To make sure you get the best possible performance from your perennial food plots, make sure you control the factors you can, and minimize the potential negative impact of what you can’t control. In this article, we’ll break down how to do that. As you’ll see, the Whitetail Institute has already done the hard work for you. Preliminary Matters The “Hard Work”, and the Good News.
The
hard work in ensuring top performance from your perennial food plots is
determining what factors affecting food plot performance need to be addressed, and
how and when to address them in the planting and maintenance process. The good
news is that the Whitetail Institute has already done the hard work for you by
providing forage-selection guidelines, planting-date maps, seedbed-preparation
and planting instructions, and perennial-forage maintenance guidelines right on
its product bags as well as at whitetailinstitute.com.
Don’t
Skip Steps or Cut Corners.
To
understand how critical, it is that you not cut corners in the recommended
planting dates and instructions for the product(s) you’ve chosen, consider the
Whitetail Institute’s point of view. First, we want you to have superb
results with Whitetail Institute products. It does you no good to have a
bad experience with our products, and because Whitetail Institute relies
heavily on repeat business, it does us no good either. Second, it does neither you
nor us any good if you find the instructions printed on our product bags
excessively complex or lengthy. If you understand these two facts, then you can
see why the Whitetail Institute has put such great effort in designing its
planting maps and food plot instructions so that that you can ensure your
planting has an optimum growing environment, and you can do so in as few steps
as possible. With that being the case, you can also understand that every
step in the instructions is crucial to food plot performance and, therefore,
why skipping steps or performing them out of order can negatively affect food
plot performance. So, don’t cut corners. Follow the planting dates and follow
all the steps in the instructions in the order shown.
Whitetail
Institute Laboratory Soil Testing.
Most
high-quality food plot products for deer grow best in soils with soil pH
between 6.5 to 7.5. Most soils have a lower pH and are deficient in one or more
nutrients plants need to grow optimally. Knowing exactly what your existing
soil pH and soil-nutrient levels are, and if they’re low, how much lime and
fertilizer to add to the seedbed can only be accurately determined by
performing a professional laboratory soil test. If possible, you should also
decide what forage you’ll be planting before you have the lab test your soil.
If you tell the lab what you’ll be planting, the lab can also make very precise
recommendations as to what blend of fertilizer and how much of it you need to
add to the soil for optimum fertility. Again, only a qualified soil-testing
laboratory can scientifically analyze your specific soil, which is required to
reach highly accurate lime and fertilizer
recommendations. The Whitetail Institute soil-testing lab processes samples and
sends reports out very quickly, usually in just a day or two.
Major Factors Affecting Perennial Food Plot Performance and
Longevity
There isn’t enough room in this article to list every single
factor that might possibly affect food-plot performance, so I’ll cover the major
ones: 1. Forage Selection (making sure you select the optimum forage for the
conditions of the site) 2. Seedbed Preparation (including soil pH) 3. Seedbed
Planting (including fertilizing the seedbed) 4. Yearly Maintenance 5. Mother
Nature
PART A: MAJOR FACTORS YOU CAN CONTROL
First, let’s look at the major food plot performance factors you
can control. As you’ll see, most such factors are in this category.
Forage Selection
The road to optimum food plot performance begins with making sure
you select food plot product(s) that are optimum for the unique conditions
presented by each site you plan to plant. These include soil type, slope,
whether or not you have equipment accessibility to the site and whether or not
you can mow and spray perennials each spring. To make it easy for you to choose
the right product(s) for each of your food plot sites, we’ve put a short,
simple product selection guide on our website. Just go to
whitetailinstitute.com, and click on the link that says, “PRODUCT SELECTOR” in
the header of the home page. Again, each site presents its own unique factors,
so be sure you go through the Product Selector for one site at a time.
Seedbed Preparation
Your ultimate goal of seedbed preparation is to ensure that your seedbed
is in a specific state by the time your planting date arrives. That state,
which I refer to as a “ready-to-plant seedbed”, means that two physical
characteristics of the seedbed have been brought to the following optimum conditions:
Soil pH: 6.5-7.5 (Neutral soil pH)
Seedbed Surface: Existing
vegetation removed, and the soil sufficiently smooth and level
Soil pH of a “Ready-to-plant” seedbed: Neutral Soil pH (6.5- 7.5).
