Tips for Long-Lasting Perennial Plots

Whitetail perennial food plot seed blends such as Imperial Clover, Alfa-Rack Plus, Chicory PLUS, and Extreme have the potential of providing many years of extremely high quality deer food. Obviously, they all require effort and expense for establishment. They also need some care for continued productivity. You need to be alert for insect infestations because they can cause significant damage if not controlled. You may go years without an insect problem, but be alert. Plant diseases will build up and weaken plants so that adverse weather will take them out. Chemical disease control is generally not appropriate for forage plants. The best disease control is prevention by crop rotation where possible, fully utilizing forage produced to avoid excessive accumulated growth, and provide for vigorous forage plant growth (adequate fertility). Invasive weeds may become damaging but normally can be controlled by timely mowing and herbicide use.

Generally, the primary factor in keeping a strong perennial food plot is soil fertility including lime. Nitrogen (N) is used and lost in large quantities from food plots each year. However legumes such as alfalfa and clover can provide adequate N. It is considered that if the food plot forage contains at least 50% legume there will be little or no response to added N.

Most soils in the eastern U.S. originally were very low in phosphorus (P). The lush vegetation was possible because as plants died and decomposed the P contained in their tissues was returned to the soil and available for replacing vegetation. When the native vegetation was destroyed for crop production and the crops then removed from the land, it is of no surprise that P deficiency quickly developed. Since then P containing fertilizers have regularly been added. The nature of P in the soil is such that much of that applied is still there. It is now unusual to find agricultural soils with low P content. Adequate P is essential for seedling growth and development but with mature plants and their well developed root system P deficiency is unusual. Normally some P is applied annually to established stands but not in large quantities.

Potassium (K) is the mineral most in demand for mature legume plots. This is especially true for somewhat sandy, low clay content soils. Part of the K is associated with the clay structure of the soil and is not available to plants until it is released. This is not bad since this allows the soil to store K and releases it throughout the year. The remainder of the K is in the soil solution and readily available to plants. Unfortunately it is also subject to loss by leaching. Some plants, especially grasses, will take up K far in excess of what the plant can use. This usually happens right after K fertilization. If is not unusual to have K deficient clover and fescue with excessive K content. A fast way to eliminate clover, especially on a sandy soil and when grown with fescue is to allow the soil to become K deficient.

The main mineral nutrients to be concerned with are N, P, and K. Other mineral elements may become limiting but only rarely. However you must keep a close watch on the pH or acid status of the soil. It is a fact of life that soils will become more acid with time. This emphasizes that an occasional soil test is needed to indicate when lime is needed and also when and how much P and K are needed. When to fertilize? Usually annually any time during the season but the best time is soon before maximum growth. The best advice I can give is to soil test every two years and follow its recommendations.