I'm not sure if this is the right board. I am starting to get ready to puts some food plots in for deer in Vermont. I don't hunt over the plots but I like to plant them to keep deer around and help them through the winters. I have only about 1/2 to 3/4 of an acre that I have cleared and made tillable. I am interested in trying soybeans this year. The deer numbers are kind of low so I am hoping that I may be able to get soybeans started even in such a small plot. Does anyone know if this is feasible?

You will need group 00, 0, or maybe 1. your short growing season limits options. Deer can decimate a plot that size in no time. Good luck!


Craig

I planted 8 acres of soybeans in Washington County NY and the deer didn’t let them get over three inches. Soybeans will grow just fine in VT but browsing pressure on a plot that small will be your issue. You will need to fence the plot in order to let it grow. I would recommend that you get a soil test done (most likely need lime) and plant a clover blend. It will feed your deer May through October. The other option is to plant winter rye in September which would be more attractive than clover come hunting season. Small plots are very tough with brassicas, corn or soybeans.

No idea on size of your property or equipment that you own but my biggest impact has been with hinge cutting trees. Food plots are fun but cover and bedding seems to work well.

Thanks ejo. I am not to far from you and our deer numbers are probably similar. If your 8 acres got mowed down, mine probably would have no chance. I have 130 acres but most of it is forested. I have pretty good cover - cedar stands, early successional forest, etc. I usually plant rye and clover and the deer eat it. I was thinking of trying something else. I already have 50 pounds of soybean seed so I will probably go with wheat or rye, clover and mix in some soybeans. If I plant soybeans alone, I probably will end up with nothing.

Theeck

Not per Vermont but relating to other's post above.

I planted a 1/4 mi. narrow strip of Soybeans -- 1 year. Just after the plants emerged and leaved (leaffed grin), the deer came along and ate them TO the ground, IF they didn't pull em out by the roots.

My experience on small acreage. You'd have to have 'some' deer restraint, Electric fence or 8' foot hi or something.

Good Luck

Jerry

I'd plant your soybeans once the soil gets warm enough. They are like candy. I'd wait until Aug to plant the WR/Clover. Planting them together will make controlling weeds harder and I'd be the WR would be enough competition to hurt the growth of the soy beans. Also, by splitting the planting you are keeping younger plants there longer...

You could even try a corn and soybean mix .

The farmer who leases my land had 18 acres of beans.
Just by watching what the deer have eaten I’d guess they ate about 3 acres worth..
They tore it up.

Either fence or skip soybeans. Plant a clover/oat mix in late August you need not pay scalpers price for oats like Buck Forage. Oats are cheap, produce nitrogen and will protect the Ladino clover till it is rooted well. Then in late fall top seed with clover again and you will have a great clover plot next spring and summer when you can run a disc over the plot and seed oats into in August.....use 15-15-15 fertilizer spring and fall, keep it mowed to 6-8" and that plot will last 5 years when you kill it an start over.

I could agree with this plan, but may suggest subbing in cereal rye or winter wheat for the oats. That far north, oats will likely winterkill. Though they will be a good draw until they do.

Are there wolves or a large coyote population in the area ? If so you might be wasting your time as they will use the plot as an ambush site. You will see deer but it will be young deer.

brassicas?

Is that like daikon radishes? Stinky buggers, those. Lots of vegetable bulk though. Farmer up the road planted them one year, and never since, by popular demand I'd guess.

Yes, daikon radishes, purple top turnips and forage rape make a great brassica blend. Lots of tonnage and fun to watch the deer pound them. Our deer don’t leave many so haven’t had the stink issue. They do not work well in small plots for us since the deer eat them before they grow.

You ever see those puppies in the produce section? Monstrous things, some well over a foot long. My wife says they were a root celler staple for them in China in the hard times. Like people here who have lived poor at some time in their lives, the appetite for the simple foods that they once ate because it was all they had, remains for some there, though maybe prepared a little more appetizingly.

Deer here wouldn’t let a small plot like that grow any. I’d try something else that can take the browsing.

Wheat, oats and clover mixture does well here.

We eat a lot of the purple top turnips and they are really tasty. I will have to try the radishes next year. I’m getting ready to put ten acres of corn in this year. Hopefully it works out.