By William Cousins
Designed to last for years from a single planting, Whitetail Institute perennial food plot products should most often be the backbone of your food plot system. If you choose a Whitetail Institute perennial designed for the soil conditions of the site, follow the planting and maintenance instructions and get a little cooperation from Mother Nature, you will produce a lush, thick stand of highly nutritious food that will attract and hold deer year-round for up to five years. Eventually, though, there may come a time when you may need to do a crop rotation even after the best perennial food plot crops.
What is “crop rotation”? Crop rotation is a best-management agricultural practice for the soil in your food plots. Specifically, any soil that is asked to grow the same crop year after year, whatever the crop, eventually may require a break. After removing the existing crop, it may help rejuvenate the soil in some cases by planting different forage types in the site for a growing season (“rotating” out of the old crop and into one that’s totally different). This is generally true of long-term perennial crops, and it’s also true of annual brassica. One perennial — alfalfa — bears special mention. I’ll cover brassica and alfalfa separately later. Soil-borne diseases and pests can build up in any soil that’s asked to continually sustain the same crop for years. That includes perennial food plot plantings, even though in some cases it may be less of a problem with Whitetail Institute forages that are blends of multiple different forage types, which may delay the need for crop rotation.When is crop rotation necessary? Determining if and when a crop rotation is needed is usually fairly simple. The biggest clue that you might need to rotate is noticing that the existing crop just isn’t growing as well as it should and has in the past, even though you planted and have maintained the forage according to directions (including making sure soil pH is neutral, and soil fertility is optimum). If the weather conditions are similar to the past and you see that, then diagnosis is usually straightforward. First, pull up some of the plants, and look at the roots. The roots should be firm and healthy looking. If they are soft, spindly or weak looking, there’s a good chance that the soil has a build-up of root-rot organisms like fungus, which can cause poor crop yield or even complete failure. Second, while you’re digging around in the soil, look for root-eating insects and their larvae, which can also build up over time. Either of these also indicates that it is time to rotate.
What should I plant as a rotational crop? When deciding what to plant as a rotational crop, select plant types that are different from those you had growing in the site. Most Whitetail Institute fall/winter annuals are good rotational crops after Imperial Whitetail Clover, Alfa-Rack Plus, Fusion, or Vision. If you had Tall Tine Tubers or Winter-Greens growing in the site during the fall and winter, rotate into PowerPlant the following spring and summer. The key is that the plant types in the rotational crop should be different from those in the existing crop.
Brassica and alfalfa: Each situation is different, but due to unique characteristics of brassicas it’s generally recommended that you not plant brassica back-to-back in the same site for more than a year or two in a row without a break. The issue can be reduced if the seedbed is correctly prepared prior to planting, including ground tillage, and if tillage is started several months before replanting. To clean the soil as quickly as possible following a brassica crop, though, plant the site in a completely different type of annual during the spring and summer. As I mentioned, PowerPlant is an excellent choice. Plan ahead with plot locations so that you can plant your brassica in different plots every two years. Alfalfa’s autotoxicity property can inhibit the growth of a new alfalfa crop that is seeded into or planted immediately after an existing alfalfa stand in the same site.
Final thoughts. Keep in mind that the most important
factors to ensure food plot success are: (1)Select a Whitetail Institute perennial food
plot product that’s designed for the conditions of the site, (2)Prepare the seedbed and plant a.during the Whitetail Institute’s recommended
planting dates for the product, and b.according
to the Whitetail Institute’s published instructions for the product you have
selected (3)If you’ve selected a
perennial, also perform the simple maintenance steps the Whitetail Institute
recommends. The foregoing steps should
keep your Whitetail Institute perennials in top shape for three to five years
or longer. After the existing planting has run its course, consider planting
an annual Whitetail Institute product that has completely different plant types
in it from the existing planting for a season. After that, the soil should be
ready to be worked up again for another long-term planting of your favorite
Whitetail Institute perennial. If you
have any questions about crop rotation, give the Whitetail Institute’s in-house
consultants a call at (800) 688-3030.
