When soil temps are above 65 and there is plenty of moisture, its time to get seed into the ground.
For this planting, I am using my custom mix of 11 plants, all of which are good deer forage and do their part in building healthy soil. By using a diverse mix, I can plant at a very high rate to increase biomass and pump as much carbohydrates down into the soil as possible to feed microbes (which bring nutrients to the roots and into the deer) and build up humus so the soil can hold moisture. This site tends to get very dry in summer so we need deep rooted plants: chicory, alfalfa, sunn hemp and plants that love the heat: buckwheat, sunflowers, collards and sweet clover.
Deer may demolish the planting but I am hoping they all moved down to the alfalfa and newly planted soybeans in the valley.
The best way to plant a food plot is with a seed drill. We don't disturb the soil. Tilling dries the soil and kills off the beneficial fungi and other microbes that make up the soil food web.
For more information on deer habitat and forest management, go to my website: chilcoteforester.com