It’s time to plant and manage summer food plots! Here is a quick guide to all the useful information available on the NDA website to help you decide what to plant, and how to…
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Sunn Hemp for Deer
Mar 11, 2016Ryan Basinger
Sunn Hemp Test Results for Summer Food PlotsSunn hemp is among the newer options for your summer food plots, and we tested it last summer at QDMA Headquarters. This short video shows you what we…
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Food Plot Species Profile: Alyceclover
Mar 27, 2015Ryan Basinger
Alyceclover is a warm-season annual legume that is primarily used in pastures as livestock forage or managed for hay production. Despite the name, alyceclover is not a true clover, as it does not bear a…
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Food Plot Species Profile: Lablab
Mar 27, 2015Ryan Basinger
Along with soybeans and cowpeas, lablab is one of the primary forage legumes planted for deer each spring and summer – and for good reason. Lablab (Lablab purpureus) is a warm-season annual legume that originated…
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Food Plot Species Profile: Buckwheat
Jan 14, 2015Ryan Basinger
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a warm-season annual forb that can provide several benefits to your whitetail food plot program. However, it is not a legume, as are some of the more commonly planted summer deer forages,…
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Food Plot Species Profile: Iron Clay Cowpeas
May 2, 2014Ryan Basinger
Iron-clay cowpeas are one of my all-time favorite summer forages for deer. I have probably planted more acres in cowpeas during summer than any other species. Cowpeas are relatively inexpensive, easy to establish and manage,…
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Food Plot Species Profile: Soybeans
Jan 24, 2014Ryan Basinger
Soybeans (Glycine max) are a warm-season annual legume and perhaps the most preferred summer forage for white-tailed deer. They are extremely nutritious, containing upwards of 25 to 30 percent crude protein in fields with good…
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Food Plot Species Profile: Grain Sorghum
Mar 20, 2013Bob Westerfield
My first introduction to sorghum was on a dove field over 25 years ago. The land manager had planted several strips of sorghum that not only provided a good seed source for the birds but…
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Food Plot Species Profile: Cowpeas
May 30, 2012Bob Westerfield
For a fast-germinating summer food plot or early bow-season hotspot, try planting some cowpeas. Cowpeas, Vigna unguiculata, are a warm-season annual that can be grown throughout the United States. Often called iron-and-clay pea or black…
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Buckwheat: Easy Summer Forage
Apr 27, 2012Brian Sheppard
Buckwheat is an easy-to-grow, warm-season annual that is useful in sandy soils, remote food plots, or in blends with other warm-season crops. It also helps improve food plot soils by building soil organic content. Buckwheat…