Food Plot Prep: How to Plant and Maintain Food Plots

Tips for planting food plots for deer.

The heavy-antlered 10-point buck you've been after for two seasons stands in the middle of the clover plot. It rips a mouthful of greens from the ground. Red and white clover blooms dangle out as it chews just enough to swallow its salad. Seconds later, you're at full draw, and subsequently, tracking your biggest buck ever.

That's hypothetical for some and anecdotal for others. Regardless, whether seeing it for the first time, or the 100th, good food plot prep can make it happen. Here's how to plant and maintain food plots.

What are the best food plot plant species?

• Ag Crops: Alfalfa, beets, corn, grain sorghum (milo), soybeans, wheat
• Brassicas: Canola, kale, radishes, rapeseed, turnip
• Cereal Grains: Cereal rye, oats, wheat
• Forbs: Alfalfa, chicory, clover, plantain, soybeans, sunflowers
• Legumes: Alfalfa, clover, cowpeas, lablab, soybeans, winter peas
• Native Plants: Beggar's lice, blackberry, deer vetch, goldenrod, partridge pea, pokeweed, ragweed
• Hard Mast Trees: Chestnut, red oak, white oak
• Soft Mast Trees: Apple, crabapple, pawpaw, pear, persimmon, plum

Choose the right food plot plant species based on key factors. The first is growing zone — ensure the species is compatible for the USDA growing zone of interest. Secondly, analyze soil type and conditions to determine the seed is compatible. Third, contemplate timing. Meaning, plant something that peaks during the period you need peak attraction (i.e.: during hunting season when you'll be afield). Whatever the seasonal timing factor in play, plant something that coincides with it.

Additionally, it's crucial to decide if you want to plant a standalone plant species or blend (mix) of compatible food plot varieties. For the latter, plotters oftentimes sow clover and chicory together, a mix of forage rape, forage turnips, and radishes, or blend of annual and perennial clover. Maybe you just want a baseline of cereal grains with other things or something that's easy to grow.

How do you prep to plant food plots?

• Choose a Location: Pick a food plot area that receives plenty of sunlight and is in an area that coincides with existing (or desired) deer lines of movement.
• Soil Sample Tests: Conduct a soil sample to determine the soil pH (salinity or alkalinity), which is amended with ag lime, and potential fertilizer needs (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium).
• Spray for Weeds: Spray with herbicides that are grass-selective (I.e.: clethodim), broadleaf-selective (i.e.: 2,4-D), or that kill virtually all vegetation (I.e.: glyphosate). Remove all dead thatch.
• Prepping the Seed Bed: Till and disc the soil to break up the ground and prepare it for seed sowing. Ensure the seed bed is firm and offers good seed-to-soil contact.

When do you plant food plots?

What you plant influences when you plant it.

• Spring Food Plots: Some food plots are best planted in spring, especially those destined to feed deer during the warmer months and into the early days of bow season. Generally, while it varies by USDA planting zone, spring food plots are planted between mid-April (after fear of frost) and early June (before fear of drought). Excellent spring food plots species include chicory, corn, cowpeas, iron clay peas, lablab, soybeans, and sunflowers.
• Summer Food Plots: Few food plots, if any, are planted in the dead of summer. However, many are planted at the very end of summer, especially those deemed for early fall usage. Generally, this is the best time to establish new food plot species, because it's a time when weed competition is lower. Examples of common plantings include brassicas (canola, kale, radishes, turnips), clover, or winter peas.
• Fall Food Plots: Other food plot plants are best planted in early fall. Examples include cereal grains, such as cereal rye, oats, and wheat. If planting in early fall, allot plenty of time for plants to mature before first frost.
• Winter Food Plots: Very few food plots are planted in winter. The exception? Frost-seeding clover food plots. Broadcast perennial clover seed (especially red clover) over fresh snow before it melts. The repeated freeze-thaw soil action will pull the seed down into the ground enough for germination.

Where do you plant food plots?

Before deciding where to plant food plots, determine if it will be a destination food plot or a micro (kill) plot. The purposes of these are vastly different. Destination food plots feed the herd and don't have to be close enough for daylight deer activity. Micro (kill) plots create shot opportunities and must be close enough to bedding areas to see daytime usage. Furthermore, consider the following factors:

• Location in Relation to Bedding Areas: Locate early season food plots closer to summer (warm-season) bedding cover, such as north-facing slopes. Position food plots peaking during the pre-rut and rut around rut-focused bedding. Place late-season food plots closer to winter (cold-weather) bedding, such as thermal bedding (dense conifers) and solar bedding (south-facing slopes).
• Location in Relation to Food Sources: Consider other food sources used by the deer herd. Position micro plots between bedding and destination feed along these established or newly created lines of movement.
• Location in Relation to Wind Direction: Think about wind direction, which impacts when, where, and how you hunt each food plot. From a mapping perspective, think about the orientation of the bedding area, food plot, stand locations, access routes, etc.
• Location in Relation to Thermals: Wind isn't the only scent-based element. Too many hunters completely ignore thermals. When wind is light and variable, or altogether absent, thermals pull scent down toward the lowest points.
• Location in Relation to Access Routes: Hunters must be able to reach food plots (entry routes), and depart food plots (exit routes), without spooking deer. Consider that when choosing food plot locations.
• Location in Relation to Soil Type, Quality and Conditions: Food plot species prefer different soil types and conditions. Match (or amend) plant species with the associated preferences.

How do you plant food plots?

The food plot is already prepared. It's sprayed, fertilized, and limed. The seedbed is optimal and ready for planting. So, how do you actually sow the food plot and ensure good seed-to-soil contact?

• Broadcast the Seed: Using a hand-crank broadcaster or implement-style seed-sower, broadcast per the rate of coverage called for on the food plot seed bag.
• Drill the Seed: Using a no-till drill, plant the seed at the required seeding rate and planting depth.
• Cover the Seed: If drilling, this step is already complete. If broadcasting, plant to the proper depth (1/4-inch, 1/2-inch, 3/4-inch, 1-inch, etc.) and cover the seed as directed by the planting directions. Methods include discing in, cultipacking, or merely driving over the planted plot with an ATV, UTV, or vehicle.

No matter the chosen planting method, try to time it with a coming rain. Waiting for a good rain in the near future forecast ensures it receives the moisture needed for germination.

What are the best food plot shapes?

Some food plot shapes are better than others. The best ones direct deer throughout the plot and funnel them through key pinch-points where hunters can intercept them and get shot opportunities. Examples include the hand (four or five fingers), hourglass, turkey foot, and certain letters (T, U, V, J, L, V, etc.). All of these shapes have vertexes where hunters can place treestands and hunting blinds.

How do you maintain food plots?

Once food plots are planted, and then established, land managers must maintain food plots. This is a multi-pronged process of weed control and soil maintenance.

• Weed Control: Maintain control of weeds and unwanted vegetation through strategic mowing and spraying of herbicides.
• Soil Maintenance: Continue amending soil quality as needed via applications of fertilizer and ag lime (or approved alternatives).

Plant Your Best Food Plot Yet

Follow the above guidelines and you're sure to plant your best food plot yet. While the entire food plot process can seem intimidating, it isn't. Be mindful of the important food plot factors, follow food plot planting steps, and you'll be growing the greens and grains in no time.