Jorgy

Last fall I had a neighbor disk up about 7 acres of my land back in Wisconsin. I'll be going back next month and am planning on planting something but I'm not really sure what. I want to plant an perannual (sp?) since I still live 1000 miles from my land and it's a real pain in the butt to get away to do any type of regular maintenence. I've thought about clover, but it seems so basic I'm thinking I can do better.

My land is 120 acres with a 40 acre swamp almost in the middle. The food plot area is right off of the swamp and is already great for deer

Any help would be appreciated

Hawgnman

I don't think you can do better than clover. I would ask around the farmers & feed stores as to which variety grows well in your area. Be sure to get a soil test.

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Russ otten

Clover, check on which variety would work best in your area. Also, look into Purple top turnips. I've read some posts that say that deer will feed on the tops after a frost, and later will dig up the turnips, even thru the snow. There may be other varieties that may work.

Russ

Dan O.

Plant a mixture or seperately white clover, red clover, alfalfa and trefoil. You can spice it up with chicory, chufa, etc. Parts of the mixture will die out after a few years (red clover). You won't have all of your eggs in one basket and you can make future plantings based on usage.

Dan O.

PILOT

Jorgy I agree that you wiil benefit most by planting a variety on your 7 acres. The down side with the perennial plots is that they need to be mowed atleast 2-3 times per year in order to keep the weeds down. Try to work out a deal with a farmer in the area on the maintenance of mowing,fertilizing etc.. Also I would try to give the deer atleast 3 acres or so of standing grain for the winter and plant some strips of oats/wheat in the fall. The easiest not necessarily the best option would be to have a nearby farmer plant the entire 7 acres into corn or soybeans and let 2 or 3 acres of it stand near the timber. Sorry but for maximum return it's not as simple as planting once and forgetting about it.