I’ve planted plenty of clover plots, but this one was special. I always start my favorite phase of the year — trailcam season — about July 4, and perennial plots are among my favorite sites to hang the season’s first cameras. When I walked into the one-acre plot of Imperial Whitetail Clover to get the festivities started, my jaw dropped at the lush and seemingly perfect clover I had to wade through to reach my camera tree. The plot was covered with emerald green clover and apparently devoid of weeds.
As I admired the gorgeous growth, I could
think of only one thing that distinguished this clover plot from the many I’d
planted; I’d frost seeded it several months before. Here in the upper Midwest,
March and April flirt with the seasons others know as spring and winter. And
that’s when I’d visited the plot, broadcasting clover seed into a landscape
dotted by patches of snow, swatches of dirt and blips of gray-green clover from
the previous year’s crop. I’ll be honest; as I paced across that plot, my
hand-crank seeder pitching tiny clover seeds into the mix of dirt-snow-green, I
felt like I might be wasting time and money. How could those seeds take root in
what seemed like a hostile environment? Yet the result proved my effort was
worth it. Instead of casting seed into a quagmire, I’d given a perennial plot
the boost it needed, turning it from a solid performer into the stuff of which
dreams are made. As I hung my camera that day, I knew I’d be getting pics of
whitetails attracted to the best green food source in the neighborhood.
Frost Seeding ABC’s
Frost seeding is, as the name implies,
applying seed to a plot when winter has barely left the landscape. In the upper
Midwest, that usually means March or April, when the season is continually
fluctuating between winter and spring. Soil temps might flirt with the freezing
mark during the early morning, warm during the day and then plummet again when
the sun hits the western horizon. Although it might seem counter-intuitive,
those soil conditions provide the ideal conditions for broadcasting seeds. As
soil temps fluctuate between freezing and thawing, the Ferris Wheel cycle
results in excellent seed-to-soil contact. When moisture in the top layer of
soil freezes, ice expands upward, carrying soil with it. This heaving process
helps work seeds such as clover and alfalfa into the soil, basically the same
way cultipacking does. When spring temperatures are finally right, the seeds
will germinate. The result is a boost in plot productivity that might not have
been possible any other way.
Proof is in the Pudding
One hardcore whitetail hunter and manager,
and long-time Whitetail Institute fanatic, uses frost seeding on a consistent
basis. Jason Say of Pennsylvania, owner of Wired Outdoors, said the practice
has given new and extended life to his perennial plots. “I totally get how easy
it is to be skeptical of seeding when the weather is hopping between winter and
spring,” he said. “But frost seeding has not only allowed me to establish the
best perennial plots but to maintain them for more seasons than any other
method.” Say has maintained clover plots for six or seven seasons, thanks to a
regimen that includes frost seeding. “I frost seed even the lushest clover plots
on my ground,” he said. “The conventional wisdom is that you frost seed to take
care of bare spots in a plot, and you can certainly do that, but I’m convinced
that frost seeding gives even the best plot a boost that will not only make it
better that year but also for years to come. I plant dozens of plots a year,
and I’ve been at this for a while, so I’ve had a pretty good chance to see what
works and what’s less effective.”
Make it Work
As noted, the ideal time to frost seed is at
the tail end of winter. “Most of my plots are at home in Pennsylvania, and for
me, that time is usually late March or early April,” Say said. “You want that freeze-thaw
cycle that keeps the ground heaving and settling, which works the seed into the
dirt and results in the best seed-to-soil contact. I seed the entire plot at
the normal rate advised on the bag, though I do add some extra seed if I have a
bare or thin spot that I’m worried about.” Another advantage of frost seeding
is that the new seeds germinate and grow quickly, which helps retard weed
competition. “Clover seed does very well in damp and cool soil,” Say said. “So that
clover gets a jump-start on the weed growth in spring, long before a lot of
weeds even get going. And since clover is pretty aggressive it can make life
tough on weeds, which is fine by me.” “There’s a segment of hunter/managers out
there who say, ‘What’s the matter with weeds in a plot? I see deer eat weeds
all the time,’” Say said. “Well that’s pretty ridiculous in my mind. Nothing
provides more and better nutrition for whitetails than clover, so I want as
much of it growing in my plot as possible. Plus, I think the weeds-are-nobig- deal
thing is just an excuse for laziness. If you can’t maintain your plots, don’t
do as many.” In addition to frost seeding, Say relies on a combination of
mowing and herbicides to eliminate weed and grass competition. “I just try to
keep an eye on my plots and look for any weeds that are getting ahead of the
clover,” he said. “My preferred method is to spray early competition with
Arrest Max or Slay which really knocks the competition out. If some weeds get
lucky and survive, I come back and take care of them with mowing. Once again,
there’s no cookiecutter recommendation on mowing. Some plots need clipping just
once a year. Others I’ll hit two or three times. You just want to take the tops
off the plants, not an aggressive mowing.”
Think Outside the Box
Always willing to experiment, Say has even
used frost seeding on annual plots he plans to convert to perennial growth. “This
is something I’ve been trying for the last few years and, while it’s no
guarantee, when it works, it works really well,” he said. “The absolute best
scenario is when your annual plot has been hammered by deer during fall and
winter, which isn’t uncommon in my area. This results in essentially a
bare-ground plot that is perfect for frost seeding. There’s excellent
seed-to-soil contact, and as soon as the soil warms up, your clover is growing.”
One of the main advantages of the practice is minimizing weed competition, Say
said. “You’re not turning dirt and disturbing the soil, which almost always seems
to get weed seeds up and going,” he said. “If those clover seeds get a good
head start, you can get a really nice and lush clover plot without a lot of
effort and equipment use. Like anything in food plotting, frost seeding an
annual plot is no guarantee, but I bet 70 percent of the time I can convert an
annual plot into a really nice perennial this way.” Sowing clover before most
songbirds have returned and turkeys are only thinking about gobbling might seem
crazy at first, but as more hunters are learning, it’s also an excellent way to
boost — or even start — a clover plot that could be your best whitetail magnet.
