Originally Posted by prm
Looking for advice on a spring food plot in Northern Virginia. I anticipate two small plots roughly 40 yd X 40 yd each.

Had decent luck with oats in the fall, this is my first spring at this location. It's mountainous terrain with plots cut out of the woods. One is along a small power line and the other over my septic system. Still need to do a soil sample on each.


How did your plots turn out?

We put clover mixes in 2 of our fields with the requisite lime and fertilizer per soil test. Started clearing them in late 2015, limed in early 2016, and fertilized and planted in September 2016. It came up right away but the deer were keeping them mowed down all winter to the point I started thinking they weren’t going to survive. Then went I went up in late April I got a pleasant surprise.


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The mix we used had a bunch of stuff in it, but from what we’re seeing the red clover, chicory and trefoil either didn’t grow or got eaten to death. The crimson clover and white clovers grew good, but the Dutch clover is underperforming the Ladino and Alsike. We planted Balansa clover on a field in February that had brassicas last year and Durana on another one with annual rye mixed in and so far they look very promising. They’re both white clover.

Based on that, we’re going to start making our own mixes and spend our money on white clovers (Ladino, Durana, Alsike, Balansa), crimson clover, and use cheap annual rye as a cover crop.