This is the first year I became involved in food plots. It's almost as fun as hunting. I tried a lot of different varieties and plantings and found out that buckwheat will grow when it is too hot and dry for other plants to grow. It also takes very little soil prep, is good at improving the soil and seed is cheap.( at least in my area)
I had a few areas that clover failed to grow and planted sunflowers late. The plants were stunted and the heads real small but the deer ate the leaves and heads in preference to other choices. ( turnips,canola,green oats,mature buckwheat,winter rye)
The farmer combining my neighbors soybeans was buffaloed when he occasionally encountered big leafy plants that had a tuber that was 2-3" in diameter and as long as 2 feet ending in a long skinny root. It turns out my neighbor had a cover crop planted by air last fall (winter rye) and then no-tilled beans this spring. A few Daikon radish seeds were mixed with the rye seed and showed up in this falls harvest. These are supposed to be a good thing to plant to help break up heavy clay soil and good deer feed to boot.
I've also discovered the cheap millet sold for bird seed and black oil sunflowers grow very well. I'm already getting plots ready for next spring by spraying herbicide to kill the quack grass,burning it off, and tilling it so it will be ready to go early. I stumbled across a trailer load of drywall scraps that were headed to the landfill and am spreading those out so they will get wet and breakdown easier. It is supposed to help improve the soil and the price was right-free!
