Small Plot

It will be time to replant my little micro plot next spring. It is only like 3/4 of an acre. Clover was planted in there before. I planted clover because the deer and grouse love it. Clover is still an option however I am wondering if there is anything else that grouse and deer eat. The clover lasted about three years with just mowing but it slowly started fading out. Should I plant clover or something else?

In a plot that size, it’s tough to go wrong with clover or a blend of clover and other perennials like chicory. You get multiple years out of them and clover is easy to grow.

Clover is kind of the pickup truck of food plot crops. It’s not flashy, it’s not fancy, it’s not fast, but it gets the work done. There is never a time when deer won’t eat clover. They may prefer other food sources at different times of the year, but clover is always good.

If you wanted to spice it up a little for the first year, do a mix of clovers and then throw in 25 pounds of forage peas. The peas are an annual, so they won’t come back in year 2, but the deer will really dig them if they get to maturity.

Grouse

That’s actually a tough one, I haven’t even considered planting for grouse, mostly because I have no idea what they eat other than service berries and aspen bud. If the grouse are using the clover I would go with that again. As Grouse said deer will always use clover. I plant my plots for the deer and if the grouse, pheasants, turkey benefit from them that’s awesome, but my primary objective is the deer.

If you want to try something different and have the equipment to do it, maybe plant soy beans in the spring. If you have moderate to decent deer population they should wipe out the beans in a small plot like that by late july/ early august, then you can do a fall planting of winter rye and clover that will come up nice that fall and really good the following spring.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you burn the plot down with Roundup before you till or plant. This makes a huge difference in how much grass you get in the plot.

If you’re happy with the way clover has worked in the past, why not use it again? If it isn’t broke… I think a lot of guys are turned off on clover by a lot of blah-blah-blah coming out of the hunting media and the infomercials that masquerade as hunting TV shows these days. Don’t worry about what they’re doing with 60 acre food plots in Iowa or Kansas. That’s not you.

A solid clover blend is going to bring in deer and keep them coming back. There are a lot of annuals you could mix in to give it a little extra kick, but overall for 3/4 of an acre I don’t see how you’d do better than to keep it simple.

Grouse

thanks guys I will probably do the clover again. I also thought of doing something in the middle and clover surrounding it. Your right grouse a plot at that size you can’t do much. Is there anything that doesn’t blend well with clover? I know clover is easy to grow and can almost grow anywhere. however if I do blend it with something I want them to get along.

I have had decent luck with brassica and clover, but you need to terminate brassica the following year(which was my plan anyway) so you will terminate the clover also. Lots of guys grow chicory in their clover, but I never have. If you plan on having a clover plot that you are going to keep for 3-5 years be careful what you plant with it. Cereal grains can be planted with clover and when they mature you simply mow them off to terminate. I’ve had great luck with fall planted rye/clover. By fall I mean planting mid August. Here is a pic of a fall planted clover plot I did this August. The deer are in this all the time, 6-8 of them at a time.

Attachments:

1. 

   elmers-plot.jpg
   

2. 

   clover-and-rye.jpg
   

Anything that makes a good “clover companion” is usually a 1 year proposition. You can add it for the first year after you replant the plot, but in year 2, you won’t still have it.

Your plot is really too small, IMO, to add totally separate crop strips like brassicas. I made this mistake once and what happens is the grazing pressure on a smaller area is just too intense and the plants don’t mature because the deer keep it mowed like a putting green. IMO, the only way to do this in small plots would be to add an e-fence to keep the deer out until maturity.

My suggestion for a reasonable cost and very easy addition is to plant clover and then broadcast forage peas at a rate of something like 40-50 pounds per acre. The only problem I’ve found with forage pea blends is that the deer love them too much and pretty soon you can’t find a single pea plant in the whole plot. I’ve never managed to actually get peas on the plants because the deer just eat them until they are gone. But still, as long as the deer love them…

I overseed a nurse crop of oats every time I plant clover. This is not so much to “add” to the plot as it is to provide something taller and thicker for the deer to graze on to prevent over-grazing of the young clover until it’s well established. As sticker says, Rye is also great for cool season blended planting with clover. There is no real downside to using either of these.

IMO, if it’s possible, the best solution is to plant yourself a good plot of clover. Then with the time you save by NOT having to mess with your plot very much over the next 2-3 years, start clearing trees and extending the plot, or create a new one somewhere else.

Grouse