10 Critical Food Plot Planting Tips 

One day when I’m able to make food plots I’ll be a pro from watching these every other day.

@3:21 "A jack of all trades but master of none, is often times better than a master of one" great video Jeff!

Good Morning Jeff. Congrats on 160,000 subs. Very impressive and well deserved. You and your behind the scene crew are top notch!

Jeff thanks so much for jam packed information videos for people who hardly have time to hunt let alone a lot of time to research and apply everything to the pre hunt. Thanks and good luck with your hunting season

Thanks Jeff. I get smarter after every video

Hey Jeff , thanks for consistently putting great content out there !!

Best habitat advice on you tube, just started my first food plotting here in southern Indiana hoping to have great success. Thanks Jeff

Outstanding video and content.

Jeff this it one of your best. Keep up the good work.

Jeff I have been watching your videos for about 6 months to a year now and am sure some of the strategies you suggest are gonna pay off for me. I’m hunting down in southern Ohio and am competing w some of these big dollar fellas who lease properties all around! Appreciate your videos so much, in the past it’s been hard to compete w guys that can haul a truck load of apples in whenever they want. Hopefullly planting my first brascis plot will help w that. Great video as usual! This has been one of my favorites!

Jeff I watch your channel sooooo much and based my land on what you teach….. I wish I would have watched this before I planted this year. Definitely a client here in the near future.

Very, very informative! Thank you!

Another great video produced by the great WHS team... currently getting the plot ready for a half acre brassica and a quarter acre crimpson clover. Thanks again for the great content

Here in GA.. love your knowledge

I appreciate your advice on rain and timing. Its tough to guess here most every summer. Not safe until the first of sept. Good video.

Thanks Jeff👍

Congrats on 160k

So true the brasica i planted this year recomended 8 pounds per acre... one out of 4 acres grew well the rest changed color and died. But i learened a leason thanks jeff

I saw my Grandpa take a fresh log landing , "cleaned up" , that was clay and ground up rock , limed it really well and ended up with a good clover patch . would not believe it unless I had seen it .

Good Morning Jeff! I'm putting in my brassicas, winter pea, and forage pea food plot next week! I'm not mixing them, I'm planting in strips! Can't wait! Thanks! 👍

The bears around here in Western PA will do a number on corn. Especially the cubs that have been pushed off.

If you want a soil builder, a mix is best. I also make my own compost extract. Living roots all the time. Microbes and organic matter are everything in building soil. No till, no fertilizer and very little herbicide.

Great video I dont have land to plant but love watching all of your videos so much info in all of them and very few teachers have that down to earth attitude like you and Dillan very easy to watch understand and enjoy! Some other deer related channels I have to turn off. Thanks for keeping it real

Can’t wait to plant northwoods whitetails sweat feast brassica blend here in a couple weeks!

I planted 40 acres of milo last spring because the pigs ate the corn two days after I planted. Turned out pretty good. Central tx.

In Menomonee county U.P. Michigan and my food plot has been abandoned for two years due to COVID-19. Mowed it a few days ago and my clover blend popped right back up. Headed to the mill tomorrow to buy some brassica and some winter rye to plant the small half of my about one acre plot and over seed some rye on the other half with the clover. I thought I missed my window but with rain coming Tuesday I might have some nice greens for the November firearms season. We are in an ag area up on this end of the country so I guess I actually did the right thing.

OuTsTaNdInG! Thanks

Awesome content. Thanks! il be ordering some seed tomorrow-Sean Long Isl NY (best kept secret for BB! )

Jeff, would be cool for you to do a video on southern states. Florida & Georgia.

Good Evening Jeff. I have been viewing your channel for almost 2 years now. Last year I planted peas, beans, oats on 1/2 plot, purple top, radish, and rape on the other 1/2. The deer ate it down pretty fast. I had to use your layering technique and it worked fine. I got my target buck because it kept him local to my property. Thank you for that. I got soil samples and talked to my local wildlife guy... he suggested clover, triticale, and winter peas... he seems to think it would offer more for my area (Northwest Florida)... I was thinking about planting his mix in half and the brassica mix in the second half... what do you think? Oh yeah... the deer in my area don't understand that they are not supposed to eat the buckwheat.. they are eating it before it can get any size... I think I am going to have to till again this year. he recommended the following: 25 pounds of clover per acre... 50 pounds triticale per acre.. 50 pounds of peas to the acre (in your video you say 100 pounds to the acre)

Great Video Jeff, can we get a video on how to use the earthway spreader 2750 properly and efficiently! Thank you.

