation. Certainly the no-till aspect
was important, but the overriding research goal was something else:
attractiveness to deer. Without that, the product would be doomed from the
outset and never make it to Whitetail Institute product status. Other research
goals included rapid stand establishment; early seedling vigor; drought and heat
tolerance; the ability to perform well from early fall, through the coldest
months of the year, and even into the spring; and yes, the capability to thrive
even when planted with minimal ground preparation.
Rarely will a single plant
variety excel in all these performance categories. Accordingly, the Whitetail
Institute worked toward developing a blend of multiple plant varieties that,
acting in combination, would satisfy all these performance goals. Was the
effort successful? Absolutely. All you have to do is look at how long No-Plow
has been on the market to know that.
The final test blends that went on for real-world
testing on free-ranging deer consisted of three main component groups: forage
grains and grasses, annual clovers and brassica. These were the same basic
component groups in No- Plow when it was first introduced, and they have remained
so even as the Whitetail Institute has continued to improve No-Plow through the
years. The reason is simple: This structure works and has helped No-Plow
maintain its dominant place in the market. All the components establish and
grow quickly, often appearing above ground just a few days after planting, and
start drawing deer right away. Usually, deer tend to concentrate on the forage
grains and grasses first and then the clovers. Once 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 of the year. 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.
All that is nothing new
to folks who’ve used No-Plow before. The Whitetail Institute regularly receives
testimonials from hunters and managers from across the United States and Canada
telling the Whitetail Institute of the success they’ve had with No-Plow. Even
so, the Whitetail Institute is always looking for ways to make even its most
popular products better and better, and No-Plow is yet another example.
WHAT’S NEW?
No-Plow still contains the same components that
have made it a favorite with Whitetail Institute customers, plus two new forage
components: a specially selected radish and a new lettuce.
The newly added
radish and lettuce are highly attractive and help No-Plow draw and hold deer even
better. But that’s not all they do. They also improve soil structure and
fertility. The specially selected radish grows a large root. As the planting reaches
the end of its life, any roots not devoured by your deer will decompose and leave
air spaces, which help aerate the soil. This allows better water filtration and
air movement throughout the soil, both of which are important to root
development and the growth of healthy plants. The large roots also recycle
nutrients to the top 8 to 12 inches of the soil, making them available to
plants in subsequent food plot plantings.
In short, if you’ve used No-Plow
before and liked it the way it was, don’t worry — you’ll find the same
components in the new No-Plow that worked so well for you before. Plus, you’ll
be getting even better attraction, and you’ll be improving your soil structure
at the same time, whether you plant new No-Plow in a fully prepared seedbed or
according to our no-tillage instructions. If you’re one of the few who is new to
No-Plow, I have only one question: What are you waiting for?
