spring food plots.

when is the best time to plant in east texas. i'm planting iron clay peas. is there a better seed to plant

Probably not a better seed, wait till the soil temp reaches at least 65 degrees,usually around the 20th of april, peas like hot weather. If you have lots of deer be sure you plant enough to get a stand. If they bite them off before they branch they are done. On my place they can clean up a 2 acre patch before they do me any good.

thanks. that is the problem i have. the deer wipe them out. what you think i could use for summer or should i just replant?

Replanting will get same results with peas or soybeans, i have tried spraying with water soluable sulfer and eggs to make it stick and they will stay off a few days, respray if it rains. I give up on spring foodplots and now i top seed my fall with clover, white in the bottom land and red on higher land and my spring foodplot is planted the same day as my fall. Just fertilized one of my patches this week. If you have some good bottom land the Ladino or Durano clovers will last several years if cared for. Check soil ph and lime if low.

that really helps thanks

I am thinking about doing a plot this year, and it will be in E Tx near Mineola. Is this what I should be planting? This will be the first time I do a plot and I have several acres to work with. I am thinking I will try to keep it pretty simple though, since this is my first experiment. Soil there is pretty much all sand. Not sure if that makes a difference.

That's what the Gallagher fence is for....

http://www.gallagherusa.com/

I'm not trying to keep the deer out. They are why i am planting. Are you saying i should fence my plot till it grows up ?

If you are going to fence it in, it can be done fairly cheap on small plots. Look here at some "deer netting" http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=deer+netting

I would just add several other seed types for a cover crop, Arrowleaf clover, Milo, bag of beans from your grocery store, Sunflower. I you loose one crop, you may still have other "stuff" growing.

The fence will work as a temporary barrier to the deer until you can get your plots established. A couple of weeks behind the fence/hot wire and the plants have enough leaves that they can be grazed without killing the plants.

You didn't say how big your plot was, which may be a deciding factor in determining whether to fence or just keep planting. If you have the area to plant a couple of acres versus a small plot, that is the easier way to go IMO.

I tried this way for a few years but I never had good luck. We had such a concentration of deer that no matter what I planted along with my I/C peas it all got mowed down before anything put on enough leaves to do anything.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

Where do you get the iron clay pea seed? Call the local feed store?

anyone try plot saver?

Yes, the Plot Saver type stuff works well. I used it to limit the deer destruction to my garden in East Texas a few years ago. It works as long as you refresh the spray on the "tape" every couple of weeks and/or after a rain.

Imperial Whitetail PowerPlant, could be something worth planting in the spring, it has plants that grow as tall structures for the soy beans to grow up and also grow back after heavy grazing.