Poke Berries

By GrowingDeer,

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Question

Last week I caught something I’ve never seen before on film.  There was a 75 acre bean field that was ready to be picked any day.  I saw deer cross the field to eat poke berries. Is this unusual?

Woody

Woody,

Deer do prefer the forage of polk when the plants are young, then the fruit when they mature.  When conventional soybeans begin to fill the pods, they extract nutrients from the forage and the palatability is reduced.  This tends to occur (depending on planting date, weather, etc.) the same time that poke berries ripen.

Growing Deer together,

Grant