How to Make Your Own Seed Mix for Deer Food Plots
Why Using Multispecies Cover Crops Make Better Food Plots
Seed blends are better than single species plantings in deer food plots. They will offer more tons of forage over a longer period of time than singe species.
By choosing several plants for your blend, you can offer deer choices. As seasonal preferences change, so do the nutritional needs of deer.
Food plotters spend a considerable amount of money on seed. Stop throwing money away. Avoid buying expensive blended seeds from the big seed companies.
Choosing Seeds to Put into a Food Plot Blend
Before you start making your own seed mix for deer food plots, you need to choose the right seeds. The seeds you choose will depend on the time of the year you plan to plant your food plots. There are two types of food plots – summer and fall.
Summer Food Plots
Summer food plots grow during the summer months. They provide deer with a source of food during the hot months when other vegetation may not be as plentiful. Some of the seeds you can choose for summer food plots include:
Legumes
– Soybeans: A great source of protein for deer during the summer months
– Cowpeas: High in nutrition and suitable for hot and dry climates
– Lablab: A legume that can tolerate extreme heat and drought conditions
– Sunnhemp: a tropical legume that can grow tall with palatable leaves. It works best in southern climates as does lablab
Other Summer Plants
– Buckwheat: a succulent broadleaf plant that loves the summer heat – great for pollinators
– Sorghum: a grass species that comes in many varieties that can be chosen depending on what you want. Some are tall for screening and cover and some short, with a variety of seeding habits. This is a good plant to have in your mix for high browse pressure as deer. Deer generally don’t eat the leaves of the plant but will eat the ripened seeds in fall
Fall Food Plot Seed Choices
Cool Season Plants
Plant fall seeds in late summer. They will grow during the fall months and provide a source of food for deer during the hunting season. Some of the seeds you can choose for fall food plots include:
– Alfalfa: Provides a lot of nutrition for deer and grows well in cooler climates. Alfalfa requires good soil with neutral pH. Red clover is an alternative
– Annual Clovers: High in protein and grows well in cooler climates. Balansa and Crimson are favorites. In the south, Crimson, Arrowleaf and Berseem are good choices. There are many varieties for different field conditions.
– Wheat: An excellent source of carbohydrates for deer during the fall and winter months
– Oats: A highly preferred grain that will attract deer throughout the fall months
Add other cereals like triticale, grain rye, barley.
– Brassicas: there are many varieties of brassicas. I suggest hybrids, radishes bred for large leaves and collards
– Winter peas: Austrian Winter Peas are tough plants that fix lots of Nitrogen that the cereal grains can use. They grow in tough conditions and will come up in the spring nicely.
– Chicory – one of the best deer food plot plants that will come up in spring and make a great food plot next year
How to Mix Your Seeds Together
If you are mixing over 100 lbs or so you may want to rent a small cement mixer from a construction rental place. You can throw in your seeds, put the inoculant in for your legumes, compost extract, etc and mix it up. Then put the seeds in sealable buckets. They are easy to carry around and store.
Once you have chosen the seeds you want to use for your food plots, it’s time to mix them together. Here’s how to do it:
Ratios of Seeds – how much of each should you mix?
First, take the recommended ag seeding rate for the plant and divide it by the number of seeds you are putting into your mix.
As a general rule, you should use between 50-75% of your chosen legume seed and between 25-50% of your chosen cereal grain seed.
Mixing Several Types of Plants Together
The 4 types of plants we use in food plots are: grasses (cereal grains) legumes, broadleafs and brassicas. They all have different heights, leaf shapes and sizes. With different growth habits, you can squeeze a lot more vegetation into an acre than single species plantings. So, you should end up with a 150-175% of a full seeding rate. More than that, the plants will be too crowded and fail to grow well. Plants that don’t have a large leaf like Sunnhemp and winter peas can be planted heavy. Soybeans and lablab should be planted on the lower side to prevent too much competition.
Another adjustment you can make is to increase the seeds that deer will demolish right away – soybeans for instance are so highly preferred, they can get wiped out before they can grow.
For example, lets say I am making a mix with winter peas, wheat, oats, brassicas, clover and chicory. Cereal grains alone could be planted at 120 lbs alone in a food plot. So divide by 6 plants and you get 20 lbs. I would put at least 20 of each in the mix since 40 is a light seeding rate for cereal grain. Winter peas dont take up a lot of space as they are a small vine. A full rate is 50 lbs so divide by 6 for 8lbs. Since we know they wont compete and shade out other plants lets up that to at least 10 lbs. Clovers can be planted at full rate of 8lbs without dividing since they are tiny plants the first season of growth. Brassicas can take up a lot of space and crowd the other plants. They are very small seeded so you only need about 3 lbs total to make a good showing in your food plot.
So your mix would look something like this:
wheat – 20
oats – 20
peas – 10
clovers – 8
brassicas – 3
So now we have a mix that looks pretty good to start with. If we have heavy deer pressure, lets up the rate on the cereals – they’re the cheapest and will sprout up the fastest. So bump it up the 25 each. Planting at 70lbs/acre will give you a food plot that is thick with forage. The legumes will help out the other plants and the combination and diversity will help build soil and provide individual deer with their favorite food like a great buffet dinner.
Mixing Techniques
One of the easiest ways to mix your seeds together is to use a cement mixer. You can rent a small, plastic mixer at construction rental places. Simply add your seeds to the mixer, turn it on and let it rotate until the seeds are fully mixed. You can also use a bucket or wheelbarrow if you don’t have access to a cement mixer. Add you inoculants or seed treatments as you mix.
Inoculating Legumes
If you have chosen to use legume seeds in your food plot, it’s important to inoculate them before planting. Inoculating legume seeds involves coating them with bacteria that will help them fix nitrogen from the soil. You can buy inoculant at seed suppliers or online. Most seed companies are selling packs of universal inoculant to cover all the bacterial species you might need. Clover bacteria are different from bean and pea N fixing bacteria. Simply mix the inoculant with a little bit of water according to the package instructions, add it to your legume seeds and mix well before planting.
Green Cover Seed’s Smartmix Calculator
Another easy and fun way to make a mix and buy the seed at the same time is to use the Smartmix calculator. You can choose from a wide variety of cover crop seeds and put together a custom mix. You can review and buy your mix with a sales person and arrange the shipping, or the calculator is free to use and you can buy your seeds locally if you available and use the cement mixer, saving on shipping and mixing charges. For a demo click on this: video demonstration on using the Smartmix Calculator
In conclusion, making your own seed mix for deer food plots is a great way to provide deer with the nutrients they need throughout the year, and it’s easy to do. Just choose the right seeds for your site and climate, mix them together using the appropriate ratios, and inoculate legumes if necessary. With a little bit of effort, you can create a food plot that will attract and nourish deer for hunting season, through the winter and into next spring.
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