Food Plots: What to Plant Part One

United Country Midwest Lifestyle Properties hunting property agents know it’s important to plant the right crops to keep your food plot active through a variety of seasonal plants. ‘Food Plots: What to Plant’ gives you some expert advice from on what to plant, giving you real-time advice and success!

If you’re just joining the ‘conversation’, we’ve written several articles leading up to the last two. Today we’ll talk about annual plants and in the final article we’ll talk about perennials. With the winter before us, now is a great time to plant next year’s food plot.

What should I plant?

You should plant crops that produce the results you are looking for. Your goals could be as simple as getting the deer to stay on your property, but whatever your goals are, having a variety of food crops throughout the seasons will keep your deer population attracted to your property and happy.

A great place to start would be with an annual (you must plant them each year) or two, and then some perennials (they return each year without you planting them).

Midwestern folks need to keep planting hardy annuals such as corn, soybeans and brassicas for late fall and winter feeding. Folks in the mid and lower states get the benefit of warmer winters where tantalizing perennials abound.

Food plot seed companies

Some great food plot seed companies to check into:

1. https://tecomate.com
2. https://hancockseed.com/collections/deer-food-plot-seed
3. https://northwoodswhitetails.com/
4. https://domainoutdoor.com/
5. https://whitetailinstitute.com/

These are just a few suggestions. You could also talk with your local agronomy seed dealer and see if they have a food plot line.

Corn and soybeans

Corn is an excellent exterior food crop and deer attractant. It nutritionally provides deer with carbohydrates and fat; energy they need for winter survival. When thinking about planting corn, look for a late maturing field corn. If you have the room, planting five acres of field corn will give your deer, and other corn loving animals, ample food to last the season. Corn planted in smaller acres may get overrun early in the season.

Standing field corn also provides deer with cover for traveling, sleeping, and a break from winter winds. Do not get white corn, silage corn or sweet corn. Many people add sweet corn to their food plots as they like to harvest some for themselves and leave the rest for local deer to eat. The biggest drawback to sweet corn plantings is the other critters, like raccoons, like to eat sweet corn. Sweet corn matures in August and this leaves nothing for your deer to eat late fall and into winter.

Soybeans are the like super food of food plots. Offering your deer a variety of stage eating. From the moment the soybean sprout emerges, (think deer Skittles®) deer love to eat soybean browse! The bean stem and leaves provide the deer with high amounts of protein. Deer will browse on maturing plants until the leaves turn from green to a yellow.

Once the soybean turns brown and dries up, the deer will return to eat the ripened pods. A stand of beans can last well into the winter. This is a food source with amazing longevity. Not to mention a cost-effective return on your investment!

There is just one drawback to soybeans. You will want to plant these as an interior food plot crop, or you stand a pretty good chance of your beans being decimated. See planting soybeans on the interior as a game of hide and seek, with the deer having to investigate your plot to get to the treasure!

Whether you’re planting field corn or soybeans, you’ll have done your best work by scouting out what your neighbors have planted. Take a ride around the country blocks. Look to see what farmers have planted. Maybe even stop in and ask their opinions on what to plant.

Keep in mind your food plots compete with local farms and other hunting property plots. Being the only soybean field on the block may attract the entire neighborhood, which might very well leave your food plot picked clean before it matures. The flip-side to not having a variety a food items has the potential to leave your property vacant of wildlife and empty-handed during hunting season.

In the next article, we’ll cover some of the top five annuals to plant. Give United Country Midwest Lifestyle Properties a call at 608-742-5000 and see why people and properties are our two favorite investments!