How To Plant Clover Food Plots

[@johndhead1]

An excellent video that encompasses the majority of what a small food plot planter needs to know. 👍

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks John! Tried to cram as much as I could into a 20 minute video.

[@seanc77339]

The droptine buck is amazing in the first few minutes of the video. Love your videos.

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks Shawn! We'll keep them coming!

[@jeremybrubeck7530]

I have a clover plot in the woods and they are taking fairly well but I jumped the gun and planted at the beginning of spring with no soil preparation. Also have about 85%-90% shade above lol. I'm new to all this but learning as I go with your help. Thanks for the great and informative videos. Keep up the good work and happy father's day.

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks Jeremy! I appreciate it! Just mow your plot before a good rain, wait 1-2 weeks then spray for both broadleaves and grasses. Spray separately. Your plot should still turn out great!

[@courtofficermcilvaine7928]

Another exceptional video presentation! Thanks for posting. Cris

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks Cris! Appreciate it as always!

[@michaelgangadeen8013]

Hats off on another well presented video. There is a debate taking place regarding planting clover- at least in my head. I retained a Michigan habitat consultant for my farm in the big woods of KY. I was advised to stay away from clover and plant only fall/winter food because clover is primarily a summer food which attracts does and fawns. The logic is that does and fawns would make my farm their home driving away mature bucks from the land due to social stress except for the period of time which encompasses the "rut" breeding season. Researching another opinion from a noted Missouri deer expert, his position is that clover is a high quality food which provides all deer the necessary protein and food required. It also allows bucks to grow large antlers to express their full genetic potential. My KY bucks have long tines but are missing the mass that are prevelant in farmlands of western KY and other midwest states. I'm afraid that planting clover may sabotage the consultant's overall plan but I would like my deer to express their full genetic potential. I haven't seen this topic addressed elsewhere but your videos are spot on when addressing other topics. Any thoughts on this debate?

[@whitetailevolution]

That is a great question Michael and I'll make two comments on that. The first and the most important, you paid good money to have a consultant come down to your farm because you trust his opinion and advice, follow his plan and his advice as closely as possible or you'll risk falling short of the vision he had for your property. That said, the second is my quick opinion on the summer food debate - If you have a very high deer density and you feel that you are attracting too many does and fawns from the area to your property (high stress environment) then don't plant summer food as it is an attraction. However, if your area has an average to below average deer density you will have no problem planting summer food. You WANT the deer to make your property a part of their pattern. Summer food sources provide great nutrition to the local deer herd and if those bucks remain on a bed to food pattern in the early part of the season, you'll have a great hunting opportunity. That nutrition will also help with antler development in bucks and with lactation in does. Because we provide summer food, we have does and fawns (not a ton) on our properties all summer and we accumulate even more as the season progresses, as neighboring pressure increases. We also have bucks on our properties all season long. The bucks mainly pass through during the summer because we are back enjoying the property which they prefer to avoid. The bachelor groups split up in late September and each buck finds a spot to call home for the fall, a lot of them choose our property as we have provided secure high stem count cover. The local deer, especially bucks, will gravitate to areas will low human / hunting pressure. Deer want security over everything else. Bucks will tolerate does and fawns as opposed to spending time in an area with high hunting pressure. Also you want to have does on your property for when the rut rolls around. The bucks know where the best opportunities for breeding are and where they are not. If you don't have does living on your property, why would a buck risk exposing himself running through looking for them? Hope that helps!

[@travissmith-wz5nc]

Before your last mow in August. Broadcast winter wheat, cereal rye and ground hog radishes. Mow over top of seed. Shocking the amount of extra forage in late fall winter. And suppresses weeds in spring.

[@whitetailevolution]

That's great advice Travis! We normally broadcast 100lbs of cereal rye / acre into our clover plots labor day weekend. The last thing we do before leaving the property for a month. Do you plant the radishes in the same plot year after year or do you rotate them around?

