Has anyone planted Whitetail Institute Power PLant

[matt2az]

Hello, this is my first post so here it goes. I'm out west in Az and bought seed for spring for my Athens Co. properties. I decided to put in Power Plant roughly 4 acres worth and 2 acres of Tecamote Monster mix clover/chic. Was wondering if anyone has tried power plant with success and what has worked. Have lots of fields that are plantable, roughly 15 acres. I was looking at evolved harvest as well, the "exceed" and or "Maximize," anyone tried either of these. The landowner mentioned corn and "exceed" has some corn in it. Just wondering as planting time is here.

[Big_Holla]

First of all, welcome to the forum!! Glad to see you come over and join!!

Haven't given the WI Power Plant a try yet. I have used several seeds from Evolved Harvest and have always had decent results, mostly the brassica type mixes they have.

[mrbb]

well welcome, and yes I have tried to plant power plant since it came out
I tried a couple different times, but could never get any to grow, well a very poor take any ways
my biggest problem was with too many turkeys on my property I tried it on
I attempted to just broadcast the seeds and cultipack them in, as a LOT of the seeds in this blend, do not get planted very deep, most being less than a 1/4 inch to meet there needs
that planting didn't take for crap, and all the bigger seeds, turkeys just scratched up and eat
so did a light disc, and then re planted a second time on same plot, since I already fertilized and limed the site?
this time I took some hay and covered the plot( a about an acre or just over)
came back two weeks later, and the dam turkeys had all the hay scratched to the edges of the food plot site, and again ate moost of the seeds they could find
gave up on power plant for the yr, as dates were getting late, and just put down some clover

next yr tried again, only this time I disked the seeds in, many I know going too deep
and again, I got a terrible take on most things in the blend
so gave up after that with power plant
NOW if I had lots of Money and extra sites, I would love to get a plot of this to take, but my budget doesn't allow for wasting funds on a MAybe
and again, it could be due to me having at that time too many turkeys, and ?? could be my soil, but other things grow fine?? so, who know's but I gave up on that stuff

been doing food plots since the late 80's, was one of the white tails institute first folks up my way back in 1988, so, I have some experience in planting stuff, plus I do some real farming too


as for things to plant for deer
well I don't care what anyone says
CORN always brings deer, they eat it as it grows and they will eat it till its gone
if your in a corn heavy area, lots of neighbors planting it
you will still get deer, but if this is the case, planting something different can be a bigger draw for you
soy beans work great for this, but un;ess you do 2 acres or so, they won't last long on you, and just like corn(many other things too)
the better you can maintain, by spraying for weeds several weeks after a planting the better, but you living out west??
that can be harder to do I gather

clover and chicory are great things for spring time plots, and they hold well into and up till a few heavy frost
but they can get over run with weeds fast too, so again mowing or spraying to stay on top is always best
and a TON cheaper than re planting after loosing a plot
a good clover/chicory plot will last 5+ yrs

Brassicia, rape , sugar beats and the likes
are super fall hunting plots
but to be honest, they are best planted in late summer, many will brown up and the bulbs they make can go bad, deer will still eat them, but the plots won't pull deer like they would if planted in late summer, deer like grean things as they grow, not one's that have been standing about for a while, they don't I guess taste as tender to them

the best thing to plant in spring and the best attractant to critters to your lands is variety if you can swing it
a 1/4 to a 1/2 acre of this here, and that there, except corn, and beans, them things you need to go an acre or mroe really to get any corn or beans if you have a healthy deer herd!
I keep about 15+ acres of food plots on my main hunting place
I always have clover for about 30+% of it, with beans and corn being the other 30 % and then mix in rape, brassicia, oats, buck wheet,chicory wheat, in other spots
I pull deer from Miles away, but I have no cover to hold them
getting timbered this fall, so hope in a few yrs to solve that part of my puzzle here

the best thing to do is look at your neighbors, and try to plant someting they don't
you also have to look at what your goals are, are you just looking to attract deer, or are turkeys and other things important?
then, and maybe even first is look at what equipment you have access to, and then what your budget is
rule of thumb, do a soil test? DO NOT skip this test, its the best 10 bucks you will spend on food plots
second, follow the test results, add as needed , DO NOT go lower on the amounts
go smaller on the plot size, one small plot done right will out produce a bigger one that doesn't grow right, and be tons cheaper in the long run!
sorry about the long post, but trying to give info in full that I can
feel free to Pm me if you want more
Good luck!

[hortontoter]

Welcome to the site. I have very little food plot experience, so I'm no help there.

[Stickbowcrafter]

I've tried most brands and mixes before settling on generic stuff from the local co-op. I will use the Buck-On-Bag brands if I can get it on sale or only need a small quantity but you can make your own mixes for a lot less with generic seed from your local co-op. Especially planting the acreage you are talking about. Let us know how it works out and share some pictures.

-Brian