Growing oaks may take a little patience as I was told that oaks grow slower than clover and you have to make sure that your food plot has enough head room as they are taller than clover as well. I have a bunch of oaks here on my property and planting food plots is a waste of time as the deer are ankle deep in acorns this time the year

Every one of my eight plots has part of them in winter rye daikon radish and purple top turnips. Those are my big 3 and never fail for me here. I think if I could only have one thing for a late november December plot it would be Winter Rye with Radish a close 2nd . Now the last 2 years Bayou Kale has been coming on strong in some test strips along side the other 3. Next year the kale is going in the mix.

Thanks

I will expand a little. The last 3 days I was in a blind from dark till dark (hr short of dark tonight dropped a 10 pointer at 4pm ) and out of 35 does almost everyone ate rye while in the plots. Most ate the leafy greens also but always rye. Ive done wheat in the past but rye stays green all winter and pops up before the clover in march. Hope this helps.

Anyone planting foodplots should realize how far north/ south they are and what time of season they plan on hunting. Hence my advice.
I only hunt with archery for deer and seldom sit over food plots. I like the thick stuff.
There is a learning curve to planting plots and I've made every mistake in the book.
Proper fertilizer is very important. Timing is very important. I'd rather plant 2 weeks past prime time with good chances of rain soon then planting on optimum date in dry soil.
And I HATE turkeys!

which rye seed do you get

330, there are 2 types of rye. Grass/ Cereal. Cereal/ winter rye is good.

Do you have a co-op close? Ours has couple different blends they bag up.
I planted one that had 2 types of clover, turnip soybeans rape kale wheat and couple other type seeds in it I put some sunflower seeds around it but turkeys got them Put 100 lbs 19-19-19 and 100 lbs of pelletized lime on 1/2 acre Deer pounded it all summer mid September I mowed it back some Deer in it every night . Nice 10 point was there earlier

Wow...
Nice Buck

Thanks.I do have a co op within driving distance.

***Thanks BB

Deer Creek Seed Co has a good variety: Winter Rye/Secale Cereal but any co-op will have winter rye blends.
You just want to make sure you're not planting Perineal Rye.

I will see what Rye later today. All my seed comes from Welterseed.com Onslow Iowa

I thought I was the only one that HATES turkeys. They are a scourge around here.

They bother me while Hunting for other species

I can't hit one to Save my life when I actually hunt them.

Ragweed
Partridge pea
American Beauty Berry

All provide food and plenty of cover year round.

The deer like winter rye and buckwheat.

On the cereal ryes - there are also different strains from the south vs the north. Again, get something local if you can of a northern variety for you all up north. A southern grown VNS rye will winterkill in Iowa as I saw it happen with our covercrops we planned for NRCS in Iowa. Cereal rye in a corn/soybean rotation is still very much underutilized. Cereal rye can be immediately drilled after corn harvest and baled up before soybean production the following spring around the midwest. Livestock love the wet bales, carbon is added, soil structure improved, excess nitrogen tied up, erosion reduced, and winter cereal rye is about the best attractant I have seen around here for deer. Only negative I have seen is if too wet a spring - can be a bugger to get off without being 8' tall when planting soybeans.

Our ragweed is seasonal and frost kills it. Left with tall thick useless stalks. Partridge pea is underutilized and in most conditions hard to maintain a stand with fescue competition. Does well if converting to warm season mixes around midwest.

Anyone have experience with food plots on hillsides? There's not a flat area on my property. I'm wondering how much slope is too much?

I will need tonnage as we only have a little over an acre of cleared plots to keep up with the pressure if the plots become popular with the wildlife. We had some visitors this year with the limited crop that did come up in the freshly cleared areas but that was pretty light pressure.

They wander around aimlessly in the acorn woods with no defined deer trails like other places I’ve hunted in the past. You find faint trails but nothing that’s down to the dirt type travel ways. This is rocky ground but tracks are found in the lower spots on the roads and cleared areas but the woods are mostly faint trails nothing that reminds a guy of a cattle trail out west, no cattle in this tract of land just oak ridges.