Whitetail Institute food plot products
set the industry standard for performance, and the planting dates and
instructions on the back of product bags make it easy for you to get the most
out of them. If you’ve planted a Whitetail Institute perennial, you might have
noticed a section at the bottom of the instructions that sets out recommended
steps for forage maintenance. They’re extremely important, so don’t skip them.
The instructions are also available at whitetailinstitute.com.
An Essential Understanding
The maintenance instructions for
each Whitetail Institute perennial include recommendations for mowing, keeping
soil pH and fertility levels optimum, and controlling weeds (including grass).
Even though each of these topics is addressed separately, they are
interdependent. They work together toward a common purpose: maximizing the
quality and longevity of perennial forage stands. And that means skipping any
of them can reduce the effect of the others. Keep that in mind as you read this
article, because we’ll touch on it again.
Arrest Max, Slay and
Sure-Fire Crop Oil Plus
No matter how good a job you did
when you prepared your seedbed and planted, grass and weeds will often show up
again at some point. It’s just the way Mother Nature works, and if you don’t
take timely action to control weeds and grasses, the quality and the longevity
of the stand will be compromised. The good news is that Whitetail Institute
offers Arrest Max, Slay and Sure-Fire Crop Oil Plus to help food plotters
control grasses and broadleaf weeds in perennial forage stands.
Arrest Max and Slay
Arrest Max and Slay are
small-weed herbicides, meaning they deliver optimum results in controlling
labeled grasses and weeds that are actively growing but still young. That’s why
it’s important to spray in a timely manner — as soon as grasses and other weeds
have emerged and are starting to actively grow, but before they mature if
possible. Arrest Max is designed to control most kinds of grass, and it can be used
in any Whitetail Institute perennial forage stand, in any other clover or
alfalfa stand, and in the Whitetail Institute’s PowerPlant annual. Slay is
designed to control a few types of grass and most kinds of broadleaf weeds, and
it can be used in Imperial Whitetail Clover and any other clover or alfalfa
stand. Arrest Max and Slay can also be used in other types of forage stands, but
not all, so if you are planning to spray Arrest Max and/or Slay in a forage
stand other than the types specified, check the herbicide labels to make sure
the forage is listed as an approved crop. You can find the Arrest Max and Slay
labels on the package. You can also find them, along with an easy-to-follow set
of instructions for mixing the spray solutions, at whitetailinstitute.com.
Sure-Fire Crop Oil Plus
Sure-Fire is a type of adjuvant,
meaning something designed to be added to a herbicide spray solution when it's
mixed to maximize the effectiveness of the herbicide. Sure-Fire is designed to
be tank-mixed with post-emergence herbicides such as Arrest Max and Slay, which
enter grasses and weeds through their actively growing leaves. Specifically, Sure-Fire
helps wet and spread the herbicide on the weed’s leaves, helps the herbicide
stick to them and aids with penetration. The addition of an adjuvant such as
Sure-Fire is required by the Slay label for Slay to work. Although it isn’t
mandatory to add Sure-Fire to your Arrest Max spray solution, doing so is highly
recommended, especially when you’re dealing with tougher perennial or mature grasses.
Maintenance Mowing
Another recommendation you’ll find in every
perennial product’s maintenance recommendations concerns mowing. Generally, mow
your Whitetail Institute perennial food plots a few times each spring and into
summer any time you see anything growing in the plot (forage plants, weeds or
grasses) starting to flower or make seeds. When you mow, don’t take more than a
couple of inches off the tops of the forage plants, and don’t mow them lower
than about 6 to 8 inches tall. Mowing more than a few inches off the forage
plants at a time can stress them, and it can also speed up the rate at which
moisture evaporates from the soil. And of course, don’t mow the forage plants
when they’re stressed, such as during periods of excessively hot or dry weather.
There are several reasons to mow Whitetail Institute perennial food plots. The
most important is weed control. Most of the weeds in our food plots are annuals
that rely on flowering and reseeding to remain in the plots from one year to
the next. Thankfully, most annual weeds grow sufficiently upright to let us mow
them whenever we see them starting to flower or put on seed heads. Your weed
control purpose in mowing is to stop the flowering process before the seeds in
weed flowers and seed heads become viable. Mowing also helps keep perennial
food plots as lush, attractive and nutritious as possible. One way mowing does
that is to prevent the forage plants from expending the tremendous amounts of
energy it takes to flower and produce seed. (Whitetail Institute perennials don’t
have to reseed to keep producing for years). A second way mowing helps keep
perennials such as Imperial Whitetail Clover as lush and vigorously growing as
possible is by prompting the forage plants to put on more foliage at lower
levels.
Maintaining Optimum Soil pH and
Fertility
Finally, make sure that soil pH and fertility
levels stay within optimum range. The best way to make sure you know exactly
where those levels are, and how much lime and fertilizer to add if they’re low,
is to perform a laboratory soil test. The maintenance instructions for each Whitetail
Institute perennial make default recommendations, but a soil test will be much
more accurate. That assures that you get precisely the lime and fertilizer you
need and that you don’t waste money buying lime and fertilizer you don’t need.
Tying it All Together
Remember the essential understanding
mentioned at the start of this article? If you kept that in mind as you read,
you might have noticed ways in which the maintenance recommendations work
together to maximize the quality and longevity of your perennial plantings. For
example, soil pH and fertility relate to weed control. Specifically, weeds tend
to establish where the plot is thin, and making sure soil pH and fertility stay
within optimum ranges helps keep the plot as thick as possible, leaving less
room for weeds. Likewise, weed control helps keep the forage stand as lush and
thick as possible by keeping weeds from taking up root space. As you can see,
it all works together, so it’s wise to make sure you don’t cut corners on
perennial maintenance.
