Chufa Patches

Finally got out and dug through a couple of our chufa patches and man they are loaded. We have 2 groups of turkeys using the farm right now which is way more than the last few summer/falls so hopefully they will eventually find the chufa and stay for the winter. When do turkeys normally find the chufa in yalls experience?

They’re in ours right now Ben, but will use them a lot more when they die all the way down.

They find mine the day i plant.

Mine have died on down chufa in one field are an inch under the dirt other field I checked they werr 3 or so inches under but no scratching at all but no hog rooting either.

The longer you grow them and the turkeys get used to eating them, the earlier they will start. All of my patches are being used heavily right now, but every turkey around grew up eating chufas in these fields. My chufas in Perry county are now about 100 days old and the books say that they should be done producing, but the tops are mostly still green and growing and adding new tubers. With the rain coming this week, they should produce a lot more. Turkeys are damaging them, but it should be a great year...

My little field in Coosa county is different. It was planted on May 25, and on July 1st I saw evidence of turkeys already digging up the first tubers made. I put up a scarecrow and did everything I could to keep them run off. It didn't matter. They have destroyed the field now and there is not a single plant still growing in the field.

Some folks see chufas as just a way to have some turkeys during hunting season, but this patch shows how it can be a great food source almost year round. The turkeys were still eating some of last year's crop all the way into May when I plowed up the field and replanted it. And by July they were eating from the new crop, so June was the only month that it didn't provide tubers. And I saw the hens and poults out in it several times in June eating bugs, so it really did provide a year round food source. I wish that I had more land and could plant them a much bigger plot.

I planted a small patch of them on a new lease that borders our family place and they hammered them. Not a single plant left but they are still in there scratching. Will plant a lot more next year.

I planted all of mine mid to late July so the turkey wouldn't get to them until late October. I planted 7 fields and they look good this year.

[img]undefined[/img]

My turkeys, usually find them about 5 hours after I plant them.............

If they still haven't found them after the first frost, burn them off. The turkeys will wear them out then.