Mix Crops with Clover
Filed under: Ask Grant, Food Plots
I just watched your episode (GDTV 19) with Bobby Watkins at Coontail, and was wondering if planting an annual seed with the Durana Clover the first year of planting is a smart idea. I hunt several hundred acres of managed pine and it is usually difficult to maintain a productive food plot, seems as if it fades out in late October from deer pressure as well as lack of sunlight in the fall. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Bob
Bob,
If planting clover during the fall, I usually mix in wheat as a cover crop. It is important to remove the wheat before it gets one foot tall or so the following spring. I prefer using a grass-specific herbicide rather than mowing to remove the wheat and reduce competition from the clover. Mowing won’t always kill the wheat, and it leaves a huge amount of duff that can provide too much shade on the newly established clover. However, if the wheat is less than one foot tall, a grass-specific herbicide will kill the wheat and allow it to dry while standing upright. This process avoids placing a huge amount of duff on the newly established clover.
If planting clover during the spring, I don’t mix in any additional forage except chicory if I don’t plan to use a broadleaf herbicide on that plot.
Growing Deer together,
Grant
