To address the summer plots questions.....

We’ve had the discussion about summer plantings a lot in the past and while I know many will disagree…..I feel like we greatly overthink summer plots. In the end, most of these plantings are not really accomplishing any goal other than cool pictures to show. They’re fun and an opportunity to get out and do something but most of them really make no difference in the long run as far as our hunting is concerned. I’m talking to the crowd of folks that have an acre here and a half acre there….maybe a 2 acre plot on the other side of the club, etc.

This is the same discussion we have in the Spring but very few ever really “hear” what I’m saying when it’s that time of the year. Folks are just wanting to do something. I feel like it’s WAY more important though for the vast majority of us to focus our summer efforts on soil first….with deer being secondary. That one acre of beans or sunflowers or what the heck ever that the deer decimated back in July is having absolutely zero impact now that we’re getting into late winter. It didn’t effect “herd health” in any significant amount and it isn’t effecting what you’re gonna see in your field here in the last 8 weeks of the season.

What will have the most impact though with these plots is if you have a field with very fertile functioning soil that can grow the hell out of a winter stand of cereal grains. One where you have lush rapid growth than can handle grazing pressure instead of getting eaten down to a nub and gone. Don’t overthink these summer plots….use it as a time to get your “engine tuned up”. Instead of worrying about sunn hemp and cowpeas and buckwheat, etc……Grow weeds and spend your money on lime and nitrogen and potassium, etc….Allow those “weeds” to thrive and put down root structure. Allow them to suck up the nutrients you add and then recycle it back to the soil through the robust biomass crop you produce.

Soil building is one of the primary functions of “weeds”. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel on this one…only help it along a little. When you abuse the hell out of your soil….there’s a reason that you get certain weeds moving in…..there’s a reason only crabgrass will grow there…..that is the niche they have evolved to fill. Balance your soil nutrients and allow them to do their jobs.