Sounds like you might have had just enough rain 10 days after planting to sprout the seeds and then it turned dry again and your little seedlings died. I don't know of anything you can plant in a food plot that will grow without water.

I bet I can grow better dirt than you!!!


Actually it was the same for me here in VA, no rain and a whole lot of dust. I did have oats come back from last year, I waited untill the oats seeded out before mowing and they grew like crazy since the seed was covered by some of the straw.
I came back in September and broadcast some winter rye and it came up very well and is still getting mowed flat by the deer. I use my home garden as a comparison since I plant rye as a cover crop. At home the rye is about twelve inches tall and on the hunting grounds it is no more than two inches.
A lesson I have learned if you want a food plot/ cover for all sorts of game, plant oats in lated feb. or march and let it grow without mowing, it will reseed and turn green again by fall. I do this on a once acre piece that has rough soil and is a pain to get to with any type of equipment.