Put
simply, Winter Peas Plus is different from other “pea” food plot products for
fall and winter — very different. In this article, I’ll explain why, but I’m
not going to suggest that you try Winter Peas Plus based solely on what you’ll
read here. That’s because if you know what to look for, you’ll reach that
decision on your own. Check Out Other Fall/Winter “Pea” Products
Most
hunters know that winter peas generally grow quickly and start attracting deer
as soon as they sprout, and that some keep doing so through winter. That’s why
there are so many products on the market with “winter peas” on the package.
Have you ever considered, however, what percentage of those products is
actually represented by peas? Winter Peas Plus is more than 80 percent peas.
When you’re choosing a “winter pea” food plot product to try next fall, keep in
mind the old saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” Nowhere is it more
true than with fall/winter “pea” products for deer. Believe it or not, some such
products actually contain less than 10 percent peas. And to make matters even worse,
some make up the difference with lower-quality forage components that don’t add
much to the plot in the way of attraction. The good news for consumers is that
federal law requires that all food plot seed products carry an ingredient tag
on the package. That’s the first thing you should look at to make sure the
product really is what its name implies.
What’s in Winter Peas Plus? The peas.
There
are two pea varieties in Winter Peas Plus. Both varieties are sugar rich, high
protein and cold tolerant. In side-by-side cafeteria tests across North America,
these varieties consistently proved themselves many times more attractive to
deer than any other variety the Whitetail Institute tested. Even so, the
Whitetail Institute continued research and testing of the pea varieties it selected
in combination with other, complementary forages to ensure the new product
would produce up to the Whitetail Institute’s relentless expectations. One
reason the Whitetail Institute researches blends so heavily is that it’s rare
for one type of forage plant to provide optimum performance in all the
categories for which the Whitetail Institute tests. That’s why most Institute
forage products are blends of multiple forage components, which are
painstakingly selected and then combined in optimum ratios as shown by
Whitetail Institute testing. The pea varieties the Whitetail Institute selected
for Winter Peas Plus are so highly attractive — attracting deer to them as soon
as they sprout out of the ground — that they can suffer from early overgrazing when
planted alone. Accordingly, the Whitetail Institute added the Plus components
to act as a cover crop for the peas to help reduce the likelihood of
overgrazing and add even more early- and late-season attraction.
The Plus components
In
addition to the pea varieties, Winter Peas Plus contains small amounts of three
other forages: Whitetail Oats, a winter lettuce and a specially selected
radish. Whitetail Oats are included to increase fall attraction even further and
to act as a cover crop for the peas. Whitetail Oats establish very quickly and,
like the pea varieties in Winter Peas Plus, are cold tolerant and have proven
themselves extremely attractive to deer. The two other Plus components in
Winter Peas Plus, a winter lettuce and radish, also act as cover crops to help
protect the peas from early overgrazing, and they provide additional forage for
deer later into the cold months. Each Plus component has been carefully
selected and combined in optimum ratios with the other forages in Winter Peas
Plus to maximize the initial and long-lasting performance of the stand as a deer
forage.
Other Performance Considerations
As
mentioned, Winter Peas Plus contains more than 80 percent peas, consisting of
two highly attractive pea varieties, Plus Whitetail Oats, a winter lettuce and
radish that act as cover crops for the peas and add forage variety and
attraction. Even though that’s likely enough information to convince you to try
Winter Peas Plus, don’t forget that when you’re talking about Whitetail
Institute forage products, what’s on the bag is as important as what’s in the
bag: specifically the Whitetail Institute’s name. The Whitetail Institute has
been providing folks like you with industry- leading forage products for a
quarter century and relies on repeat business. That’s why we put maximum effort
into research, development and testing to make sure that every Whitetail
Institute forage product is the very best the Institute can make so that
customers get the results they expect. That includes using only those forage components
that outperform all others tested by the Whitetail Institute in a wide range of
categories. The most important are attractiveness to deer, nutritional quality
and sustained palatability. Other performance categories include how rapidly
the stand establishes and grows, tolerance of heat, cold and drought,
resistance to disease and other factors. That’s true of all Whitetail Institute
products, including Winter Peas Plus. Winter Peas Plus is available in 11-pound
bags that plant 1/4-acre. If you’d like more information about new Winter Peas
Plus, call the Whitetail Institute’s in-house consultants at (800) 688-3030.