Morning Jeff just picked up the Mathews Atlas yesterday! Finally Mathews made a bow for guys 6’7 😂

Jeff, first off thank you so much for these videos and the knowledge that comes with them. I’ve started using some info you have shared and have started to see some success but I am wanting to start getting some attraction on our land. I am looking into using Northwoods Fall Forage blend and Forage Radishes. What would be your suggestion be to spray on an established plot of Northwoods Whitetails fall forage blend and whitetail forage radishes, less than 1/4 acre, to control weeds and grasses? Should those be planted together at the same time or should I plant fall forage first then broadcast in the radishes after? Will be using plot start and plot boost as well. Thanks for your help!

Hey Jeff, love your channel! You made me realize a lot of bad habits I had when it comes to whitetails and i need to thank you. Question, I'm from south west Quebec and we're really limited when it comes to chemical use. Do you know of a grass specific herbicide to keep clover plots free of weeds that are legal in Canada? Thanks 👍

So if I'm hearing you correctly, brassica and clover offer more nutrition early and are preferred but freeze out or get picked down before prime hunting of pre rut and rut. So space out the plant times of brassica followed by rye several weeks to a month later as the rye will become the food source once the brassica are gone and the deer slip over too your neighbors corn at night and come back to your food plots for the grazing and digestibility of the rye during shooting hours is the hope if managed right

My hunting property is located in a severe drought area in NW WI. I found out from a buddy yesterday that they were calling for a high chance of rain over night. A look at a weather app confirmed a 4 hour time span with rain chance predicted at 65-85%. Those are pretty good odds, right? So, I immediately went to work on getting all my seed weighed, fertilizer and bag seeder together, backpack sprayer filled and made the 1 hour drive to the property. I busted butt (and a drenching sweat) to get things spread in anticipation of the rain. Things were initially supposed to start ~8:30, then it moved back to 10, then 11.......and the chances kept dropping. Well, when I finally retired to be ~11:45 the radar history showed that it hadn't rained at all there and the chances were slim to none. I can't tell you the number of times I've been burned by weather predictions......a weather rock is much more reliable!! PS - The upside to this story is that sometime in the early morning there was a pop-up cluster that went through the area and dropped between 0.5-0.6".......THANK GOD!! This by the way happened when the chance of rain was ~15%. I should be happy, right? My buddy wasn't so lucky. He did the same thing further North and didn't get a drop.

Thanks again Jeff for another awesome video. Couple of questions,actually a bunch of them but I will stick to a couple lol. What is he spraying behind his drill on the video? I have trouble getting deer to eat Brassicas. If I planted in strips,what could I plant next to the Brassica to help establish use of them?

Jeff, first I wanted to say thanks for the countless videos you have put out there- I have learned a ton from you already. To my question/s- my buddy and I are in the process of putting in our first food plot this year in Eastern IA. It is essentially a strip of ground surrounding his CRP field. We couldn't cut into the CRP so this is the best we could do. We are at the point where we have mowed and sprayed, so we are going to till up the junk that is remaining (I know you suggested not to till, but since this is the first time this ground has been planted we decided to till-won't need to in the future). We will then be planting winter greens so that there will be more food available after the ag crops are harvested, which surround the property. QUESTION 1- once we have tilled should we use a cultipacker after dropping the seed? I am very concerned about the birds eating the seed. QUESTION 2- It appeared in the video that you were knocking down tall weeds with your cultipacker. Do you then spray those weeds? If you do spray them after knocking them down with the cultipacker, do you clear the dead weeds out or just drop seed directly. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Morning Jeff, I live in Central Wisconsin and plan on planting my two food plots next weekend (July 31st). I will be planting Brassica. I know you have said Brassica and Winter Rye don't mix. What I am wondering is if I can put down winter rye in my Brassica plot the 2nd or 3rd week or September. That will roughly give the Brassica about 6-7 weeks of growth. Wasn't sure if the winter rye and Brassica will still compete at that point. Thanks for your help!

Your inthusiasem and detication on this topic and including hunting is truly inspiring. I'm seventy but young people including 13year olds would be wise to pay attention . Hard work ,yes but all the knowledge and info Availabale WHS PUTS out is priceless. Jeff .congrats on 160 000.subs .you worked hard for it. God is good!

Hey Jeff, if I have a small plot(too small to split) that buckwheat didn't come up as well as some others wud you recommend going with sweet feast or whs blend, or shud I just do winter rye? Thanks for all your info, your plan for our properties is coming together nicely, we're very excited for this fall!

Very informative video Jeff. What is the reasoning for now adding corn in your plots?

I'm about to pick up the Sweet Feast Brassica Blend and the WHS Green Forage Blend from John Komp today, here in Menominee. I'm super excited to plant this in my food plots while, of course, following all of your advice. Great information, keep up the awesome work.

I plant 1 acre in the noethern half of minnesota and I find beans a million times easier and cheaper to establish than corn. The deer eat the leaves in fall and have the pods all through deer season.

