lunchbucket

It' s planting time and many folks come to these boards for input. Could we please have some honest input on the major seed company plants/nutrients;
Lets start with the big boys, Imperial Whitetail and Biologic...
What are your failure/success stories and what did you experience?
What would you recommend, why would you recommend it and what state are you in?
Please, let' s not muddy the water with name calling, just your experience' s as you know them to be... Also recommendations/tip' s for these products
Next, what about the other companies... Tip' s???
Next, what did you find useful that was blended locally by yourself or a company??? Tip' s???
Soil prep tip' s???
What about lick' s???
We would like to post result' s for the above products...

Dan O.

lunchbucket; It' s much easier and more economical for me to just go to the local Co-Op and buy generic, locally produced seed. I' d like to try some of the mixtures (other than legumes) on the market but they' re pretty hard to find up here.

For lick' s I' ve had my best success using apple flavoured horse licks (same ingredients, content and manufacturer as the deer licks) in old stumps. The deer use one every 2-4 weeks. If you don' t put in a fresh one they start eating the stump. The large blocks seem to get less use. Again; it would be nice to try some of the high calcium/phosphorous mixes but our lands are so underulitized by the deer that they pick and choose the best food anyways.

Dan O.

Ballistictip

Well, so far I have used the Imperial No-Plow clover, Imperial Whitetail Clover, and Imperial Alfa-rack. I' ve been very impressed with all of it. It all came up and has done very well. As for the Biologic, I haven' t tried it yet so no input there. I will have to add that I' ve purchased seed from my local farm supply and have had just as much success with it for less money. With the help I' ve gotten from the fine folks on here and alot of trial and error I seem to be headed in the right direction now. The biggest problem I have right now is a limited food plot budget.

WV Hunter

My only experience with food plots involves Imperial Whitetail Clover. I planted about 1/2 acre in the mountains of VA in the fall of 2001. This was all the cleared area I had to work with. I did a soil test, limed and fertilized accordingly(ph of 5.2) [:' (], and the clover did excellent. Even though we didn' t have much rain at all that fall, it germinated and covered the field in tiny clovers. Last spring it went wild. I can' t complain. The deer absolutely love it, and were in it daily during the summer and early fall. The only problem I have is that my plot is so small they ate it all off once the growth slowed down in the fall. I' d recommend planting an acre or more if possible. I' ve recommended it to friends, that have had similar results.

As far as mineral licks, I have been making my own calcium/phosphorus/tracemineral salt mix for almost 10 years. The deer absolutely tear it up, anywhere I put it. Do mineral licks dramatically help deer...I think the jury' s probably still out on that one. Do I care...nope. I figure it can' t hurt, and by making my own, it is very cheap. I have not tried any commercial products, so I can' t comment on those.

Todd1700

I tried planting biologic one year. It was the fall blend. When it came up it had a lot of broad leaf plants in the patch that looked like wild turnips. Maybe it was chickory but anyway the deer would not touch them. I didn' t even see a single one of them that had a nibble mark on it. Since then I have just planted rye and winter wheat. Waaaaay cheaper and our deer seem to prefer it.

dbl lock

i tried the biologic full draw this year and was not really to impressed with it. i prepared the soil and fertilized and limed (soil test was completed at university).
i found that out of the plots #1 rye + winter wheat, #2 bwi blend, #3 biologic full draw, #4 rape. #' s 1 and 2 showed the most activity. #3 moderate, and #4 downright horrible. i have heard of deer in my area not perferring the biologic blends, but i guess it' s who you talk to. my guess is for the biologic full draw to become a thick lush plot, it may take a couple plantings/years to establish. plots 1 and 2 were like golf courses where as the biologic was pretty thin (and i doubled the planting rate). and #4 well, don' t waste your money. next year i will stay with rye, winter wheat, bwi blend, and would like to try the imperial no-plow.

FlDeerman

I tried Biologic with litle sucess.I plan to use local seeds this year.

farm hunter

IWC is always a good bet - performs as advertised.

More often I plant local clovers, in a blend. On occasion, I' ve mixed IWC with local seed (last year with white dutch) with good results.

Never planted any other big name blends.

cball

I' ve had good results with regular feed store ladino and red clover.The 5 ac. field we planted last spring did real good ,it seem to draw about every deer in a square mile at one time or another..

Pro-Line

I had wonderful success with Biologic Full Draw on a couple of small plots.

I also had fair luck with a mixture of rape grass and clover. It didn' t come back as well as I would have liked.

This year I came across some no-plow cheap...and I' m going to try that. Wish me luck!