Hardly a track in this food plot

[SM69]

OP, like you, I've never seen my deer or pigs do anything with turnips or radishes in the couple of times I planted them. As mentioned by another, there is always the talk about improvement after a hard freeze. Interested to hear if you do note a change after this cold front next week. Please do report back!

Will do, won't make it back up for a few weeks. I'm interested to see if this cold snap had any effect as well. If not, then I'll just chalk it up to benefiting soil health. Really appreciate everyone's input on this.

[txbowman12]

I only mix in daikon radishes now for the most part in my fall mixes to help break up the soil some. Wheat, Oats, Rye and Triticale blends with crimson and white clover are predominantly what I plant now. Agree with the thoughts on cover. So often we go for a pretty looking plot, when deer mostly prefer ugly. My best plot this fall is one that was converted from grassy weeds and native grasses like bluestem. Sprayed to kill the green stuff and left the natives alone (they were pretty much dormant so didn't kill off). Tons of cover scattered through the plot and deer live in it. Have done the same thing with goatweed in past years too.

You can hit it with some fertilizer to sweeten things up too. Plants are just a vector for nutrients from the dirt to get into deer. You don't need fertilizer once you have a good rotation of plants going (especially elbon rye), but if starting out it can definitely help utilization.

[SM69]

Well, looks like I'll have to chalk up the turnip/radish plot to helping with soil compaction. They've mostly all gone to flower, some of them head high (turnips with yellow flowers and radishes with white). We did sow in some switchgrass and indiangrass seeds around the border and will also be planting some sorghum later on to help with screening. The oats came in late but they haven't touched them much either. Enjoy the heck out of doing it though, good therapy! Now it's getting close to dove plot time.

[txbowman12]

That's a lot of organic matter getting into the soil. Will pay dividends for several years to come. Don't forget sorghum sudangrass to mix in with your screening. Don't have to deal with the seed heads and hogs that come with that from traditional sorghum.

[KactusKiller]

I have had very mixed results with turnips and radishes. The first yr I planted them in Navarro co they came up great, tons of forage and the deer never touched the greens or turnips themselves. They ate the daikon radish tops very well. The next two yrs I planted them they didn't come ups as well. This yr one plot came up great in areas and the deer hammered the turnip tops. I'm not sure the rhyme or reason, I do think that it takes deer a couple seasons to figure them out. Like any new feed or browse I think it takes them a couple seasons to really get a taste for them. Plus they have good soil benefits. If they ever do start eating them its hard to beat the sugar and forage tonnage brasicas produce. I will always mix some in but be careful, you can over do it pretty easy with those little seeds.

[KactusKiller]

Has anyone had issues with spring/summer plots growing great and fall plots never really getting off the ground?
I know the last two yrs has been tough for some fall plots because of severely dry hot summers well into September and even early October. We have been in central Oklahoma two seasons and our fall plots have been less than stellar both yrs. Both yrs I got them in later than I would really like because of lack of rain. But last yr should have been early enough and we had good rain. Our plots looked stunted and never really got thick and lush.
We planted two summer plots last yr and they both came out greater than expected, tall thick and everything grew. We planted some of our fall plots in same patch as summer plots, some in fall only plots. They all looked the same. Why would summer plots grow great and fall plots barely get off the ground? Is the nutritional needs of fall plots that much different than summer plots?

[SM69]

That's a lot of organic matter getting into the soil. Will pay dividends for several years to come. Don't forget sorghum sudangrass to mix in with your screening. Don't have to deal with the seed heads and hogs that come with that from traditional sorghum.

Thanks for the reminder, will definitely do that.

[KactusKiller]

Thanks for the reminder, will definitely do that.

We used hybrid sudan specifically sugar queen sudan and it got to about 7' tall in most areas and lasted all the way thru deer season. It started breaking down on late january/feb when we started getting snow and ice. Great screening cover.

[Drycreek3189]

Has anyone had issues with spring/summer plots growing great and fall plots never really getting off the ground?
I know the last two yrs has been tough for some fall plots because of severely dry hot summers well into September and even early October. We have been in central Oklahoma two seasons and our fall plots have been less than stellar both yrs. Both yrs I got them in later than I would really like because of lack of rain. But last yr should have been early enough and we had good rain. Our plots looked stunted and never really got thick and lush.
We planted two summer plots last yr and they both came out greater than expected, tall thick and everything grew. We planted some of our fall plots in same patch as summer plots, some in fall only plots. They all looked the same. Why would summer plots grow great and fall plots barely get off the ground? Is the nutritional needs of fall plots that much different than summer plots?

Are you testing your soil ? That will give you an idea of what your nutrient needs are. Whitetail Institute will give recommendations specific to what you want to plant.

[KactusKiller]

Are you testing your soil ? That will give you an idea of what your nutrient needs are. Whitetail Institute will give recommendations specific to what you want to plant.

I didn’t, the summer it’s came up so great I figured the fall would as well.

[RMW]

I didn’t, the summer it’s came up so great I figured the fall would as well.

Most fall plots need to pour the nitrogen to them

[Walker]

I didn’t, the summer it’s came up so great I figured the fall would as well.

Are you planting both in the same plot. You're wearing out the soil. Need to test soil for fall planting.

[Drycreek3189]

Different crops can need different nutrients. For instance, peas, beans, and such capture nitrogen out of the air and transfer it to the soil. Cereal grains need that nitrogen to flourish. If you plant peas, beans, clover, etc. in the spring you won’t need as much N if you plant cereal grains in the fall. This is just one example. A soil analysis that tells you what kind of fertilizer to use for a specific crop is as important to me as the ph. If I’m gonna spend my time and money on a food plot I want it to be the best it can be.

[RMW]

Different crops can need different nutrients. For instance, peas, beans, and such capture nitrogen out of the air and transfer it to the soil. Cereal grains need that nitrogen to flourish. If you plant peas, beans, clover, etc. in the spring you won’t need as much N if you plant cereal grains in the fall. This is just one example. A soil analysis that tells you what kind of fertilizer to use for a specific crop is as important to me as the ph. If I’m gonna spend my time and money on a food plot I want it to be the best it can be.

I’ve heard if you disc your crops before planting you lose all your Nitrogen that the legumes left in the soil, I usually plant cereals in the fall and winter peas I like to put 300lbs of Sulfate which is 21-0-0 and that’s 63lb of N per acre with quite a bit of Sulfur.

[Drycreek3189]

I’ve heard if you disc your crops before planting you lose all your Nitrogen that the legumes left in the soil, I usually plant cereals in the fall and winter peas I like to put 300lbs of Sulfate which is 21-0-0 and that’s 63lb of N per acre with quite a bit of Sulfur.

I guess that depends on how deep you till your soil. When I do disc, I go the minimum depth that it takes for me to plant. Usually, that’s one round of double discing with my front gang in the second hole and my rear gang straight. All I’m doing is cutting some grooves around an inch or inch and a half deep. Then I plant, fertilize, and drag. In places it looks like it’s drilled in. I don’t like to till deep, but if you have a plot like the one pictured, you’re gonna have to disc it several times. If this works, I’m gonna do more like it !