Ten Reasons Why Your Food Plot May Have Failed

By Tom Fegely

In Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and the like, plantings should be made in February, not in late spring. It will get hot in spring and summer, and along with even minor droughts, young, underdeveloped plants of any type can be killed. In the North, fall plantings should be made early.

My Webster’s Dictionary offers a variety of definitions for the word “plot.” The one most meaningful to hunters is “a small area of ground marked off for some special use.”

That “special use” is largely to lure deer and turkeys with a menu of high-protein entrees to help them through winter and the growing seasons. At least that’s the plan. One of the biggest frustrations in establishing and maintaining food plots is putting in time and expense, then having them fail.

It happens to the best of us, even though we devotedly follow the directions provided and attend to as many proven farming techniques as possible. Blame it on Mother Nature. She can easily toss in the proverbial monkey wrench – mid-summer heat or prolonged droughts, for example – that will subject your plot to failure. The best you can do is follow the directions as correctly as possible and pray for appropriate weather.

But for those of us with less experience, which food plot gremlins present the biggest threats to a successful plot? I posed the question to Matt Harper and Jody Holdbrooks, forage researchers with the Whitetail Institute of North America, who are faced with helping hunters like you and me solve their food plot problems across the four seasons.

Here are their thoughts on the top-ten items contributing to food plot failure.

Improper Soil Testing

“Too often people don’t take a good representative sample of the field to be planted,” Harper explained. “They may take a sufficient sample but it’s usually only from one spot. I advise taking small samples from different spots  in the field and mixing them together because you can get quite a bit of variation in, say, a one-acre field.”

After taking several samples from scattered locations, mix them in a small, clean pail or zip-type plastic bag. Then take the sample to a local county extension service office or submit it in a soil-test-kit envelope available from the Whitetail Institute (call 1-800-688-3030 for details) for about $10.

The Lime Factor

If possible, don’t wait until planting time to add the required lime recommended by a soil test. Lime is a mandatory ingredient for healthy food plots nearly everywhere in the eastern half of the country, as it’s required for attaining proper soil pH, which aids in fertilizer utilization. However, adding lime at planting time is not the ideal time to add it.

“It may take six months or more to get the full effect of the lime,” Harper said. “It takes time to work into the soil, and disking or raking will speed things up.”

It’s important to get the lime into the top 4 to 6 inches of soil where maximum root growth occurs. The season in which it’s added doesn’t matter, just so it’s done well in advance of planting if possible.

Understand that several tons of lime per acre may be necessary to neutralize a plot. The good news is that once a plot has been neutralized, it will probably need no additional liming for several years.

How Much Fertilizer Is Enough?

Fertilizer used by “food plotters” consists of a blend of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium – elements that are required for successful plantings. Included in any soil test are fertilizer recommendations. Labeling on fertilizer bags – such as 12-12-12 or 6-12-18 – will indicate the percentage of each element needed. Take your soil test results with you when shopping at your farm supply store, and let the salesman determine what’s needed.

The initial number on a fertilizer blend indicates the percentage of nitrogen, the second and third numbers are the percentages of phosphorous and potassium, respectively. Using “just any” fertilizer without first getting a soil test is a big mistake that can lead to plot failure.

Unlike lime, fertilizer must be spread at the time of planting. Modern mixes can influence soil fertility quickly.

Location. Location. Location.

One big factor, over which food plot creators have some control, is the real estate agent’s foremost rule on property sales – location, location, location.

“If you’re planting clover or most other crops, a loamy, moisture-holding soil is best,” Holdbrooks explained. “Plots on hilly or steep slopes aren’t recommended for clover and neither are rocky or sandy soils.”

If “ideal” plot sites simply aren’t available, the use of specialized, more tolerant cultivars can often salvage a productive plot. Holdbrooks recommends Alfa-Rack Plus for dry, sandy soil, for instance. It’s a blend that includes deep-rooted grazing alfalfa created for well-drained.

Yet another suggestion for use in less-than-ideal soil conditions is Imperial Whitetail Extreme, which tolerates a pH as low as 5.4 and requires only 15 inches of annual rainfall. The perennial can last up to five years when tended properly and is a good bet for hillsides and sandy locations.

Too Little Moisture

When the gremlin in your food plot plans a drought, there’s simply not much to be done. Rainfall, of course, is key to successful root growth and eventual cultivar success, whether chicory, alfalfa, clover or another forage.

