[Shady]

Wow. 8 weeks since planting and actually going on more like 9 at the end of the weekend. Despite the lack of rain, its a jungle. And i was worried about overgrazing....paleaze! Now i would wish it would get eaten to the ground. I only have a few deer coming out at night and they still seem to prefer the clover. I dont know why they are not attracted to the beans/peas/lablab. The sorghum is starting to form its seedheads and from what i hear...these become deer candy in mid October. Now I'm at a cross roads as I begin to think about fall planting. Last year, it was a great turnip/rape patch and was smoking during the rut with deer activity. I have that seed left over and would love to do the turnips again. However, I dont want to just nuke all of this that has grown quite well. If the deer dont eat it to the ground, I may cut rows with a weed wacker and plant the turnips no till into the rows. In a perfect world, the deer need to just eat this plot to the ground. So here she is,

Clover went dormant from the heat but hanging in there.

Sorghum forming seed heads and the lablab vining up the stalks.

Feel free to correct me for I am no expert, but i believe this to be the IC Cowpeas.

And this is lablab. This stuff grew great but I only found a bit of it was browsed. Any ideas if this stuff becomes more preferred to deer later in the summer?

This is some of the soybeans left in the understory. It is recovering from the abuse of the ground hogs.

And then this is the chicory i threw down in the clover patch about 8 weeks ago when i put down the powerplant. Its doing good but i cant tell if the deer like it. I will put more down in the fall season for next year.

And the sunflowers, well not too many are surviving and the few i did find are recovering from being browsed. No flowers even starting on them.

Thanks for taking a look and feel free to comment and give me ideas on what to do with it for the fall.

 

[Pa Bird Man]

Looking good Shady, I'd let it there for the deer. The deer are browsing our WI power plant pretty heavy still, the japenese millet I mixed into the one plot for the turkeys and grouse is doing awesome, should soon start making seed heads too. Thanks for sharing!

 

[bake545]

I planted lab lab before and it grew great but was browsed minimally and least opposed to what they do to soybeans on my place. It also dies at the first hint of frost.

Nice looking plot though, I'm suprised they aren't using the soybeans and IC peas more.

 

[fordman99]

Wow,you got the whole salad bar going on there,looks good!!!
Kinda hard to tell how tall your clover is but a light mowing should promote some new growth.

 

[rifleman #62]

It looks far better than mine, maybe some better prep work next year for my piece of the pie. Then again I do all the work and the neighboring hunters get all the benefits from it. Your growth looks good for that area.

 

[BFMsam]

How big of a plot size is that?

 

[Shady]

The power plant is a mere 1/5 acre and the clover is about 1/2 acre. This isnt so much a food plot in the traditional sense as it is a backyard project for me to practice until i become wealthy and can afford 100 acres in Ohio.

The clover is short right now at about 2-3 inches and is dormant so no mowing until september. There is a spike that is in it every night and a young doe that travels with him that i assume is his sister. But like I said, they still prefer the clover to the Powerplant. I have no clue why they are not hammering the beans and peas. I watched the buck last night and he went to the edge of where the clover and PP meet and it looked like he was nipping a few of the leaves but it was too dark to be sure. I'm thinking about putting down some shelled corn in the plot to entice them in and maybe they would get comfortable if all else fails. But I have noticed in the previous years out here that I start seeing deer moving and searching for food in the latter end of august. I think this is when alot of the native browse gets sparse and they have to look for it. I'm sure some night ill look out and see ten deer in it and the next morning the plot will look like a nuclear holocaust.

 

[Shady]

As far as the clover goes, I seeded 4 lbs of durana in late march and put down a healthy dose of potash and ortho phosphate. I treated the area with arrest in april and the results in may were incredible. I definitily recommend potash and ortho and doing what you got to do for the grass competition whether it be mowing or chemicals.