Hi Jeff. awesome videos. I had a question if you thought the cultipacker maxx with crimper would take the place of spraying herbicide over the buckwheat for no till planting.

My soil is loamy here in MI...ph around 6.5....I've been doing Jeff's buckwheat/winter rye for a few years now...it must work because the deer even crush my buckwheat...

Hey Jeff quick question. What would you plant in a newly cleared plot for a fall crop?

Hey Jeff! This may be a long shot but I see that you're replying to others, next year will be my first year planting a food plot, I've attempted before in the past but was not very serious just tried some throw and grow blend and seemed to work. My question is for a first timer what should I grow? One half brassica? And the other half beans, peas and oats? Later in the year so it dont all get eaten up? I would also like to add im located around Central MN. Would really appreciate some advice so I dont mess it up come bow opener next September!

Jeff I live in south Louisiana and trying to get control of weeds. Especially Johnson grass. What do you think of the following article? SWITCHING THINGS UP If you have an active native seed-bank that seems to be winning the “weed war,” or if you’re claiming new ground, you may want to change the order of steps that you do in plot preparation. Usually a person will kill the existing vegetation with glyphosate or some other non-selective, complete burn down herbicide, and then wait two weeks for the weeds to turn brown when they will then disk or till the area to prepare the seedbed. After that, they’ll plant and fertilize. Most fail to understand there will almost certainly be weed seeds lying dormant in the ground. When we come along and work the soil, by disturbing the soil we in essence “plant” those weed seeds. The seeds have been waiting for the correct set of conditions and can remain dormant in some cases for hundreds of years. Then we give them some fertilizer … the weeds love it! For several reasons, I believe changing the order and the timing of the steps will dramatically help prevent unwanted competition. Commonly a food plot farmer treats with herbicide, waits two weeks for the sprayed foliage to turn brown, then turns it under by disking or tilling, and then plants and fertilizes. Oftentimes there will be weed seeds lying dormant in the soil and by disturbing the soil we “plant” the weed seeds . By simply changing around the order of planting steps you can dramatically cut down on weed competition. To begin, I would work your soil and prepare the seedbed well in advance of planting (3 to 6 weeks). For two reasons I would not kill the existing plants first unless they are tall or thick and difficult to turn under. The green plant residue will break down much faster than dried, brown, burned-down plant matter thus helping to retain any banked nutrients and moisture. The dry plant matter would rob your topsoil of moisture and the extra nitrogen it takes to turn the dried plant residue into valuable organic matter. Preparing the seedbed in advance also allows the valuable microorganisms and nematodes that do the work of breaking down plant mater a chance to repopulate after most were killed when you first worked the soil. After working the soil, let the native seed-bank germinate and green-up…NOW kill everything with Roundup or your favorite non-selective, complete burn-down, contact herbicide. Then plant without working the soil again. This way you’ll prevent the accidental “planting” of more weed seeds from your native bank. The main point is to plant after herbicide burn-down, but without working the soil again.

Would love to see some pictures of the food plots that you were planting 30 years ago, circa 1991?...What types and brands of seeds were you using ?

Hi Jeff, Love the channel and content. It looked like at one point during this video you were using the the powermaxx to lay down some switchgrass. Did I see that correctly, and if so why? Is that necessary for switch or changing that area to a different planting? Thank you in advance!

Very informative. I plan on doing a ecotil radish and imperial clover plot on 1 acre at the end of August, just got done spraying. Any recommendations?

“a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”

Great content Jeff! I am planting a plot with sweet feast brassica on one side and green forage blend on the other. I was planning on putting them down at the same time since they are not mixed together. In the video you said brassica should be planted about 5 weeks earlier. Should I hold off on the green forage?

All great information! It doesn't work for me in Buffalo. I just can't keep the birds off the no till seeding. Without pushing it in the ground it'sto sparse.. Good luck this year hunting guys.

Great video Jeff one quick question getting ready for my august planting here in Bradford county, Pa. but what do you do when this month July we got over 12 inches of rain I cant even brush hog our fields cause the water in laying in the fields. We get 2 0r 3 days of dry weather then we keep getting more rain. Can hope it soon dries out some soon if not can I put brassicas on anyway and how about oats in mid august

I have a question on spray equipment. Do you use separate tanks for the plot start fertilizer and the herbicide or same sprayer? How do you go about cleaning when switching chemicals?

Have you ever done a comparison on brassicas of plot boost versus urea?

