Fertilizer Spikes
Filed under: Ask Grant, Habitat Management, Hunting Tactics
Have you ever used fertilizer spikes to “sweeten” acorns and would this even work? Would lime or some other fertilizer around oak trees be effective? The theory is that it will make one specific band of oaks more desirable than others.
Jack
Jack,
I’m not aware of any research that proves acorns from fertilized oaks are more palatable to deer than from non fertilized oaks. Certainly fertilizing oaks won’t result in the same increase in food yield as fertilizing a forage crop like soybeans. This is because a much greater percentage of a soybean plant is palatable to deer than an oak tree. However, fertilizing pecan trees has proven to increase pecan production. I think it’s a safe assumption that adding enough fertilizer to oaks would also yield an increase in nut production, and possibly a nut that tastes better to deer. I doubt that a few fertilizer spikes will add enough nutrients to impact the quantity or quality of nuts produced by a mature oak tree. Remember that the entire tree is using the fertilizer, not just the acorns.
Growing Deer together,
Grant
