Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting What’s your favorite food plot seed?

It’s spring , soon it will be summer and then fall. What’s your favorite seed for your fall food plots?

1. Seed

2. Location

3. When do you plant?

It was iron clay peas also known as cow peas. The deal was they could stand grazing. We have protected our doe deer so much that the peas get grazed and killed out now. I also planted 5 pounds of okra seed. They wiped that out. Not sure what to do now. They eat sunflowers. Maybe thickly planted corn or sorghum-sudan hybrid but as soon as a seed head comes on that the hogs ride it down. In the past I have just planted 50 pound bags of wild bird seed like you put in feeders.

Going to try cereal rye with a clover mix this year in late August. Working on some plots in Kansas real soon for soil prep. Longer term goal is 3-5 acres of alfalfa.

I plant soy beans and corn. Deer are in the beans all summer and in the corn all fall. Heck they often bed in the corn in the summer. There are forage beans available specifically for food plots. The are much harder for the deer to kill and stay green much later in the year.

Hard to beat clover and winter rye. I have had good luck with both. Rye is easy to grow and fast. It can grow well where the soil is not good enough for most other plots. Once established it will grow at around 35 degrees and up, so cold weather don't slow it down much.

Here in northern New York I have planted brassica mixes for about the past 15 years. It always seems like it’s a crap shoot. Some years it grows thick and tall, some years it barely does anything. Deer definitely love it though, it will draw deer to your property. Winter rye has become my favorite. Easy and cheap to grow, and deer devour it! I have a few 1/2 acre plots with a mix of clovers and chickory that do well. Deer frequent them , but don’t seem to pound them like brassica and winter rye.

If you are planting your own land or have a long term lease, consider a perennial clover mix. I've had mine planted for three years and it's still going strong. I cut it three to four times a year. My resident deer feed on it as soon as it starts greening up all the way till it's covered by snow. I've had them on camera feeding 30 minutes to an hour at a time. Here is the link to the one I planted, but they also have a broad range of plot seed. You can order direct from them.

https://www.seedway.com/product/recoil-clover-mix/

Compared to what I have used that is a very heavy seeding rate. In our area a 3# per acre will give a very heavy stand with normal germination.

Had the best luck with wheat, bob oats ( not the high $$ “buck” oats) and elbon cereal rye.

Get a lot of coverage for the $$ with that.

Never have really been a fan of the 100’s of good plot mixes.

Look at the tag, it’ll be 50% or so rye grass.


Never had any knee deep biologic or stuff like on TV.

Though l, I’ll admit. I don’t do soil tests.

I do put out lime before planting. . And ammonia after the seed comes up.

Imperial Whitetail No Plow….have had fantastic luck with that mix for 25 years.

I simply responded to the OPs question. I didn't want to have to replant every year. If you take annual planting cost into consideration, this does not seem expensive. The only thing I've done is lime and fertilize each spring. The deer in my area love it and the does and bucks body size indicate it works for them as well.

As I said, this is my preference. Should you prefer something else due to price, seed rate, nutrition etc; please share info on it.

Winter wheat and oats

I plant brassicas underseeded with a white clover mix in the first year. Deer love the brassicas and it gives good cover for the clover mix. Then maintain the clover for several years before doing it all over again. I have 5 plots and 1-2 per year in the first brassica/clover stage. Edit to add Ohio and late summer, though I’ve had good results in early summer also.

Hard to beat white clover. Plant in early September and do it again next year. Why fight the weeds. I have used brassica and it is excellent, but it don't last very long because they devour it as soon as it's ready. Two acres gone in about four days...nothing left but the little white tap root right down to the ground.

Corn

You need to plant a variety of seeds for fall or spring food plots. White clover does excellent on the dryer ground, red does better on lower ground. Wheat grows better in the low spots than oats, or rye. For spring and summer plots in the south it's hard to beat Alyce clover and brown top millet. Don't over use the brown top millet or it will stun the Alyce clover. Mow before the millet goes to seed it will last till fall. Or just let it seed out and the Alyce will take over. Fertilizer is the key, rotary mow and fertilize your edges and the deer will be there.

TG,

What fertilizer you using for clover?

8-8-8 or 13-13-13 will burn it?

I use 20-10-20 with some sulfur at 200lbs to the acre. Just make sure your PH is 6.0 or better. I feed a lot of critters including cattle, this is the cows 3rd time around and there's plenty for a fourth.

Here in Kentucky, for fall food plots, I like a mixture of purple-top turnips and daikon radishes. I also like winter rye, but not mixed in the brassicas. I usually do half of the plot in brassicas and half in rye.

Had three mixed (white and red) clover plots that have done well for three years. This is the fourth and growing really well.