Most of us have heard
the old saying, “Variety is the spice of life.” Actually, the full quote is, “Variety’s
the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavour.” The author, William
Cowper, wrote that line in 1785, so it’s doubtful he intended it as advice for
food plotters. It applies nonetheless, because planting a variety of carefully
selected forages can maximize how well and for how long food plots can attract
deer.
Attractiveness to Deer: The Bedrock of Forage Selection
When folks plant food
plots, it’s usually to attract deer and hold them on their properties. Many
factors influence our success at achieving both parts of that goal, including
food plot location, food plot structure and forage selection. Consider, though,
that food plot location and structure only affect how safe deer feel using a food
plot, and those factors are irrelevant if deer aren’t attracted to the food
plot initially. That’s why forage selection is the most important major factor
in making sure your food plots can attract and hold deer.
Forages for Maximum Sustained Attraction
Let’s start the
step-by-step process of choosing forages for our forage group that will best
attract deer and hold them on our property. Below, you’ll find a list of the
steps to maximize the attraction and holding power of your food plots.
Step 1: Is the forage
highly attractive to deer? The
first step in making sure your variety of forages will attract deer is to
consider only those that are highly attractive. If you’re wondering why I
bothered to say something so obvious, it’s because attractiveness to deer isn’t
the only factor we must consider if we also want our variety of forages to hold deer on our property and
attract more. We’ll start addressing that with the second factor.
Step 2: During what part(s) of the
year is the forage at its most attractive to deer? You’ll need to consider the purpose for which you’ll
be planting each plot, such as attracting deer specifically during fall and
winter, attracting them and providing an abundant source of protein for antler
growth during spring and summer, or providing highly attractive, nutritious
food year-round. Almost everyone plants at least some of their food plots
specifically to attract and hold deer during hunting season, so we’ll use that
as our example. Let’s assume hunting season in your area runs from Oct. 1
through December. That means that any forage to be included in your forage
group should be at its most attractive to deer during those months. Summer
beans and peas satisfy the first factor, as they’re highly attractive to deer.
But they’re generally killed by the first frosts of fall, so they might not be
the best options for a October-through- December hunting plot in most areas of
the country. In contrast, good options would include oats for the early season
and, later, some varieties of brassica. In the same vein, oats and brassica
wouldn’t be the best options for a food plot intended to provide abundant
protein for deer during spring and summer.
Step 3: How long does the forage
remain in a highly attractive state? This
is where we really start getting beyond the initial matter of attracting deer
and into the broader goal of holding the deer we initially attract and
continuing to attract more. Even the most attractive forage won’t help hold the
deer we initially attracted and attract more if it’s only attractive for a
brief period. That’s why you should also consider how quickly the forage can
grow, whether it stays highly palatable if it matures and whether it can
tolerate heat, drought and cold. After you’ve completed these steps, you will
have chosen forages that are attractive and at their most attractive stage when
you need them to be. By doing so, you’ve already pushed the attractiveness and holding
power of your food plots beyond the basics. Even so, there’s still a lot of
room at the top of the attraction ladder. If you want to push the attraction and
holding power of your plots as far as possible, move to Step 4.
Step 4: Determine which of the
forages you’ve selected can be planted together to maximize the attraction and holding
power of the plot. I’m going to give away
two of the secrets for the exceptional performance of Whitetail Institute’s
seed products. Here’s the first: No matter how good a single plant variety is as
a forage for deer, a carefully researched and tested blend of complementary forages
will almost always outperform it. That’s why almost all Whitetail Institute
food plot products are blends of complementary forage types. The only exception
is Chic Magnet, WINA-100 perennial forage chicory, which started as and remains
a component in other Whitetail Institute seed blends and was only later
separately packaged as a single variety product. Again, I’m not talking about
just throwing various seeds into a spreader and planting them. There is a lot
more to it than that, at least if you want to realize the full benefits a properly
formulated seed blend offers. The forages to be combined must be carefully
selected based on their ability to provide top performance in many categories related
to initial and sustained attraction. As mentioned, these include attractiveness
to deer, rapid establishment, early seedling vigor, nutritional content and
tolerance of heat, drought and cold.
Step 5: The final forage components
you selected in Step 4 must be combined with each other in ratios that provide
maximum performance. That’s bad news and
good news. The bad news is that the only way you’ll be able to do that with
great attention to detail is to put the seeds together in different ratios,
plant them in real-world conditions and then observe the results to determine
which deer prefer and that show the best ability to tolerate a wide range of planting
and growing conditions. The good news is that you don’t have to do that
yourself. And that’s the second Whitetail Institute secret: The components of
each Whitetail Institute seed product are blended in the exact component ratios
that Whitetail Institute testing has shown to be optimum, and testing continues
on existing products to make sure they are improved anytime the Whitetail
Institute finds a way to do so.
