Prepare Your Food Plot

As we get closer to the end of the spring season in the Midwest, many landowners consider what to plant on their properties to provide forage for their deer herd. Many food plots are planted over Memorial Day weekend when the weather has turned to ideal planting conditions and landowners have the necessary time to plant.

Here are some important things to consider when planting your spring food plot:

1. Annuals or Perennials?
   Do you want to plant annual or perennial seeds for your food plot? An obvious advantage of perennial food plots is that they do not need to be planted every year. A well established perennial clover plot, MonsterBuck Clover Treat, can last 3-4 years with good establishment and maintenance.
   Annuals give you the option of planting new species every year to see what the deer herd on your property prefer? Additionally, you can develop your own custom annual mix by purchasing individual food plot seeds. If you are broadcast seeding and plan on mixing seeds, make sure you have seeds in similar seed sizes. This will ensure even distribution and seed depth when planting.
2. What to Plant?
   By Memorial Day weekend, most food plot species are okay to plant. The exception to this are warm season crops such as Sunn Hemp, Cow Peas or Japanese or Pearl Millet. Our warm season mix, Sustain Food Plot Mix, should also wait until June to plant. If it has been a cool, wet spring and your planting in the Northern region of the Midwest these warm season species most likely need to wait until June for planting. Brassicas, grasses and any small grain (oats, peas, rye, etc.) are all ideal to sow into your soil.
3. Where to Plant?
   One of a hunters BIG decision is where to plant your food plot? When deciding on where to plant you must consider sunlight. Planting a food plot deep in the woods with lots of shade will most likely struggle. On wood edges, logging trails or open fields where sunlight has more of an opportunity to provide photosynthesis to the plants will give you more success. If planting in a high shade area, consider clover seed as clover species will give you the best results in shade. However, even clover needs a minimum of 4-6 hours of sunlight to produce.

For more information on all the planting details visit our video page for instructional and informational videos. As always, if we left any questions unanswered, please don’t hesitate to call us at 800-401-7333 or email us at sales@emsseed.com.