Food plot for Dec/Jan/Feb

[esshup]

What is the best to plant for deer to get them thru the hardest part of the winter, i.e. Dec,Jan,Feb?

Not concerned about how good it is for them in Oct/Nov.

North Central Indiana, near the Michigan border.

[HuntMeister]

We have had great success with radishes in west central IN.

[tynimiller]

I've always experienced Radishes holding their value earlier...and they seem to rot much faster than their typical brassica counterpart: turnips.

Purple Top Turnips are the obvious and cheapest choice but provide excellent tonnage. If not overseeded and fertilized appropriate I kid you not we've grown volleyball size every now and then but full softball size is normal anymore. Incredible really. Deer start turning onto them earlier each year as they learn about them but I've already had deer still hitting the plots into Valentine's day easily and even St. Patricks day if still quite cold and not devoured yet.

Cereal grains will get dug for as well if they know still viable shoots are there. Oats and Rye especially more than wheat at least around us.

[HuntMeister]

I have not tried the turnips mainly due to hearing many say the deer ignored them. Our radishes were an instant hit the first time out and typically get hit December thru most of January depending on the weather. We have gotten photos of the deer eating the rotten radishes too, doesn't seem to phase them. YMMV...

[boonechaser]

Standing corn and beans. I am going to electric fence off 2 acres of drilled soybeans and not remove fencing until 1st Dec. Same area will have 3-4 acres of corn I am going to leave standing and bush hog 1/4 acre every couple weeks Starting Dec. is my next years plan. I also have plots of clover, turnips, radish and beats as well as oats and alfalfa on property.

[parrothead]

I have farmer leave corn and soybeans that farms my land.

[steiny]

By now with a few freeze thaw cycles the turnips are getting kind of mushy, however they are still using them a bit. Standing beans is the best in my opinion, much easier and cheaper than corn to successfully grow a good stand of beans.

[swilk]

If I could choose any, in a quantity to get the job done, it would be beans.

Next year I hope to go beans and broadcast radishes and turnips into them as soon as they change colors.

[esshup]

Jan 10, 2018 21:27:53 GMT -5 swilk said:

If I could choose any, in a quantity to get the job done, it would be beans.

Next year I hope to go beans and broadcast radishes and turnips into them as soon as they change colors.

That's a good idea!

[bill9068]

Swilk, what did you plant this year? Seems like you were covered in deer. Whatever you did im going to copy.

[swilk]

Turnips and radishes.

Two plots...one planted August 5 that did well with an early rain. The second was planted about 2 weeks later and never got the early rain it needed. I ended up replanting it in late September.

I mixed in some Austrian peas in the second because I feared I wouldn't get good bulb growth. Deer must have eaten all the peas as fast as they grew because there's not a single one now.

Bulbs nearly as big as volleyballs in the first. Smaller than a baseball in the second.

Still tons of food left in both as of last weekend.

Both plots are between 2-3 acres.

[swilk]

January 14 at the noon hour....16 deer in the plot when I got here. 6 bucks including the giant 8 I had seen through the year.

I'd say turnips and radishes are a decent late season draw.

The snow has been on the ground less than 48 hours.

[parrothead]

Swilk where do you get the bulk radish and turnip seeds at?

[swilk]

Local place called Crop Tech. Just generic purple top turnips and forage radishes.

[tynimiller]

Jan 16, 2018 9:38:25 GMT -5 swilk said:

Local place called Crop Tech. Just generic purple top turnips and forage radishes.

See if that place can get rape as well...if so mix it in too, the non-bulb type brassica definitely seems more desirable before either of the other two.

[swilk]

They do...they carry a lot of different things. Hopefully I can get a good stand of beans this year as well.

I will say the local deer may be unique but they get after radishes hard as soon as they germinate.

My dad questions my sanity on wanting to mess with what he considers a winning strategy with nothing more than turnips and radishes but I know it can get better.

[tynimiller]

The radishes here get hit well before the turnips...the greens are gone going into snow periods typically as well here.

If he isn't a fan of adding that, one thing you could do is seed clover with it, sole reason is for the spring green period. I love frost seeding into brassicas as typically the brassica canopies leave quite a bit of dirt exposure going into the next year and is perfect for soil to seed contact for frost seeding clovers into.

[swilk]

My plots stand a really good chance of being under water before spring...it limits what I'm willing to invest in and try.

I can normally count on no flooding from June to January.

The new plot is higher...by about 8'...gives me a little more flexibility but still will flood occasionally.

[tynimiller]

Jan 16, 2018 11:08:48 GMT -5 swilk said:

My plots stand a really good chance of being under water before spring...it limits what I'm willing to invest in and try.

I can normally count on no flooding from June to January.

The new plot is higher...by about 8'...gives me a little more flexibility but still will flood occasionally.

I'd wait and see if the elevated status now solves that or not before throwing frost seed on the ground as well.

Have you thought of digging a pond right in the middle someday? Solve that issue and create a communication hub in the middle for the deer.

[antiwheeze]

Is there any point in frost seeding anything
soon into beets and greens food plot for turkeys knowing it will b tilled and replanted in August?