Food plot questions
 

Im new to the whole food plot thing, and i have a few questions.

1: I know there's deer around my area, Will they go out of there way to come to my food plot.

2: Whens the best time to plant?
Id like the deer to know where i food plot is and eat from it but i don't want it to be all eaten out by deer season.

3: whats the best seed/plant?
where I plan to plant is in the woods of Maine I don't know the ph levels or whatever.
I want something that will grow pretty much anywhere, or more forgiving on the ph levels and stuff like that.

1. Yes, but very possibly after dark. Can depend on you, but on small properties your neighbors can make them nocturnal too.

2. Depends on what you plant.

3. Figure out the fertility and the pH and fix it. A half-hearted attempt is just throwing money away. A fertile field of weeds will do you more good than a high dollar buck on the bag seed mix thrown on unamended soil.

1. Yes, and Hossdaniels is right about nocturnal deer.

2&3. Corn tolerates low pH (6.0 is preferred), but takes a fair amount of work to grow successfully. Peas/Oats mix (or oats alone) tolerate lower pH, plant in late summer (mid-August), but will die out at about 15-25 degrees. Winter rye or winter wheat will tolerate low pH, plant in mid-August to early September, and will survive the winter providing food until spring. In general, grasses do best in poor soil. If the ground is flooded, not much will work. Buy seed from a local ag supply business, they have varieties that will work in your area.

Suggest you get in touch with local county ag agent or Maine's ag university. Should have freebie, probably on line, information on what game attracting food plot crops do well in your area. The pH correction is a must in my book. Usually relatively inexpensive if you are willing to put in the work to spread bulk lime. If you do not correct the pH, you'll waste a bunch of $$$ on fertilizer that never gets to "feed" the crop.

I am in same situation in Maine and just sent a soil sample to : Soil Sample testing Lab at UMO. You can find it on internet. For a standard test it is $15 + Shipping, unless you get them the sample before march 1st then it is $12.

We got a small tool about 30 $$, looks like a meat thermometer, put it in the ground and it tells you the PH of the soil....... We use it for our corn we grow to make whiskey...

Let's assume for the sake of argument that the $30 tool is accurate (a huge assumption).

What good is knowing the pH? You dont know how much lime to put to correct it without the buffer ph or cec. Organic matter also plays a role. Then you still have no individual fertilizer recommendations like you get with a soil test.

Best option is to read up on these forums here. Read through the sticky topics. Lots of great information. There is alot of info out there and lots of different routes you can take.

Also planting in the woods under the canopy is hit or miss. Plots need at least 4 hours of sunlight to grow.

Keep us updated and good luck.

1) They may but it may take a while for them to find your food plots. Deer are creatures of habit and survival. If your plot is secluded and near to a known bedding area it will see more usage than a plot just randomly placed out in the open.

2) The best time to plant as Hossdaniels pointed out depends on what you plant and the expected usage for the plot. Example oats can be planted in spring or fall, depending on when you want deer to use them.

3) you are searching for the same thing the rest of us are, the holy grail of food plots. Unfortunately no one has found it. You have to first consider what purpose you want the plot for, spring food, summer food, early fall, or late season/winter. from there you can select seed(s) which meet your needs. You should already have a soil sample and correct any lacking fert/Lime requirements.

Timothy and clover works pretty good up here.. The white clover will not do a lot in the first year as it is quite short then. After the second year it will rebound pretty darn good and is quite forgiving with different soils and shadey areas.. If you want better results in the first then red clover would be needed. The red clover unlike the white clover is less forgiving to different soil content but will grow great the first year once the ph is right. It will die out though after the first winter here.. Good Luck to you ..

I am thinking about purchasing some Lucky Buck to plant this spring in my area..