With the rain we've had lately, they're doing good.

Nut sedge is the only plant I have seen deer dig for on my farm. It occurs naturally in my low area.

I have never seen a turkey on my farm, but have lots near me. I have seen many in a few tenths of a mile from here.

Keith

Keith,

Chufa is in the nut sedge family...a non-competetive variety. Any plant grows up.beside a chufa...the chufa dies back. Makes them aggravating and expensive to grow. Have to use broadleaf and grass herbicide...sometimes more than once during the summer growing season.

They will pull all the turkeys in the area though.

Deer will dig chufa nuts in the fall when they're mature. Never mess with the grassy plant top.

Squirrels, coons, and feral hogs are devastating on chufas.

Does the variety you plant have much larger rhizomes than the wild varieties? Around here, in areas that frequently flood, nut sedge competes well with other plants. The rhizomes are small, but must be tasty for deer. When the soil is disturbed in wet areas here, nut sedge is one of the very first plants to colonize it.

It may be good to plant both the wild and domestic varieties in close proximity of each other, to promote hybridization. A hybrid of the wild and domestic varieties might be more competitive and have better rhizome size, making it better for wildlife.

Keith

Yes...peanut-size tubers. Bigger plants can have 100+ tubers on a single root mat in late summer...early fall.

These are from cultivated seed sold for turkey plots. Much of it is imported from Spain.

I would try to hybridize those with native nut sedge.

I wonder if Jerusalem artichokes would be easier to maintain. They produce enormous amounts of tubers and vegetative material. Deer will readily dig for the tubers. A friend of mine had Jerusalem artichokes on the outside of one of his deer pens. His deer kept the inside of the pen dug down near the fence, from digging up the tubers. I joked it looked like they were attempting to tunnel out. They had all the quality food they could desire and still dug up the Jerusalem artichoke tubers.

Keith

Was gonna say, you must not have hogs. I tried it one time on a sandy road. Came up good and I checked it one day early fall as it started to yellow. Came back to hunt a week or two later and looked like someone ran a tiller down that road. Not a plant to be found. No doubt your turkeys will appreciate that effort

S94,
Hogs have came and went on this particular property over the years (had this place for 24 years). Have seen hog sign about 4 or 5 of those years. Only killed 2 here. Neighbors declared war on em....Hunted them with catch dogs...killed several. Haven't seen a hog track now in about 5 years.

I plant chufas every summer on this particular property. Squirrels and coons are aggravating, but landowner cut timber here about 3 years ago so it's a long walk across a clean clearcut from a bigger tree for a squirrel now to where I planted these chufas.

I learned years ago NOT to plant them near or in the river bottom or along one of the creeks/wetlands here......dang coons!

Looks good Swamp. I bought 2 sacks a couple weeks ago to plant .My chufa planters and I need to get them in the ground soon.

Killed this ole boy years ago. He couldn’t have fit anything else in his crop if he wanted to, lol.

… throw em some hen scratch…. Name em….. and post their antics on Facebook

You sure you want me to do that^^^^??

I've seen em just that full of chufas too. They do love em.

You got a little while yet. Chufas need 90 to 100 days to mature before first frost. I always try to get em in the ground NLT July 1st....but I'm way early this year. And that means more herbicide to keep em weed free.