“Most plantings need a minimum of 30 inches of rain spread out across a growing season,” Holdbrooks said. “Extreme is a rare exception, as the forage varieties found in the blend can thrive in arid regions. It will tolerate as little as 15 inches of rain.”

Surprisingly, Imperial Whitetail Clover seeds will utilize dew during both germination and early growth phases when drought conditions persist. It is one of the most drought-tolerant food-plot products available.

Too Much Moisture

A significant consideration for choosing a suitable plot site is the amount of moisture it retains. In some cases plentiful rainfall isn’t the solution; it’s the problem. A single torrential rain can create flooded “plot-holes” that submerge seeds or sprouts for several days, or a week or longer. Some seeds or plants literally drown under such situations where runoff is slow or absent.

Limiting your plantings to areas that are not susceptible to frequent flooding is usually a smart decision.

Let There Be Light

Four hours is the minimum daily requirement of sunlight necessary for achieving successful growth of nearly every type of cultivar. This presents little problem in larger fields but can negatively affect food-plot growth in woodlands, field edges and other sites that are shaded during a portion of each day by overhanging canopies.

“For perennials, four hours or more of sunlight is needed,” Harper advised. “PowerPlant and soybeans, corn and other annuals do best with full sun from morning to late afternoon.”

No matter where a plot is situated, if it gets only two to three hours of sunlight each day, it will not do as well. Trimming or removing nearby trees, which create heavy shade, is best for maximum growth. As spring blends into summer it will be necessary to keep tabs on woodland plots, ATV trail borders and small clearings influenced by shade. Plots that receive sufficient sunlight in early May become shaded via an increase in foliage as the season progresses.

Improper Planting

Preparation of the seed bed is the first step to success, beginning with killing grasses and weeds with an herbicide or by repeatedly plowing or disking them under. Bear in mind that the unwanted vegetation will attempt a return, even after heavy disking. In some situations a controlled burn may be preferable to spraying.

Actual seeding should not be performed until compacted lumps of soil have been eliminated with a disc or rake. This will prevent spotty germination, while creating a smooth surface. The chore may be done with a lawn roller towed on the back of an ATV to flatten and compact the soil bed when planting is completed (or any other type of cultipacker).

Also, be aware at all times that tiny seeds – such as those in Alfa-Rack Plus and Imperial Clover – should not be buried too deep, or they may not germinate and push through the soil. Dragging seeds in often gets the seed too deep.

 “Two of the biggest reasons for failure are planting seeds too deep and no soil compaction,” Harper emphasized. “An alternative is to use minimal tillage and plant Imperial No-Plow or Imperial Extreme, which can be easier to establish.”  

Wrong Planting Time

Planting dates for the varied products produced by the Whitetail Institute set the stage for success or failure if not carefully followed. Yet, many users ignore the research, which determines when a crop is best planted.

“In the South, perennials are often planted too late in the spring,” Harper’s research has revealed. In Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and the like, plantings should be made in February, not in late spring. It will get hot in spring and summer, and along with even minor droughts, young, underdeveloped plants of any type can be killed.

In the North, fall plantings are also often made too late. Plant in October, and you’ll only have two or three weeks until the first frost, and that’s enough to kill what’s beginning to grow. August into early September is the more common “safe” planting time for north-country cultivars.

Check with your area’s cooperative extension service or state university for specific dates in which plantings can safely be made. Contact WINA’s biologists for a copy of the fall and spring planting maps, or see fall planting dates below.   

Trim and Mow

Sometimes seeds get a good start but then become hindered by the weeds that outgrow them. By mid to late summer, grasses and weeds will have their second chance, often outgrowing the clovers and robbing them of sunlight and moisture. If it happened in your garden, you’d attack the problem with a good weed-pulling session or, where possible, with the lawnmower or a Weed Eater. The latter will also work well in trimming small food plots. Mowing with a bush-hog is very effective in larger plots.

Of course, such trimming may cause additional problems if not done properly. Trimming at or near the point where the weeds outgrow the clover is recommended, even if an inch or two of the clover leaves are nipped. The process keeps weeds from going to seed and causing more problems while stimulating fresh clover growth.

If mowing does not alleviate a weed/grass problem, then spraying herbicide can be very effective. Herbicides such as Arrest and Slay will kill most grasses and weeds while not harming clover or alfalfa.