Would be good to plant around a food-plot? Im looking for some sort of tree/bush that is nice and bushy..doesnt grow to tall....and produces fruit that both deer and gamebirds can eat and enjoy.
Thanks for the help yall

Mulberries, persimmons, dwarf apples, pears, crabapples.

Dan O.

Dogwoods, Blueberries, Sawtooth Oaks, Pokeweed, Blackberry, Japanese Honeysuckle, Beggarlice

Im probably going to either go with crab apple or regular apple. Maybe some blue berry bushes as well. But which has more nutrients. Apple or Crab Apple. I can get abunch of lilttle crab apple seedlings from my neighbor and the tree he has produces TONS of fruit each year and I usually see deer over there eating it in the fall and winter.
Thanks yall

Timbercrusiser; you got me. What is a Beggarlice?

Dan O.

We have alot of Red-Osier Dogwood that grows naturally in our thickets and around the edges of our fields. The deer really like to browse their buds in Mid Winter - and they offer great cover the rest of the year.

They seem to flourish in wetter soils with poor drainage.



FH

How about Autumn Olive. Its a fast growing bush, produces berries that cling into fall. The Critters love them. I planted a few on my property last yr. Just seedlings, and are growing great. I've also recently planted Paw-paw, winterberry, and American bittersweet. I did research on each to see what conditions best suited them in my area. Plus all produce berries that cling into winter. I figure if your going to plant anything mights well besomething thats going to have produce in fall, and winter months. Thats when you want your deer to use it most. I also have several varieties of apples planted. All which hold fruit into mid-late fall. Like Granny Smith, Northern Spy. Crab apple is good also. Another often over looked tree is Hawthorne. It produces little red berries that cling into late fall. I've watched deer push their noses into the leaves to eat the fallen berries.Oh, and another tree I've witnessed deer devouring the berries in fall. Mountain Ash, it produces those clumps of orange berries. I planted few those too.

Yah I would consider a bush more than a tree because they will start to produce fruit sooner then a tree-seedling..[8D]
Blue Berrys might be nice

Desmodium spp. Crude protein 28% Deer will feed on them and the seed is a high value brood cover and high seed/food value for birds and other little critters. The small seed will stick to your clothing in clusters bad and they are common throughout the Southeast, mainly an old field weed. I guess the seed looks a little like lice sticking to your pant legs, thus the name.

Thanks Timbercruiser. I thought I found another possible but it only grows in the south.

Dan O.