How'd your food plots turn out?

[MQ1ofKy]

Just wondering how your plots did this year and what you planted?
Are you getting any action on them?
I planted about 2acres of Buckwheat and Cowpea mixture...The buckwheat is being eaten lightly and has a great amount of see on it. It will be awesome for the feathered critters later in the year. The cowpea is all but gone...Seems the deer have focussed all their attention on it over the last few weeks. They've tramped down the buckwheat badly getting it all out. I planted about 3/4 of an acre of it alone about 4 weeks ago and it got great germination, but has not had a chance to grow higher that 6" tall...It's being eaten faster than it can grow..It gets an "A" in my book..."C" for the Buckwheat....Oh and by the way..The deer are aquiring a taste for the pumpkins..I'm seeing more and more w/large gaping holes in them. Kind of weird..
)))--->
Mike

[Boss Gobbler]

I planted a mixture of winter wheat, clover, and biologic. The turkey dug up and ate the winter wheat seed and as soon as the clover and biologic started sprouting the deer tore it up so bad I dont know if it will recover unless it rains. The deer are also eating watermelons. I think they are eating whatever they can find.

[KYhunter]

Last years clover has done pretty well and the deer(and turkeys) seem to like it. Disced up about half the plots and planted the winter wheat today. Did not overseed with any clover. Think we will disc up the wheat next spring and put the plots in oats, then back to wheat next Sept.

[N2hepcoop]

Usually holes in pupmkins or melons is signs of crows.

[KYhunter]

I have heard that turkeys can also be hard on pumpkins and melons.

[Boss Gobbler]

Not when you see deer doing it.

[Landguy]

Clover is still alive but not a lot of action in it. It's been dry here since May. Plowed a field yesterday for wheat but unless we get some rain I might as well have been joy riding. First time I ever raised a dust storm while plowing.

[perrymax]

My milo came up and developed good seed heads,but they only lasted about a week.Something picked them clean,birds I think.That's the first time that's happened.The seed is usally left alone until Oct.I gave up on sunflowers because the deer ate them all.I planted sunflowers the last 4 years.I wonder if the goldfinches and other small birds that are everywhere every Sept.couldn't find the sunflower that they were used to every year and just settled for the milo.Maybe they won't come back next year!!

I planted german foxtail millet for my dove field and it did great.Deer don't eat it and it's not sturdy enough for the finchs to land on.As long as you mow and rake it,I can't imagine anything better for a dove field.I released 50 quail a few weeks ago and I allways find them in what's left of the millet.

I planted 5 acres of native grass.I didn't get much rain early and I think I didn't use enough Plateau.It has a bunch of crabgrass in it and it got choked pretty bad.It will be allright next year though.

[Boss Gobbler]

Well it rained. What was left of my food plot, got trampled into the mud by deer.

[Lewis]

I have just obtained permission to start a food plot on some land that I will be huning this fall. It is all bottom land that has been used for pasture and farming in the past. It has just been cleared off with a dozer and is now bare ground. I would like to start an anual plot. I don't have any expirence with food plots and all I know is what I have read on this site. I will be disking over the lasd and sowing seed this weekend. Can some of you expirenced guys on here give me some advice. I have about 3-4 acers to work with. I would like to start simple and try new stuff as I gain a little expirence. Please include how much of each seed (pounds) to sow in the area I have........Thank you for your help in advance.......

[Landguy]

This site has some good info on crops. They tell about when to plant, how much seed to sow and how much fertilizer to use.
http://sal.uamont.edu/tappe/foodplot/pages/crop_descriptions.htm

[KYhunter]

The advice I would give, esp since you don't own the land, is to keep it simple. Sow winter wheat now, then disc it up in early April and sow oats, then cut oats a couple days before Sept 1(dove season) then a week later disc up and sow winter wheat. Alfalfa and clover needs to be cut a couple times during the summer and come Nov/Dec you will be glad you have the wheat.

[Hammer]

I planted cover crop wheat and Imperial no plow about 1 month ago. I was afraid the wheat might choke out the Imperial, but it's the other way around, lol. The field looks excellent now since we've had this nice rain. It seems to have attracted a lot of turkeys as well. I used a southern states mix on another plot, and I haven't been as happy with it.