Multiple
Whitetail Institute Products in The Same Site?
Hopefully you see some of the reasons
why Whitetail Institute food plot blends perform at industry-leading levels.
When it comes to providing a variety of food sources in one plot, the Whitetail
Institute has already done the hard work for you. Most of our customers already
understand the benefits properly developed seed blends offer because our
in-house consultants regularly receive calls from customers asking questions
about planting more than one Whitetail Institute seed product at the same site.
In some cases, doing so can boost attraction even more, if it’s done the right
way. There are two most-important issues presented by planting two or more
forage products at the same site. First, make sure the two (or more) forages
you select are optimum for the equipment accessibility, soil type and other conditions
of the site. You can easily do that by going through the product selector at
whitetailinstitute.com for each site, one at a time. Second, if possible,
perform a laboratory soil test, preferably a few months before planting, to
determine your lime and fertilizer requirements. One of the beauties of the
Whitetail Institute laboratory soil test kit is the sample-submission form that
comes with each kit. It lets you specify and get lime and fertilizer
recommendations for up to two Whitetail Institute products per kit.
Planting side by side.
If you plan to plant two or more
Whitetail Institute products at the same food plot, it’s better in most cases
(we’ll cover exceptions later) to plant them side by side instead of trying to mix
the seeds together or otherwise plant the products with one another. One reason
goes back to what I said about seed ratios: The Whitetail Institute has already
done the hard work of identifying the optimum ratios for each component in each
product, and if you combine two or more products, those ratios will change.
Second, if you mix two products together, you’ll need to adjust the seeding
rates so you don’t put out too much seed and potentially crowd the available root
space in the plot. Finally, remember why we’re planting multiple products at
the same site: to increase variety. Arguably, the contrast created by planting
two dissimilar products side by side presents the impression of variety even
better.
Planting in the same seedbed.
There are two instances in which
planting two or more Whitetail Institute food plot products in the same seedbed
is a dynamite idea: when planting a nurse crop of Whitetail Oats Plus with
fall-planted perennials, and to increase the attraction and longevity of
attraction in PowerPlant stands. You’ll find an article on Whitetail Oats Plus
as a nurse crop in this issue on Page 38.
The special case of PowerPlant.
A somewhat similar theory can also be
applied to extend PowerPlant’s usefulness beyond its primary purpose, providing
abundant high-protein forage for spring and summer, so it can double as an
incredible harvest plot during the early season. PowerPlant is one of the
Whitetail Institute’s most successful products. In fact, it’s so successful
that it remains the only food plot product the Whitetail Institute sells
strictly as an annual food plot product for spring and summer. Its main forage
components include summer beans and peas, which produce abundant high protein foliage
during spring and summer until they are killed off by the first frosts. Because
of larger recommended plot sizes for PowerPlant and its unique structure,
adding the variety of a fall annual to an established PowerPlant plot in late
summer can make an excellent kill setup for early fall. For PowerPlant plot
sizes, the Whitetail Institute recommends a minimum of one acre planted in 25
pounds of PowerPlant seed for areas of low to moderate deer density, and 1.5
acres planted in 50 pounds of PowerPlant seed for areas of higher deer density.
These plot sizes, when coupled with how tall (about six feet) and thick
PowerPlant grows, result in deer using PowerPlant as a food source and bedding
area.
A killer PowerPlant setup.
To add variety to a PowerPlant stand
for fall, find a stand location on the downwind (based on your most commonly
prevailing wind direction during hunting season) corner or edge of the plot.
Then, in late summer, mow a few lanes through the PowerPlant radiating out from
the stand like the spokes of a bicycle wheel so you can see down them. Be sure
that you don’t remove so much of the PowerPlant that you destroy its
attractiveness to deer as a bedding area. Then, when your fall planting dates
arrive, lightly till the PowerPlant clippings into the lanes, and then plant
the lanes with a Whitetail Institute fall annual such as Pure Attraction,
No-Plow, Tall Tine Tubers, Winter-Greens or Beets & Greens. For even
greater variety, consider planting a different Whitetail Institute fall annual
in each lane. This setup yields two benefits. First, the fall annual will help the
plot continue to attract and hold deer long after the Power- Plant has run its
course. During the early season, when the PowerPlant is still standing, though,
deer will step out from the PowerPlant into the lanes throughout the day,
making for a killer harvest plot. Again, this isn’t to suggest that you have to
plant two or more Whitetail Institute food plot products at every site. Far
from it. It’s just another idea for you to add to your toolbox of tricks to make
your property even more attractive to deer.
