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Planting native grasses for cover

Bigslam51

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I've been toying with the idea of not planting more food in the plot that I established last fall. I planted winter rye and clover, the rye did well and the deer were grazing in it, but not that much due to the abundance of alfalfa and crops around. I'm thinking native grasses would be a better fit for this spot and I'm looking for some advice.
 

Bigslam51

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Hoping Big Al, Jim, Jesse, and some other more knowledgeable foot plotters will chime in. This area is approximately 1/2 acre and one end sits up against a bedding area.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
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You know the place I hunt is kinda crazy about native plants...the place I hunt has probably 160 acres of native grasses and the deer love them. I'm not sure what they'd do with a canopy over top and/or if a half acre would benefit anything.

Why not do a half acre of corn? Sure they will eat all the food in no time, but it'd leave the cover.
 

Bigslam51

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You know the place I hunt is kinda crazy about native plants...the place I hunt has probably 160 acres of native grasses and the deer love them. I'm not sure what they'd do with a canopy over top and/or if a half acre would benefit anything.

Why not do a half acre of corn? Sure they will eat all the food in no time, but it'd leave the cover.
I don't think this spot would grow corn, couldn't get anything in there to plant it anyway. There isn't much of a canopy in this spot so the grasses would get plenty of sun.
 

Bigslam51

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I'll have to look up the results of the soil test I had done last year. It wasn't above 6 I know that, but pretty sure it was a hair below.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
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People plant half acre gardens of sweet corn every year by hand. A little bit of nitro and bam! You have a half acre of corn. Planting it by hand you can also create shooting lanes. Clean up in the spring would be easy too, a little machete work and your ready to till and plant again.

Corn will grow and since your looking for more of a cover, the yield doesn't matter. Hell grow Indian corn! That stuffs cheap and grows great. Just keep a couple or ears at the end of the year and you have seed for next year.
 

jagermeister

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If you can't get a drill back there it may be difficult to get a good stand of warm season grasses going. But it could be worth a try. Seed for native prairie and forbes can be pretty expensive, so I'd recommend contacting a local PF chapter or county soil and water district first, to see if they have seed to donate. Indiangrass and Big Bluestem will grow the tallest. Switchgrass will usually be the most dense. And Little Bluestem is the shortest. A mixture of 3 or all 4 would be good if it's a large area (promote diversity). But for a small area you might want to just go for something tall/thick. Another option is Sudangrass, which grows really fuggin tall. I just can't remember off the top of my head whether it's native or not. I think it is though.
 

Bigslam51

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I like the big blue stem. The soil in this spot is on the moist side so that would fit, don't like the price tag though. Idk, if I can't find some cheap seed maybe I'll just let it go and see how thick it gets on its own.
 

killbucks22

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nw ohio
Chad just out of curiosity why do you want to go with more cover? If they're already bedding right beside the plot wouldn't you want to keep food there for them? I'm no expert on food plots by any means, I'm just trying to gather ideas for myself as I'll be planting one this spring!
 

Bigslam51

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Chad just out of curiosity why do you want to go with more cover? If they're already bedding right beside the plot wouldn't you want to keep food there for them? I'm no expert on food plots by any means, I'm just trying to gather ideas for myself as I'll be planting one this spring!
The plot is longer than it is wide. At its widest point it's only 35 yards. I might of exaggerated a bit on the size, total it's probably in between 1/4 and 1/2 acre. One end of the plot goes into an alfalfa field. There's plenty of food around and it's almost pointless IMO to even put in a plot. Deer can't have too much security cover IMO.
 

bowhunter1023

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Just saw this buddy. JB is on point. I've considered this as well and will probably go with Indiangrass is what I've been leaning towards for strip plantings to provide cover for access routes.
 

OO2

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Where does a feller get Indiangrass seed? Is it hard to plant and get it to take and grow? I have a couple places I'd like to thicken up and cover my entry/exit
 

Bigslam51

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Just saw this buddy. JB is on point. I've considered this as well and will probably go with Indiangrass is what I've been leaning towards for strip plantings to provide cover for access routes.
Ya it's fuggin pointless to plant food where I'm at. You've seen it. The deer and turkey could benefit more from the security cover.
 

at1010

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Chad I think JB nailed it.

I would worry a half acre might not be enough area, but who knows! I have a 2 acre piece of ground in the middle of my farm that I have thought about switching from beans to native grasses. I thought it would be a sweet bedding area. I am far from knowledgeable on the native grasses. However, I believe Eric Long has done some good videos and write ups. He is from Ohio and part of the Management Advantage guys, might wanna check their Facebook, also Drumming Wildlife is Erich's company. He might have some good videos on that as well.

One thing I like about the native grass idea is you can let them sit for 5 years. Should be a great area to find sheds, if deer use it. Also will deff help to increase your OM in soil. This will without a doubt help if you ever want to plant a plot again in the future.


Hope this is somewhat helpful and Im not just rambling! haha
 

Bigslam51

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I'm not looking to make this a bedding area, although I'm sure some deer will lay in it. I'm looking for this to provide some security as they travel out of the thicket and head towards the alfalfa, and during the rut I'm sure every buck that hits this block of woods will want to sniff it out.
 

Bigslam51

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What's your opinions on the first 2 seed mixes?
 

jagermeister

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What's your opinions on the first 2 seed mixes?
Honestly, it sounds expensive. If you really want to plant those things, maybe just try a few of them together and not everything including the kitchen sink. Any of that seed is readily available separately and probably generic too.

But here are the problems I see:

Sunflowers - If your deer density is relatively strong, you simply won't have sunflowers. They'll eat them faster than they can grow. Another issue is weed control. You could plant Clearfield sunflowers and spray them but that's incredibly expensive (special herbicide). You can spray a grass-selective chemical like Clethodim, but then you're still dealing with broadleaf weeds, AND you'd kill all your millets since those are grasses too.

Millets and sorghum - Not going to grow tall enough IMO to be an effective cover screen. For millet to get that tall it has to be in very nutrient rich soil with consistently high soil moisture. It'll produce seed just fine... It just won't shoot up in super tall and dense stands.

Buckwheat - Will not tolerate high moisture soil. It does grow pretty dense, but usually not very tall. Deer so however like to munch on it.

These mixes kind of have me scratching my head because the management implications of the individual plants don't really jive with one another. By planting these mixes you can't spray with herbicide and there will always be something lacking. Plus, I can't see them being a very desirable food source once hunting season comes around. To me it just doesn't look like the benefits outweigh the costs.