What grows in sand?
12-18-2006, 10:24 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 112
What grows in sand?
I'm looking for something to plant as a spring/summer food plot for deer that has good nutrition. NW Okla. has mostly sagebrush and sand. I can possibly work something out for water. I would appreciate any advice on what to plant.
12-21-2006, 08:45 AM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: NW Oklahoma
Posts: 1,166
RE: What grows in sand?
Will, I live in NW OK, hunt and also farm here. There are many different types of soil here. On the farm where I live, you can raise practically anything if you get the rain. On my hunting property, though, it is extremely sandy. It is about 1 1/2 miles from the Cimarron river and the soil is basically river sand, but it will grow trees. The only crop I've found that does good in the summer is cowpeas. The deer love them, they will grow in poor soil, and are relatively drough resistant. I would suggest planting about May 1. That is really a little early, but my experience with planting later is that what the deer don't get, the grasshoppers do. Also, you have a better chance of having moisture than later on. The variety I would recommend is Chinese Reds. They seem to be the most drouth resistant. I double the planting rate on most everything I plant out there. Normally you would plant about 20# of seed in a farming situation, but on the deer plot I double that because the deer will start eating them just as soon as they come up, and if they eat them off at the two leaf stage, they are done.If they are thicker, they have a better chance to shade the ground. Also, the bigger the plot the better. My experience of very small plots is that the deer will wipe them out and grasshoppers will be worse on them.
12-21-2006, 09:05 AM
#8
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Miami, Oklahoma
Posts: 422
RE: What grows in sand?
Another thing you might try is to increase the amount of organic matter in a couple of spots. If you know of a good place to get some old straw and manure for free, then you could turn a couple of 1/4 acre areas into better places for a plot. Doing that should improve the fertility and water holding capacity of the soil. I wouldn't plant anything that would have to make it through all of the 'hardships' of the summertime though...just a few things that would be coming up in time for hunting season. How many acres do ya'll have?
12-22-2006, 08:17 AM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: NW Oklahoma
Posts: 1,166
RE: What grows in sand?
I'm planning on doing just that. I'm keeping my eyes open for a reasonably priced manure spreader. I raise sheep and I always have a lot of rotten hay, bedding, and manure mixed by the end of winter. I think that would work great on that poor soil. Organic material is definitely the answer.
12-22-2006, 09:43 PM
#10
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 5,425
RE: What grows in sand?
What about peanuts??? They are pretty drought tolerant, have as much protein as alfalfa, deer love them and in our sandy soils in eastern NC they do well...We sell ours to Planters, in Suffolk, VA...
When I worked for John Deere, seems I remember that OK also grew peanuts (as well as GA and NC)...While we raise Virginia Jumbo, ya'll raise Spanish, if my memory is correct...
When I worked for John Deere, seems I remember that OK also grew peanuts (as well as GA and NC)...While we raise Virginia Jumbo, ya'll raise Spanish, if my memory is correct...