Originally Posted by
Mountain_Hunter
An informative post that definitely helped me out. What kind of things do you plant if you don't mind me asking?
I'm on the KY/WV border with mild winters for the most part. We do get the occasional true winter by your standards, but pretty rare.
Do you have a lot of hardwood mountains around, or are you surrounded by ag fields that have been plowed to a big giant dead zone for the winter?
I’m on the NC /Va border with similar winters. My property is primarily oaks, hickory, and a few other types of trees like poplar etc. I have around 12 acres in deer crops on 6 different fields w woods and ridges around. My base crop is clover, alfalfa and chicory, and they eat that all year. Come fall I turn one field under and plant oats...supposedly they are higher in sugar than wheat but I’m not a scientist so I’m going on what I’ve heard. I use my disk w the blades straight on the other fields in August and often drag as well to expose dirt between the clover etc.. I scatter beets, radishes and turnips and pray for rain. They grow between the clover etc and provide a food source in those fields into the winter as they get sweeter with the frosts/cold. The clover etc isn’t as much of an attraction once the cold sets in...but the beets, radishes and turnips are irrisitable. I joke that they are to die for...and there isn’t one left come late January. As for planting now, I’m not sure u have many choices this late in the year. The Whitetail Institute Oats I plant should be in the ground by now, but maybe a winter wheat could work.