Wildlife food plots allow you to “hunt” year-round and many sportsmen enjoy planting and cultivating food plots for the benefit of wildlife. In addition, working food plots brings out the inner farmer in each of us and is a fantastic bonding experience for the whole family.
Even the best plants for wildlife must compete with weeds and a little research and precaution before you plant can greatly affect the success of your plot. Craig Harper covers this topic well in a post for the Quality Deer Management Website and his information will be a giant step toward any beanstalk planting, pun intended. Here’s a quote from his post.
Warm-Season Food Plot Strategies
There are many pre-plant incorporated and pre-emergence herbicide options for the majority of warm-season crops you might plant (see the chart in the Gallery below). I strongly recommend them. They are a key to clean, weed-free warm-season plots. There are also several post-emergence options. Of course, the most popular are Roundup Ready options for corn and soybeans. However, if you intend to plant non-Roundup Ready crops, you should think carefully about your problem weeds. Be aware of warm-season grass weeds. Some of the most common include johnsongrass, crabgrass, goosegrass, and broadleaf signalgrass. If you plant a mixture that contains a grass, such as grain sorghum, your post-emergence grass-control options are severely limited. Think about what weeds you have before you decide what to plant.
