New to this idea..

[Phil from Maine]

I recently recieved a small lot of land 2 and 1/4 acres. It has a few crab apple trees on it that has been getting crowded by trees. I plan on removing a few trees around each one to help them grow better. As well as pruning back next fall. It is on the edge of a white cedar swamp and has some expose ledges in one place of it.
My question is around what to plant on it to help draw deer to it as well as help them build mass for the winter months. I am planning on using 1/4 to 1/2 half acre for this planting. Due to the fact it is near a back road I do not want to draw very much attention to it. Other than that I would use more of the land for this purpose.. The land is located up here in maine and the winters can be harsh to say the least.. Any ideas on what to plant for this project? Also there is alot of bears that travel threw this area and i am not very interested in them hanging around.. Thanks..

[Soilman]

What you choose to plant will be determined by your soil and how much time, effort, and cash you want to out into the food plot. If you want a perennial food plot, white clover is hard to beat. You should take a soil sample this spring as soon as possible, since you may need to add lime and work it into the soil to successfully grow clover. If you want annuals, you may want to plant the area twice per year. For example, you could plant oats and/or peas/oats mix in the early spring. They green up fast and provide an early season food source, then mature and die in July/Aug. After the oats have matured, you could replant oats, brassicas, or winter rye as a fall/winter food source. There are options, food plotting can be an art, and it really depends on what fits your soil and time/budget.

[haystack]

Winter Rye would work about as good as anything IMO. I've grown a variety called "Aroostook" that has its origins from your area, very hardy and produces a heavy crop that deer around here will dig through snow to feed on. Around here, that variety is a little higher priced, around $14.00 for a 56# bag. 50-60#s is about how much it would take to plant a 1/2 acre. Probably be best planted mid-August in your area, but I'm not sure of that.

Good idea to help those crab apple trees out. Along with cutting out the competing trees, I would spread a bag of lime around each tree. Something that has worked for me, is to use a spade to go as deep as I can, rock it back and forth to open a slit and then pour 10-10-10 or better yet, compost or well aged manure down in the slit and stomp it closed. Takes a little time, but that will bring a crab apple to the front.

You'll probably have to rely on luck with the bears LOL. I do know they will destroy just about any kind of fruit tree in short order.

[Phil from Maine]

Thanks for the ideas guys.. I am hopeing to get some deer hanging around as well as give them a little boost for the start of winter up here. I figured it is never to early to ask.. I realize it is not a hugh area but should be able to do what I am hopeing it would.

Yeah, Haystack those bears can do some real damage to the apple trees. But, I am hopeing that they will pass by for another group of apple trees down the road a little ways. I am not real sure they would because it is located right by a travel route that they use every fall. They travel threw to go to a mountain up in back to hybernate on. They also get beachnuts off the mountain to build up some mass with. The wood cutters have cut down a pile of those beachnut trees though. So I am hopeing that they will keep right on going by..