Failed Food Plots
Filed under: Ask Grant, Food Plots
Grant, We have been enjoying your GrowingDeer.tv productions, keep up the great work. We have an area on our property (same farm you were on with my Dad and me years ago) that we have not been successful in growing food plots on the last couple of years. We did soil samples (and they were good), used the best food plot practices that we know (round up, fertilizer, seed bed prep, etc.) and we still cannot get the food plot to grow anything other than weeds. Can you help us in any way? Conway
Conway,
Good to hear from you! Hmmm. If weeds are growing and the soil test results are normal, there’s probably nothing wrong with the soil. I can’t diagnose the problem with certainty based on the information provided. I can ask some questions that might help you diagnose the problem. Are you using utilization cages to monitor the crop’s growth where deer aren’t allowed to browse? Is it possible the crops are being consumed by deer and being killed by over browsing? Are the same crops being planted in other plots nearby and if so, are they growing? Have you experienced the same response from both warm and cool season crops?
Growing Deer (and hopefully crops) together,
Grant
