Johnny McRight of DeltAg provides Q&A on Food Plots

Commonly Asked Questions & Answers

Q: My food plots are struggling and I have been told that they may need lime. I have no way of getting lime in my food plots because they are out in the middle of the woods. Is there anything I can do?
A: First, pull soil samples. Send them to your state soil lab and find out, for sure, if you need lime. Secondly, assuming lime is needed, there are some plants that will grow better in a lower pH soil than others. Check with the local county agent or a consultant from your area and find out what seed types might be a good alternative for acid soils. A well prepared seed bed will reduce the stress created from an acid soil. Remember, the key to good healthy plants is a good healthy start. Better soil preparation reduces stress in early stages. Once a good root system is developed and the young plants are passed this susceptible and critical stage, they are not quite as dependent on soil pH to develop healthy forage. If we were trying to develop the plot all the way to seed production, things will be more complicated. However, there is no substitute for a good dose of lime.

Q: My food plot is newly cleared and has never been planted. Is there anything extra that I need to do?
A: Yes! You have, most likely, turned under large quantities of plant residue when clearing your food plot area. This residue must compost, or rot, and turn into nutrients and organic matter for your crop. This process will take precedence in your field and requires Nitrogen, sometimes as much as 30 pounds of actual Nitrogen per acre. This soil cycle will furnish Nitrogen to the soil first and will rob your seedling plants of much needed Nitrogen for early growth. Therefore, it is important that you apply Nitrogen, incorporated into the soil when this residue is turned under. We would also highly recommend DeltAg Soil Solution, which was formulated to enhance bacterial activity in you soil, and to speed up this soil cycle process of digesting crop residue.

Q: Why is it that some seed seem to come up better and healthier than others in my food plot?
A: There could be several explanations for this. Many hunters are applying a seed mix that includes larger seed with smaller seed sizes. Some seed are soft shelled while others are hard shelled. Yet, we plant a mixture, or blend of different seeds that should be planted at different depths and in different moisture levels. Mixed together and planted at one time means some will emerge better than others. Another factor is soil pH. Some seed will respond better in an acid soil than others and vice-versa for alkaline soils. Probably the most important factor is soil temperature. Every seed type and variety within a type has an optimum window for planting. It is important to know this window for the seed you are planting. Unfortunately you have to plant your food plots when the ground is dry enough and/or when you have time. When blends are planted, we are planting different seed with different needs, at the same time and at the same depth. DeltAg Seed Coat will help overcome these factors and give your seed a better chance to perform with whatever conditions are prevalent.

Q: In planting a food plot, is there a reason I should not burn off the residue from the previous year?
A: Absolutely, NEVER burn off crop stubble! The only reason to burn is to get it out of your way. When we burn residue, we are destroying nutrients that should be there to support future crop growth. Also, and more importantly, we are destroying organic matter that will create humus for our soils. A healthy soil will have humus and live bacteria driving the composting process. Heat from burning will destroy humus, kill bacteria, and lock up nutrients in the soil. We can go out and buy more nutrients, but, we can not go out and buy organic matter. My summer food plots always tend to get really weedy.

Q: Is there anything I can do to reduce my weed pressure?
A: Yes, with today's technology, we can plant corn or soybeans that are what is referred to in row- crop agriculture as RoundUp Ready. In other words, we can chemically burn off the weeds with glyphosate (RoundUp), plant the crop, and come back over-head and spray to kill the weeds without hurting the crop. As of today, there is no evidence of any residual side effects of spraying this chemical on your crop. I am not an animal nutritionist, but I do know that soybeans are an excellent choice for providing protein to your animal herd.

Q: If I am planting food plots, how important are mineral supplements to my deer herd?
A: Good question! How many acres, or what percent of your land is in food plots? Are you planting enough variety of seed and enough volume to supply your animals with all the vitamins they need? Remember this; animals do not manufacture their own vitamins, and that includes man. We mammals must consume our vitamin needs from plants. In my opinion, it is better to supplement with additives than to risk a shortage, but the correct answer is to ask the advice of your local Game Biologist. Our hunting lease has many low lying areas.

Q: Are there seed types that we can plant that would do better in these soils?
A: Yes, there are seed types that will have tolerance to poor drainage and damp soils. Check with local experts to get recommendations. However, I can tell you that corn and soybeans will not perform well in this environment. Some choices might be types like Chufa or Millet. Also, I would tend to recommend Rye over Wheat or Oats. We would recommend tilling your soil and then creating wide beds for planting. This would be comparative to what we call a watermelon bed. This will help improve drainage and help keep the seedlings in a better drained environment.

Q: When we go to buy fertilizer for our food plots, Triple 13 is always recommended.
A: What do these numbers mean and is it the best choice for my food plots? The three numbers represent per cent Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potash and always in the same order. This is standard in the fertilizer industry and is the law in all 50 states. Simply put, the number represents how many pounds of Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potash are in 100 pounds of this fertilizer. Triple 13 is a good overall fertilizer and gives you 13 pounds of Nitrogen, 13 of Phosphorus and 13 of Potash in every 100 pounds of material applied. BUT, a legume like soybeans or clover does not need Nitrogen in normal circumstances. As a matter of fact, we can delay nodulation and nitrogen production in legumes if we apply to much Nitrogen fertilizer. My tendency for legumes is to ask for a fertilizer with no Nitrogen that is high in Phosphate and Potash. A common example is 0-24-24. Here, you are getting almost twice as much P and K with no Nitrogen and this will be much better suited to legumes, with less risk of delays and for the same money.

