Fall Clover Planting
 

I have plowed and disked an acre in anticipation of planting some whitetail clover. In live in central New York and plant on planting mid August. I have had good germination and growth by the mid October bow season from past experience.

I want to experiment with a cover crop of oats, is this advisable for a fall planting? I'm not sure if the oats have enough time to mature or if I'm wasting time/money to add the oats.

BTW, in early June as an experiment I planted Lab Lab, cowpeas, and Buck Fall(for after the frost). Kind of curious how the deer will respond to the beans and peas.

RE: Fall Clover Planting
 

I like the Whitetail Clover in your area. I also think the cover crop of winter oats is a good idea for early season hunting and hunting in general if you are short on moisture this fall.

Make sure to seed the oats at 30-40% of the recommended rate to leave root space for the clover.

RE: Fall Clover Planting
 

Oats can work well with a fall planted plot. I tried Spring Oats one fall, with clover, they did a good job, and died off with the first real cold days of November/December. Make sure you don't plant too early, or they'll head out and not be productive as a fall plot in Deer Season. A late August planting seems about right.

Spring oats can be hard to come by some years in the fall, so buy now when they are being harvested for a fall planting. Remember, only plant spring oats in the fall if you want the oats to die off in the winter, because they will in CNY.

Winter oats can work too (buck forage oats), like Rye, they winter over, and you have to deal with them in the spring/summer the next year.

Good luck!

RE: Fall Clover Planting
 

My favorite mix is Buck Forage Oats, Annual Rye, and clover, with about a pound of chicory.

I'm in the U.P. of MI and we probably have about the earliest planting date in the country at about mid-August. I would guess you should be closer to Labor day for a planting date. Your fall draw will not be the clover, but the grains. What you want in the fall is for your clover to become established for next year. What will happen with the above planting is that the oats and rye will be a great combination for fall attraction. During the winter the oats will definately die out, which is good because you will only be left with a 1/2 field coverage of rye, as well as the clover in the spring, without the additional competition of the oats. The deer will be able to forage on the rye throughout the winter and earliest spring months, and then the clover will eventually take over for your main attraction. Next summer you can do 2 things: 1st, you can kill the rye in the field with post if you suspect it is too much competition for your clover, or you can mow it down before the head dries out and goes to seed. Also, on this type of planting I always frost seed in a brassica clover mix in the spring to fill-in any light areas, as well as to add the additional nutritional benifits of brassicas on a field that is already attracting deer with a sound clover crop. If you are in an area that deer seem to have a hard time getting used to brassicas, this will aid in the process of getting your local deer used to the crop without wasting the use of a field in the process. Also, always plant a good MIX of brassicas, not just 1 or 2 varieties.

When you reach the 1 year anniversary of the planting, take your worst 1/2 of the field, kill it, and plant the same thing again. You can rotate each 1/2 of the field so that each 1/2 is planted on alternate years with a 2-year life. In this way you will offer nutritiion and attraction on the field for entire year, with no lapses for your local deer herd, while at the same time combating any weed problems with a spraying every 2 years. What you are doing with this planting is targeting a sound hunting season attraction, with a perrinial base that will offer food for a full 4 seasons.

Jeff

RE: Fall Clover Planting
 

Wow NorthJeff. That does sound like a nice plan. I am working on a field (getting it ready) right now. I was going to plant the Whitetail Institute's Extreme. Do you think I could still do that and add some oats and rye to it? I am not sure of everything that is in the extreme. Right now I only have on plot (about 1 acre) in the imperial clover. Deer and Turkeys seem to really like it. My Dad saw 4 does with 7 fawns in it back on the Thursday before Memorial day. I sure hope the does are eating it up so the little ones can get bigger. Yes we do have an over population problem where we are.

Well thanks for the idea.

RE: Fall Clover Planting
 

Thanks for the info everyone. I've got the clover and chicory, I'll pickup some oats and plant about the oats at 1/3 the recommended rate. You have led me to another question about using Post (or other grass treatment chemicals).
I have a 6 acre lot planted last year with Ladino clover that has a lot of grass in it. Mowing has not helped substantially. The clover is very well established but I fear it will be overrun if it goes another year. Is there a better time to apply a grass killer through our summer season?

RE: Fall Clover Planting
 

Right now, when grasses are in a pretty aggressive growth stage is a good time to kill. In the fall when the grasses begin to turn dormant, you've missed your chance.

I talked to a guy from Imperial last weekend at the QDMA national convention and they seemed to not have a problem with adding the grains to the mix. In fact, annual rye is already added to the type of herb that is in the mixture, so a little more grain won't hurt. What is interesting about that planting is that it supposably will stay greener longer into the late season and expierences winter dormancy later than even their Imperial Whitetail clover, according to Imperial. The planting is supposed to be great for all soils, but has done very well in areas with as little as 12" of annual moisture. I have just the perfect sandy-ridge type planting I'm going to try it in. for this year....we'll see. If nothing else I'll have a good draw for hunting season with the rye and oats, and there is established clover from last year on the other 1/2.

RE: Fall Clover Planting
 

NorthJeff,
What is your mixture of oats, rye, clover, and chicory per acre? Also, what variety of clover do you use?

RE: Fall Clover Planting
 

On better soil I go lighter, but on my worst soils I've gone as high as 200#'s of grain per acre, with just a grain planting. If I was planting a field for a salvage job of either a failed planting due to moisture or excessive deer browsing(most likely a brassica planting), I'd go with a straight 200#'s of annual rye per acre because it would be a later than usual planting and would want the most field coverage as possible.

On many of my plantings this year I'll probably go around 1# chicory per acre, 50#s Buck Forage oats, 50#'s annual rye, and 7-8 pounds of Antler Kings clover blend. I'm also going to mix the BFO with Imperial Whitetail's Extreme in couple of my worst soil areas to see how it goes as well...probably 100#'s per acre of BFO, and the recommended amount per acre of Extreme. Extreme already has a little rye in it, so I'll leave that out.

RE: Fall Clover Planting
 

I have decent soil, about 6.0. Thanks NJ for your response.