Food Plots Can Help Wildlife Survive Tough Winters For more nature habitat information Visit these helpful websites: A Plant's Home A Bird's Home A Homesteader's Home
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ood plots can attract ducks, geese, mourning doves, quail, deer, pheasants, turkeys, rabbits, and many songbirds. Plan your food plot so it is close to cover. This might be a pond, woodlot, or brushy fence row used as a wildlife travel lane. It is best to have several small plots, as opposed to one large one. For example, a plot 50 ft. wide by 1,000 ft. long is less valuable than two plots 100 ft. by 250 ft. As wildlife venture in the open to feed, they need thick vegetation or water to return to quickly, should danger appear. Ideally, a 1-ft. to 15-ft. path between the woodland, hedgerow or pond, and the food plot should be mowed to lawn height. This provides space for maintaining the plot and allows wildlife to better reach the food. But mowing should only occur before April 1 or after August 15, to protect nests of birds near the ground.
Now is the time – while you are getting your planters in shape and taking delivery of this year’s seed – to decide where to locate your wildlife food plots. The importance of providing food for wildlife was illustrated last year with many areas reporting a decline in game bird populations.
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Usually a mixture of food plot plants is better than a single species. You might want to try the following mixtures for an acre:
attract, here are a few suggestions:
For upland areas: s Soybean 3 to 4 lbs. s Gold millet 2 lbs. s Japanese millet 2 to 5 lbs. s Milo 3 to 4 lbs. s Buckwheat 1/2 lb.
Millet Both the seeds and vegetative parts are consumed. Wild fowl and upland birds are most common. Proso millet attracts mourning doves, but beware as the seed might be contaminated with Johnsongrass, which is tough to control.
For wet/lowland areas: s Big Bluestem 1-1/2 lbs. s Switchgrass 1-1/2 lbs. s Black oil Sunflower 4 oz. s Black-Eyed Susan 4 oz. s Ladino Clover 1 lb.
Corn Food source for a variety of wildlife. Geese will eat it as their primary feed when available. Ducks, squirrels, deer, and turkeys like it also.
For dry/upland areas: s Little Bluestem 1-1/2 lbs. s Sideoats Grama 1-1/2 lbs. s Black Oil Sunflower 4 oz. s Black-Eyed Susan 4 oz. s Ladino Clover 1 lb.
Soybeans Plants are eaten by deer and quail. Deer eat the foliage, while quail eat the seed. Geese and ducks will also eat the seed, but prefer other feed.
One good single crop to plant for wildlife is sunflower. It is a favorite food for goldfinches, house finches, cardinals, blue jays, titmice, chickadees, and many other birds.
Sorghum Preferred by many species. The bird-resistant type contains tannin, causing a bitter taste that discourages feeding until the grain is fully ripe. This discourages blackbirds, bobolinks and grackles.
It’s easier to manage a single crop for higher production than multiple crops. Some mixtures may contain species of plants that may dominate and crowd out the others. Whatever you plant, the crops must be compatible. For most crops, the seed is the most important food source, although wildlife consume both the seed and vegetative portions of some crops. If you want to match the crop to the wildlife you want to © WindStar Wildlife Institute
Plant short varieties if you want ducks and geese to be able to reach the seed head. Buckwheat Provides an attractive feed for waterfowl. Although it will not last long, it will entice birds to your land. Because of its short-term usefulness, do not use it as a sole crop. Sunflower Excellent food for doves and songbirds. Planting the crop in rows and using herbicides, Page 2
cultivation, or both, will be beneficial because some species prefer to feed on ground that is not filled with vegetative growth. Black oil is the best variety. Grasses Provide browse and nesting areas to a variety of wildlife, and some birds feed on the seed. Grasses used for wildlife plantings are usually perennial, thus making them long-duration crops. Clipping after young wildlife are raised will help reduce weed problems. These grasses are often grown with legumes, such as alfalfa and some of the clovers. Small Grains Oats are preferred as browse by most wildlife. But geese and ducks prefer wheat as browse, while doves eat the seed. Planting strips of wheat and sunflower or proso millet have produced excellent feeding areas for doves.
WindStar Wildlife Institute is a national, non-profit, conservation organization whose mission is to help individuals and families establish or improve the wildlife habitat on their properties. For more information or for the name of a Master Wildlife Habitat Naturalist in your area, please contact: WindStar Wildlife Institute E-mail: wildlife@windstar.org http://www.windstar.org
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