Walking the aisles at your favorite sporting goods store, it’s easy to feel
overwhelmed and confused by the number of food plot products. Between crazy
claims — “Guaranteed to grow the biggest bucks!”— and paid celebrity
endorsements, it’s almost a roll of the dice whether your hard work and money
will pay off at the end of the growing season.
Getting Started: Two Types of Plots and Plants
Understanding the differences between satellite plots and
destination plots, and annual and perennial plants, might sound confusing, but
it’s simple. Destination food plots are where deer feed, usually after dark.
These often-expansive plots can be several acres or larger and produce
substantial tonnage designed to hold deer on a property. Before deciding what
to plant in a destination plot, consider the time and money you’ll have to
invest. There’s more soil to maintain, which means more time in the field.
Perennial crops can help reduce your workload and allow more time in the woods.
Satellite plots are smaller, usually less than an acre. These are desirable
locations where people like to hunt during the first and last hours of
daylight, when deer transition to bedding areas in the morning or destination
plots at night. If you can place one near abundant cover and deer feel safe,
about the only time you’ll see a satellite plot without deer is if you’ve
bumped them. The types of seed you can plant fall into two basic categories:
annuals and perennials. Both play important roles, and determining which to use
depends on your goals. It’s easy to confuse annuals with perennials. Annual
picnics or parades happen every year, so you might think annual plants would
come back, too. But when an annual event is finished, it’s done. The next year
is never guaranteed unless someone plans and executes the event — or in this
case, plans and plants the field. Annuals complete their life cycle in one
year. The seed germinates, and the plant grows and dies the same year. You can
plant annuals early in the growing season (spring or summer) or late (fall). The
food plot, however, will not reproduce from the original stem the next year. Perennials
are the opposite. They live for more than two years and grow through much of
the year, but when appropriately maintained, perennials can live for several
years before dying. Imperial Whitetail Clover is an excellent example of a
powerful perennial. So how do perennial plants survive for several years while
annuals must be replanted each year? Perennials use an asexual process called
vegetative reproduction, or propagation, to reproduce. Perennials such as
Imperial Alfa-Rack Plus have a deep, extensive root structure that lets them
thrive and survive during summer droughts and cold winter months. Perennials
typically invest most of their resources during the first growing cycle into
establishing roots. The nutrients required for healthy, productive growth are
in the soil and cannot be ascertained by the naked eye. Too often, people grab
a handful of dirt and think, “Now that’s some good-looking soil.” The
importance of testing your soil to ensure proper nutrient and pH levels cannot
be stressed enough. If soil pH isn’t within an ideal range, micro- and macronutrients
essential to plant health remain trapped at the molecular level. Poor soil
conditions will negatively affect your food plot with stunted growth and wasted
money on fertilizer. If you have proper soil conditions, though, the root
structure can establish quickly, allowing nutrient uptake and letting the plant
flourish the next year versus struggling to set roots during the second growing
season. Soil is always critical, and testing it is an integral part of food
plot success. The Whitetail Institute offers professional laboratory soil
testing, with results available quickly. It also provides specific and accurate
fertilizer and lime recommendations for maximum performance. It’s incredibly
easy and probably costs less than your lunch did today.
Diversify
Now that you understand the differences between the types
of plots and plants, how do you decide which seed to use and where to go with
it? So many crop options exist, so how do you ensure you don’t purchase a
square peg meant for a round hole? Again, the Whitetail Institute has you
covered. The product selector tool on the top of the page at whitetailinstitute.com
is an excellent resource. Simply answer two or three questions about your
planting situation, and the tool provides a selection of seeds that will
perform best in your scenario. The Whitetail Institute also offers an industry-leading
service that’s all but extinct nowadays. Dialing (800) 688-3030 will put you in
touch with a professional in-house consultant who lives and breathes
white-tailed deer. They devote as much time as required to ensure that your
questions are answered. And the call and service are free. The general rule,
assuming you have sufficient acreage, is to plant 60 percent of your food plot
acreage in a perennial crop, such as Imperial Whitetail Clover, Fusion or Chic
Magnet. That will be your destination food source, where deer can consume
high-quality forage for extended periods. As the growing season wanes,
perennial plants will begin slowing their growth in preparation for winter
dormancy. That’s where the remaining 40 percent of your food plot acreage comes
into play. Early- and late-season annuals establish and grow quickly, providing
high-quality food that’s excellent for white-tailed deer and hunting. Annuals
planted early in the season (spring and summer), such as PowerPlant, contain
forages such as soybeans and peas designed to provide extremely high levels of
protein and massive tonnage during the critical antler growing, fawning and
lactating period. Later-season annuals planted in fall — Pure Attraction,
Winter Peas Plus or Whitetail Oats Plus — are scientifically designed to
provide abundant levels of highly nutritious, high-sugar, drought- and
cold-tolerant forage to carry deer through the stresses of the rut and winter. For
folks in the northern reaches of whitetail range, products such as Winter-Greens
and Tall Tine Tubers stay true to their names. These unsurpassed annual blends
of cool-season brassicas stand above the rest, remaining upright and green
throughout the deepest of winter’s cold and snow. The beauty of brassicas is
found beneath their highly attractive leafy tops. If your soil is properly
managed and Mother Nature provides rain, you should begin noticing
softball-sized turnips or radishes protruding from the ground. With
frost-inducing temperatures, the starch in the turnips begins to sweeten, and
deer go crazy digging through the snow in search of the sweet treat. They cannot
resist the incredible attraction and nutrition in the Institute’s brassicas.
Get out There and Plant
Gazing at the packaging on some seeds, you might believe
you’ve found a silver bullet for a one-size-fits-all food plot. Companies spend
loads of money marketing products. Don’t let packaging hype influence your
buying decision. The Whitetail Institute knows that every property owner has
unique circumstances. That’s why it spent years of research and testing on food
plot products designed for its most important customer — white-tailed deer.
Call on the company you can trust.