Soil pH is the most important factor you can control to assure food
plot success. For high-quality food plot plantings to flourish, soil pH must be
within a range of 6.5-7.5 (neutral soil pH). Most fallow soils, though, are
acidic, meaning that soil pH is below 6.5. When soil is acidic, some of the
nutrients in the soil are bound up in the soil in a way that the plants can’t
access them. That’s true of nutrients already in the soil and nutrients you add
as fertilizer. And the lower soil pH is, the worse it gets. As an example, if
you bought $100 worth of fertilizer and planted a high-quality food plot
product in a seedbed with a soil pH of 5.0, the plants wouldn’t be able to
access about half the fertilizer. In other words, you would have wasted about
$50. And even worse, your plot will not perform nearly as well. That’s why part
of making sure the seedbed is “ready-to-plant” is to make sure soil pH is
within neutral range at the time you plant. If soil pH is low, then lime should
be added to the seedbed to raise soil pH.
Surface of a “Ready-to-plant” seedbed: Weed Free. Another important aspect of making sure your seedbed is
“ready-to-plant” is to make sure you eliminate competition from existing weeds
as much as possible. Doing a good job of that allows as much root space as
possible for your forage plants and keeps them from having to compete with weeds
for soil nutrients. This can usually be accomplished by repetitive disking or
tilling a few times at two-week intervals, although spraying a glyphosate herbicide
can also help when the seedbed being prepared is fallow or in a heavily
weed-infested area.
Seedbed Planting
Unlike seedbed preparation, getting the seedbed in ready-to-plant condition
before your planting date arrives, Seedbed Planting covers what you do on
planting day.
Soil Fertility.
Many folks consider fertilization of the seedbed part of seedbed
preparation, and in a way, that’s correct: Adding fertilizer to the seedbed is
best done before you put out the seed. I personally categorize it as part of
the planting process because some fertilizer dissipates over time, so it’s
optimum to fertilize the seedbed just before you plant. That way, the
fertilizer will be at full strength as the crop begins to grow.
Seedbed Smoothness (Before Seeding).
Make sure the seedbed is at optimum smoothness before you put out
the seed. How smooth the seedbed must be depends on whether you’ll be planting
large seeds such as oats, or small seeds such as clover, chicory or brassica.
For large seeds, you can put the fertilizer and seed out on the disked or tilled
seedbed, and then LIGHTLY drag over the seed and fertilizer to LIGHTLY cover
it. DO NOT DISK OR TILL THE SEED INTO THE SEEDBED. For small seeds, drag or
cultipack the seedbed before seeding to smooth and firm it up.
Broadcast the Seed.
The Whitetail Institute recommends planting small seeds with a
shoulder-type broadcast spreader because we have found it to be the most
foolproof way of making sure you end up with broad, even coverage with no gaps.
And here’s a trick to using shoulder seeders I learned from those who have been
with Whitetail Institute for longer than I have: Start by setting the gate in
the seeder by eye. Specifically, open the bag of seed, look at it as you set
the width of the “gate” (the opening at the bottom of the seeder), and try to
set the gate so that it looks like some seed will go through, but not nearly
enough. That’s usually right on the money. Then, close the gate, and put HALF
the seed allotted for the plot into the bag. Next, try to cover the whole
seedbed with the seed in the bag. When you’re through putting out that half of
the seed, adjust the gate if you need to, and put the other half of the seed
into the bag. Then, repeat putting it out but this time walking across your old
path. This helps ensure uniform coverage.
Finishing the Seedbed After Seeding.
Rather than just following a set of rules, I think it’s best to
consider your goal: You want to leave the seeds at the proper depth relative to
the surface of the seedbed. Large seeds such as oats and beans should be left
just under a light layer of loose soil. Small seeds should be left on the
surface of the soil. Here’s how to accomplish that. If you planted large seeds,
then drag over the seeds to lightly cover them. If you planted small seeds and you
used a cultipacker to smooth the seedbed before seeding, then cultipack once
more after seeding. Do not disk or till any seed into the seedbed. Do not drag
over small seeds. If you used a drag to smooth the plot before putting out
small seeds, do nothing further after seeding. The Whitetail Institute’s
planting instructions for each of its food plot products will tell you exactly
how to finish the seedbed for that particular product.
Yearly Maintenance of Perennial Food Plots
Like any asset you plan to keep in top shape for years, perennial food
plots require a little annual maintenance. Again, the maintenance steps for
each Whitetail Institute perennial food plot product are set out in the
Maintenance Instructions you’ll find on the back of the product bags and posted
at whitetailinstitute.com. As is the case with the seedbed preparation and
planting instructions, the maintenance instructions are not the same for all
Whitetail Institute perennials, so be sure to read the instructions for the product(s)
you planted and follow them exactly. For example … Additional Nitrogen
Fertilization After Germination. Some Whitetail Institute products
should be fertilized again about 30-45 days after germination, and some do not
need it. For those that do benefit from it, the recommendation calls for 100
pounds of 33-0-0 or equivalent high-nitrogen fertilizer per acre. Again, check
the instructions for the product you planted.
