HERE’S A QUICK EXPLANATION OF SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF
PLANTING FOOD PLOTS:
1. You will see
more deer, including some of your neighbors’.
2. You will see
better quality deer.
3. You will hold
more deer on your property.
4. The results you
get will almost always exceed your expectations.
The benefits are many,
but it doesn’t just magically happen. To achieve those benefits, an investment
of time, effort and money is required. The great news is when you’re sitting in
your stand on a cold November afternoon overlooking your deep-green food plot,
which contrasts so much from the grays and browns of winter, you reap the
benefits. When you have eight to ten deer in front of you, including a no-brainer
shooter that only needs to take another step or two to give you a shot, and
your heart is beating a million miles per hour, your breathing is erratic and
your knees are jumping up and down, that’s when you forget the time, effort and
money that got you to that moment.
Serious food plotters
should consider planting at least some perennial food plots. Perennials can
last up to five years from one planting. Whitetail Institute perennials offer
extremely high protein, which is crucial for antler development, helps does
produce more milk and helps overall herd health. In most parts of the country,
perennials can be planted in spring or fall. Let’s discuss the benefits of
planting perennials in spring and the commitment you must make to ensure your
plantings perform as well as they are designed to. The benefits of planting
perennials in spring include the opportunity for the plots to have a full
growing season before the next hunting season. Other benefits include having a
tender, high-quality and highly nutritious food source for fawns when they are
old enough to begin foraging and ensuring that high-quality food is available
to the entire deer herd. Plus, having the extremely attractive Whitetail
Institute perennials available earlier in the year will help attract and hold
more deer on your property.
The Commitment Required
When you choose to plant
perennials in the spring, it’s especially important that you commit to
performing timely maintenance on the plots. Hopefully, you will soil test
be-fore your plantings and add the fertilizer and/or lime recommended to let
your plants flourish. Or, at a minimum, you should follow the general
recommendations for lime and fertilizer. When you break ground to begin your
food plot preparation, you will stimulate weed and grass seeds to germinate,
and those weeds and grasses will also benefit from the lime and fertilizer you
apply. That’s where the competition for space begins. The forage you plant will
begin to establish and take over space in the plot, but so will weeds and
grasses. It’s a competition for space between desired plants and unwanted
plants. Obviously, we want the preferred plants to win. To help ensure that
your spring-planted perennials thrive, you must commit to fighting off weeds
and grasses. You can achieve this by mowing the plot (when it’s not too hot and
dry) when you see weeds or grasses getting taller than the perennial forages or
when any of the plants in the plot reach 10 to 12 inches tall. Mowing helps
prevent weeds and grasses from producing seed that would create even more
competition and also helps stimulate new growth from the desired forages.
Another option is to spray broadleaf weeds with Slay herbicide and grasses with
Arrest MAX In most cases, grass is the most competitive in early-spring plots
and should be sprayed with Arrest MAX when the grass is actively growing.
(Note: Always refer to the herbicide label.)
Conclusion
Planting perennials in
spring is an out-standing choice for the many reasons mentioned, but you must
commit to controlling the weeds and grasses that will inevitably show up.
Controlling weeds and grass competition is something you should always do in
perennial food plots, but it’s most crucial the first growing season after a
spring planting, when the forage is trying to get established and win the
battle for space. Work is required, but as mentioned, when your body and mind
is taken over by buck fever next fall, the work will be forgotten, and the
payback will begin.
