DBaker

Guys the guy doing my plot went down yesterday to look over the plot area and he recommened not planting chufa because of the lack of sun due to the canopy. Instead he recommended a clover that he can get that grows good in more shady areas. The bottom half of the plot gets lots of sun, but is a smaller area. So we might be going with an all clover plot. he said the turkeys will still use it eating the greens and bugs, and the deer will absolutely love it. What do you guys think? The plot will roughbly be around 1.5 acres on a 100 acre plot of land.

Snoogsdad

I have Imperial Whitetail Clover in my plots and the turkeys use them along with the deer. Some of my plots are also in small areas surrounded by trees and do quite well. Here is a picture taken in one of my plots.

Slumpbuster

Tell him you want Imperial Clo. My field sounds just like yours it's in Imp Clo and it rocks. Get your soil test pay close attention to the pH (add lime liberally and disc it in throughly) keep the seed on the surface or within 1/8" and wait on Mother Nature.

DBaker

Guys thanks for the responses. I have another question, does clover have to be mowed or will the deer keep it down for me?

Russ otten

Deer, turkeys and rabbits will do their best. But if grasses start to emerge, then you should mow. It will cause the Clover to branch out and hopefully choke out the grasses, partly. Mowing seems to make the clover fight back. My biggest Clover patch is my back yard, every time I mow the Clover gets thicker.

Russ

DBaker

Thanks. I got another Q's, might sound stupid, but can a regular lawn mower be done to do this or do I need something bigger? The plot I am planting is off the road a little and is hard to get to so getting something big in there is a problem. It's only going to be around an 1-1.5 acres. Thanks.

Snoogsdad

According to the Whitetail Institute the clover should be mowed to a height of 6 to 8 inches once it reaches a height of 12 to 15 inches. In my opinion the worst thing that you could do is not mow it if the clover and weeds get over 15 or so inches high. It would be better to mow it a little lower than 6 inches than not mow it at all. A week ago I had a plot about 10 inches high and I mowed part with a brush hog, part with a garden tractor and left the remainder alone to see what effect it would have. I will see what it looks like next weedend.

I also have a little Imperial Clover in a strip in my back yard. After three years and mowing it with a lawn tractor down to about three inches there is still a fair amount of clover left.

Russ otten

It's hard to follow the Institute's directions in my plots. the only place it gets 12-15 inches is in the monitor cage. The rest is lucky to get much over 6-7 inches. Could it be from all the deer tracks mashing it down?

Russ

DBaker

That's what I was wondering. The deer herd in and around our place is very large(SE Ohio). So is the turkeys. especially in the fall(flocks well over 60 birds). I think once they find it keeping it down shouldn't be a problem especially if the deer hit it hard, but I'll keep an eye on it. The only problem is I live 1.5hrs so driving down there every week or two isn't real convenient. Besides people feeding deer by way of feeders, we will have the only food plot around us. Hopefully this will keep the deer close and there by keeping control on the height of the clover. Everyone down next to where we hunt at feeds corn and that's it. I plan on adding a supplemental feeding station as well. I heard doing both food plots and supplemental feeding really draws the deer in good.