Q: The soils on our lease are very sandy. Is there anything special we can do to help our food plots to grow off better?
A: These soils tend to warm up quicker, but dry out quicker as well. Planting as early as possible in the Spring or a little later in the Fall will tend, in most years, to help develop a better stand of plants that grow off quicker in your food plot. But remember, there is no substitute for a well prepared seed bed. DeltAg Seed Coat can also be beneficial in establishing a good stand as well. Once the root system is developed, you should have roots that are down in some residual moisture that will continue to draw moisture for a longer period of time. We sometimes mix our seed and fertilizer together and apply both to save time.

Q: Is this a good practice?
A: This will work and could be considered an acceptable practice, provided you are using a local supplier that understands seeds and fertilizer source materials. In most cases, the local supplier will know if you are planting a seed that is susceptible to burn from fertilizer and he or she will know which fertilizer source materials are high risk for root burn that can occur in soils when certain weather events take place. The wrong fertilizer can damage young seedling roots in some circumstances. Overall, if you are relying on a local company to mix the seed and fertilizer, you should be fine. I would advise you NOT to mix the two yourself, unless you have consulted a local expert or supplier.

Q: I watch my food plots pretty closely during the Fall of the year. It seems to me that our deer always feed on the greener, richer looking plants in the food plot. Why is that?
Animals are attracted to food sources with two primary senses, smell and taste. Sight would probably be the lesser attractant of the three. Plants that are fertilized are healthier. Plants that emerge out of the ground and grow off quickly will be better balanced nutritionally and will have better potential for future growth and development. A healthy plant will generate more protein. Protein will convert to carbohydrates and then to sugars. More sugar creates better aroma and better taste. To get a plant up and out of the ground and growing, with less stress, creates a healthier plant, which means more protein and more sugar. The bottom line is "Healthier Plants Yield Healthier Animals".

Q: I plant on heavy clay soils that tend to stay wet in the Spring. What can be done to help my food plots with these conditions?
A: Most importantly is choosing the correct seed types for growth on heavy soils and on damp soils. Consult the local experts such as consultants or the county agent for qualified seed choice. Seed bed preparation can be a huge negative or we can, with a little trouble, make it a huge positive. On poorly drained or wet soils, we can bed up before planting. In other words, mound up the soil in wide rows that can be as wide as six feet. This is what we call a watermelon bed. This will create improved drainage for the crop and help keep the root system from drowning out in wet weather.

Q: We always apply 300# per acre of 13-13-13 fertilizer when we plant annual food plots in the early Fall, usually mid September. Toward mid to late November the plots tend to be less productive and look stressed. Should we apply more 13-13-13 fertilizer? Is there anything else we can do to make the plots more productive?
A: Depending on what type crops you are planting, there is a possibility that you simply need to be applying more nitrogen than you are getting with the 13-13-13. 300#'s of this blend will only give you some 39 units of Nitrogen. You probably have ample phosphate and potash with 39 units of each. However, cereal grains like oats, wheat or rye would normally require at least twice as much nitrogen as they would phosphate and potash. Many retail feed stores now carry a blended nitrogen referred to as 33-0-0. This is normally a blend of urea and ammonium sulfate. This is an excellent means for additional nitrogen at 100 pounds per acre and could be applied after the crop emerges if not before planting.

Q: I have just gotten back the results of our soil tests. The pH of our plots is 5.9 and the recommendation is to apply 2000# per acre of lime. When is the best time of year to apply the lime and should we apply all the recommended lime at once? It is now June and we plan to plant perennial clovers this September.
A: Frankly, with a soil pH of 5.9, I would not recommend an application of lime. Ideally, the soil pH would be best if above 6.0. With one ton of lime, the lab test, by design, is to recommend a rate of lime that will bring the soil pH up to or above 7.0. Truthfully, the clover will do well at 6.2 or even 6.5, which could be accomplished in sandy soils with as little as 750 to 1,000 pounds of lime. Also, it will take good deep incorporation of the lime and over-wintering with rains and weather changes for the lime to fully react. The odds of any real benefit from liming in the first year are slim to none. If you can't apply the full amount and fully incorporate it into six inches of soil profile, you would do just as well to wait. In the mean time, create a well developed seed bed and be sure and keep weed competition reduced as much as possible and the clover should last several years. Bottom line is that there is no true substitute for lime. If you soil pH were lower like 5.4, I would say you must find a way to apply and incorporate lime with the anticipation of benefits in the second year after application.

Q: I planted a brassica type food plot mix in one of my food plots last year. The deer did not seem to utilize the food plot until late January. What can I do to make the brassica food plot more desirable to the deer at an earlier time such as October & November?
A: As I understand it from wildlife biologists (which I am not) Brassica crops develop tubers in the soil that are beneficial carbohydrates for these animals. However, sugar translocation within these type plants does not occur generally until after frost. So I do not know of a way to make the tubers more attractive before frost occurs. We have seen foraging on some brassica crops with the overhead spraying of DeltAg Plant Power, which tends to enhance plant metabolism and sugar translocation. However, that success may have been based on what other food sources were or were not available at that time.

Johnny McRight is Founder and President of DeltAg Formulations. DeltAg is a company specializing in crop nutrition. DeltAg developed formulations to enhance plant nutrition and improve plant response to applied fertilizers. DeltAg has been working in production agriculture with Farmers and Ag Dealers across the Southeast, Midwest and Canada since 1976.