Maintain Neutral Soil pH and Optimum Fertility.
Over time, soil pH will return to its natural level, and levels of
important nutrients in the soil will be depleted. Check soil pH and fertility
levels at least every couple of years by performing a laboratory soil test, and
to add lime to the surface of the soil every year or so as needed to maintain
soil pH. Add fertilizer each year according to the recommendations in your
soil-test report or from the general recommendations provided on the product
bag and at whitetailinstitute.com.
Mowing.
We recommend that you mow Imperial Whitetail perennials a few
times in the spring and summer as part of normal maintenance. There are several
reasons: Mowing helps promote new growth at the lower levels of most Whitetail
Institute perennials, and it helps keep the forage plants lush and nutritious,
since flowering takes huge amounts of energy and nutrients. Also, mowing also
helps control weeds. Generally speaking, you want to mow as soon as you see the
forage plants or any weeds or grasses starting to flower (make seeds). Just shave
the top off the plot — just enough to stop the flowering process. Don’t mow
below about 6-8 inches, and don’t mow when the plants are stressed, such as
during times of excessive heat and/or drought. Usually, a couple of mowings are
sufficient. Also, don’t take off too much – just enough to take off most (not
necessarily all) the flowers off the forage plants.
Arrest MAX and Slay Selective Herbicides.
Arrest MAX is a selective grass herbicide (controls most kinds of
grass) for use in any Whitetail Institute perennial forage stands. [Note:
Arrest MAX can now also be used on PowerPlant.] Slay controls most kinds of broadleaf
weeds and is labeled for use in established stands of Imperial Whitetail Clover
and any other clover or alfalfa. Be sure to follow the label instructions
before using Arrest MAX or Slay. You can find the labels at
whitetailinstitute.com. If you have any questions about Arrest MAX or Slay,
call the Whitetail Institute’s in-house consultants at (800) 688-3030 before
you spray.
Not Required Maintenance
but Certainly a Beneficial Step
Frost Seeding. In the late
winter/early spring when the soil in your perennial food plot is freezing at
night and thawing during the day, some seeds can be spread right on top of the
ground or snow if present. This will give a significant boost to the
performance of your plot and can add a few extra years of performance as well.
(See page 5 for a detailed article on frost seeding.) PART B: THE MAJOR FACTOR YOU CAN’T CONTROL
Mother Nature We’ve covered a ton of
factors affecting perennial food plot performance in the “controllable”
section. And as you’ve seen, the planting maps, seedbed preparation and
planting, and perennial maintenance instructions cover almost everything. Even
so, there is one major factor you can’t control: Mother Nature. Sometimes,
despite our best planning and efforts, she throws us an unexpected curve ball
that simply could not have been anticipated, for example inordinately hot, dry weather
right after planting. The good news is that although we can’t control Mother
Nature, we can definitely plan for her tantrums and take measures to minimize
the risk they pose to our food plots. One way you can do that is by planting
Whitetail Institute products. They’ve been developed to better withstand
unexpectedly bad weather conditions. First is Whitetail Institute’s Rainbond™
seed coating, which maximizes seedling survivability in multiple ways — by
keeping a seed from germinating when insufficient moisture is present in the
soil to sustain the seedling and by soaking up moisture from the soil and
keeping it right next to the seed as it germinates, and the seedling starts to
grow. Another way is just a repeat of something I said above: Plant during the
Whitetail Institute’s recommended planting dates for the product(s) you’ve
selected. Like the planting instructions, the Whitetail Institute has made a
great effort to recommend planting dates that minimize the risk that the
product will succumb to a climatic curve ball right after planting.
Conclusion
I could have said all the foregoing in one sentence: “To maximize perennial
food plot performance, choose Whitetail Institute food plot products, don’t cut
corners in the seedbed preparation, planting and maintenance instructions, and
plant during the Whitetail Institute’s recommended planting dates for the
product(s) you’ve chosen.” Now, I hope you understand the reasons why it’s so
important to follow the Whitetail Institute’s recommendations and instructions
for its products without skipping steps or otherwise cutting corners. By doing
so, you’ll reap the benefits of better-quality food plots and more and better-quality
deer. If you have any questions about Whitetail Institute products, or anything
else related to food plots, deer or deer hunting, call the Whitetail Institute’s
in-house consultants at (800) 688-3030.
