I am not sure exactly how this would work for you guys in Ohio but I thought I would let you know what I have been doing to help a few people with here in Minnesota to see if it could help you out as well.
Farmers use a Zone 2 soybean here in Minnesota and a few people I know were using forage beans for their food plots and loved the tonnage they were getting but did not like the lack of pod production. We got a number of them Zone 3 beans and they got the best of both worlds. It wasnt quite the tonnage of a true forage bean but it was more than the Zone 2 and it still had almost the same pod production.
Typically here in Minnesota the deer are pounding the beans until they start to turn...the bad part is that happens right as bow season starts. The Zone 3 beans mature later giving you a window to try and harvest your deer during early season and it also gives you the only green leaves FOR MILES!
Here is what I am not exactly sure how it would work because Ohio would use a Zone 3 bean so you would have to get a Zone 4 bean to try this but the good part is getting this type of bean compared to a forage bean is probably almost half the cost.
Another option for those who really like using forage beans is to plant the outside portion of your food plot with a forage bean so you can bow hunt the edges and plant the middle with a traditional bean so you have a late season plot for shotgun and muzzleloader.
Farmers use a Zone 2 soybean here in Minnesota and a few people I know were using forage beans for their food plots and loved the tonnage they were getting but did not like the lack of pod production. We got a number of them Zone 3 beans and they got the best of both worlds. It wasnt quite the tonnage of a true forage bean but it was more than the Zone 2 and it still had almost the same pod production.
Typically here in Minnesota the deer are pounding the beans until they start to turn...the bad part is that happens right as bow season starts. The Zone 3 beans mature later giving you a window to try and harvest your deer during early season and it also gives you the only green leaves FOR MILES!
Here is what I am not exactly sure how it would work because Ohio would use a Zone 3 bean so you would have to get a Zone 4 bean to try this but the good part is getting this type of bean compared to a forage bean is probably almost half the cost.
Another option for those who really like using forage beans is to plant the outside portion of your food plot with a forage bean so you can bow hunt the edges and plant the middle with a traditional bean so you have a late season plot for shotgun and muzzleloader.