[@scottclark1168]

Great video we have clover plots on our lease,these lil tips will help thanks for sharing

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks Scott! Good luck with the plots and the lease!

[@shermanwatters7503]

Love the video content, especially the involvement of your children. Happy Father's Day!!! Q - (I'm in southeast Tejas) Do you, can you, plant oats, etc., into the clover for over winter browse?

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks Sherman! We try to get them involved as much as we can! And yes, we broadcast 100lbs / acre of cereal rye into our clover plots on labor day weekend each year. When the clover does dormant we still have the rye. And in the late spring we mow it down as that is great great manure to help feed our soil.

[@justinvisser7609]

Great video. I know this series is primarily for deer but was curious if you turkey hunt and if you saw any improvement/ clover type that works well for bringing in turkey as well as deer?

[@whitetailevolution]

It does! Improving our property for deer has helped the turkeys as well. We have more cover which means more small game animals which means more food for predators, so more turkeys survive. The cover adjacent to food sources also provide great nesting opportunities for the hens. Toms also love to check the food plots for hens and the clover provides a great place to bug around. We also make trails that snake through our property so that makes ambushing turkeys MUCH easier. Hear a gobble 100 yards away, just loop around using a food plot trail and get in front of him. It's so thick they have no idea you're sprinting to cut them off.

[@evanmatthews11]

Great detail and thank you for describing alternative growing methods. When you you plant the clover seed are you adding fertilizer? I’m wondering about something with a good amount of phosphorus to promote root development.

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks Evan and that's a great question that I should have covered. I follow the soil test and that should give you fertilizer recommendations based on what's in the soil, but for the most part with clover you want to be adding phosphorus and potassium, never nitrogen. Clover fixes it's own nitrogen from the atmosphere and adding more will just feed the grass. Like you said, focus on phosphorus and potassium with clover plots. We use 0-20-20 or 0-0-60.

[@mikelowe3796]

Awesome video!

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks Mike!

[@AirgunJoe]

Really well done

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks guys! Good luck this season!

[@timh8257]

Traverse City Checking in. This August coming up, I was going to terminate my buckwheat and go back into cereal rye. It worked great last year for soil building and we got three new fawns! My question is, I need to lime (cone spreader on a 3 pt hitch). Would you spread the lime, fertilize, and seed and then roll and spray the buckwheat? Or would you roll and spray the buckwheat, then lime and fertilize, disc it all in, then seed and cultipack?

[@whitetailevolution]

Great Question Tim. You want to spread your seed prior to rolling the buckwheat so your seeds end up below the thatch layer. I would seed, then drive the tractor through to spread lime / fertilizer, then roll / spray the buckwheat.

[@timh8257]

@@whitetailevolution Will do! That will save me a lot of time discing the lime in.

[@Miguel_Travels]

Great stuff.

[@whitetailevolution]

Thanks!

[@NeedsMoreToys]

You should add potash to clover in spring and fall.

[@whitetailevolution]

Great tip and I should have included the specific fertilizer requirements for clover.Always forget something! 0-0-60 or 0-20-20. No nitrogen whatsoever!

[@jeremysilcox9362]

Down here we can let the buckwheat go to seed producing a second crop. Then the second crop we stop it from going to seed and plant the fall crop.

[@whitetailevolution]

I'm jealous! I would love to get two rotations in. Build the soil twice as fast! Depending on the spring, we MIGHT be able to get two in, but for the most part it's one buckwheat crop then seed the fall plots.

[@yoholmes273]

OK another 15 second answer to a 20 min video...How do you plant clover?....identify plot location, weed, till, plant, water, weed. Insane how long winded these videos are on such simple rudimentary topics.

[@whitetailevolution]

You could make it as simple as a few bullet points but not everyone would understand the why behind what you're doing. And you forgot the soil test ;)

[@yoholmes273]

@@whitetailevolution Yes of course...I would say part of "planting" is know your soil. PH matters