Food Plot Crop Varieties for Pennsylvania
Filed under: Ask Grant, Food Plots
Grant, I love the show and all you do to help us be better managers of our land. I want to start by letting you know I have 1 acre of clover and chicory and 1 1/2 acres of Eagle Seed beans already growing on my 17 acre property. I have a 1 acre open grassy area waiting to be planted and a friend of mine is willing to give me some leftover seed. I have a choice of brassicas, turnips from the Whitetail Institute or Pure Attraction from Whitetail Institute. I like the variety of Pure Attraction (oats, winter peas, brassicas) but I do not hear you say much about using oats. What do you think about planting oats and which one you would prefer to plant in central Pennsylvania? My soil is ready to drop the seed in at the next chance of rain. I already planted some Tall Tine Tubers a couple weeks back and they are looking good. Also I would like to let you know the Eagle Seed Wildlife Managers Mix I planted is doing great even though I did not kill off all the weeds. Next year I am going to plant a good bit more of them now that I know how wonderful they work (and hopefully I will kill off all the weeds). That is why next year I think I am just planting beans, corn, wheat, and clover. Thank you for all your hard work and sharing it with us. I am going to try my best next year to make it out to The Proving Grounds for Field Day, everyone on the video looks like they had a great time (GDTV 40). Thank you and I hope you have an even more successful season. Chad
Chad,
Thank you for the kind words and I look forward to meeting you at our next Field Day! Both of the blends you described sound fine but I’d probably go with the blend that includes the oats, winter peas, and brassicas. That blend should provide forage that is attractive to deer during the early, mid, and late season. The different varieties of crops in that blend will mature at different times. The varieties in the first blend may mature at the same time, which would limit the number of weeks deer are attracted to that plot. I tend to like wheat a bit better than oats as wheat is more cold hardy and usually less expensive. Both wheat and oats do a good job of transferring nutrients from the soil to a crop that is palatable and nutritious to deer.
I like your plan for next year! It sounds like you have a great management program!
Growing Deer together,
Grant