The full phrase is Jack of all trades is a master of none, but still better than a master of one. ;)

Great job. What’s your recommendation for a seed when beans yellow out? Southern Ohio I have a corn/soybean plot. Thank you

Thank you for all the videos that you do but I just wanted to point out to you that the saying goes a jack of all trades master of none but a jack of all trades is better than a master at one

Great advise. If you plant a med red clover with a cool season annual and want to establish a base for next growing season but don't want to till under in late July or early August, can you seed a cool season annual back into the 1 year stand of clover with good success? thx

Hello Jeff thanks for all of your helpful advice, I am thinking about planting some winter wheat for the summer and wanting to know if I could mow and disc then seed tillage radishes about August 1st when moisture is forecast?

Hey Jeff, planted the switchgrass you recommended. My neighbor did as well. His appears green and lush. Mine looks light green/ yellowish. My soil is more sandy... I mowed the lighter stuff with weeds and the thick switch that is not full of weeds just let go. Is there something you would reccomend putting on it? Or should I mow it all?

You should look up & watch some of the things of Ray Archuleta, & others he's associated with.

How would one go about booking a consultation? And did I understand correctly that you sell seed blends? Where might they be found? Thanks for the vid. Very informative.

Hi Jeff, I notice a lot of your property is surrounded by ag land and having the deer on the ag land all summer deff makes sense. What would you do for areas with little ag and heavily wooded as for as spring and fall plantings?

Do you recommend planting into standing beans? I have 2 acres I’m buying from farmer to leave standing. Was going to try the AWP/Oats and rye to follow on one side and brassica on the other? Thoughts? They are planted in wide rows so plenty of sun

Jeff,Thanks for all the information. I currently have a buckwheat plot that I am planning on planting a No-Till brassicas on in the next week or two depending on the rain forecast. At the time of planting the brassicas should I also fertilize 19-19-19 or should I simply knockdown the buckwheat, spray and wait until the brassicas gets about 4 inches and then spread. I just have a fear of burning the brassicas sead because of no till.

When broadcasting rye into late planted peas or buckwheat do I need to roll and spray?

Can I plant fall forage and radishes from nw seeds at the same time in August. And can they both be planted through out the whole plot, or do they have to be separated?

Do you fill in any gaps in brassica with rye or just the other side with peas beans and oats with rye. Thanks!

What do you set your seed spreader at for peas?

When you plant, does it really matter when you spray if you don’t have the buckwheat? I tend to notice you almost always plant your fall food then spray your glyphosate, but was wondering if you could switch it around.

I have property in Kansas where tge soils can be very dense/hard due to lack of moisture.. would u still recommend not tilling the ground where this is the case.? How would you go about planting seeds in this situation?

What would be the best to Plant around this time of yr on a 12 acre plot

So when planting oats, peas and rye, when can you add the clover at the same time oats and peas or wait until you put the rye down. Maybe it doesnt matter? Wanting to get as much tonnage down to maximize organic matter. Can you put in too much of those seeds?

What do I need to plant in Virginia east of the Blue ridge where winter comes late and often without any or very little snow accumulation

Jeff; ...don't get all your hard earned dollars sucked from you with gadgets and gizmos... Me; what should i do then??! Jeff; give me all your hard earned dollars and i will tell you. Me; aaahhh... Ok! ( deer in headlights look) 😂😂😂😂😂😂 just kidding ya! Love the videos.

I'm in oklahoma, and I have 15 acres on bottom river land. I would like to plant 3 section within this 15 acres. What would you recommend? This 15 acres does get plenty of water during spring and fall. Some times standing water for 2 weeks before draining off.

You ever hunt Manistee National Forest, in the lower pin here? Ive got just over 1k acre public near me here. I would think planting anything there would only draw in other hunters. Any advice on my situation with this?? Thanks love the advice👍

How would you suggest moving forward with no till winter rye if you missed killing/spraying weeds in the spring? Would it help to mow the weeds then spray after?

Hey Jeff, thank you for the great content! Here’s a question for you: My wife and I are buying our first piece of property and we close on august 31st. Will I be able to plant anything in early September or is it too late and should I wait until next year? Thank you!

Why does John Komp’s Fall Forage Blend say you can add Forage Radish to the mix? Would the radish outcompete the rye grain?

How about the areas of the country that use hounds for running deer. Kinda defeats the purpose of food plots due to the daily or weekly pounding from the hounds. A vid or advice would be appreciated.

What setting to you use for the earth way spreader ? For the peas and soybeans mix and then for the barsicals

What date did you end up getting your buckwheat in? Mine was early July before a rain came.

Can I plant brassica in a existing clover plot without killing it? And have successful brassica each year?

So rye/peas or beans is okay? Considering that beans will die with the first frost? And what is that thing called that you use to knock down the grass? I have tried no-till but I feel like I don't have the right tools to make that successful. The ground is too packed, and no duff or debris to soften it up so if you throw seed on top, it can't form root systems properly.

With the plot start can that be used with the lime? I know the lime takes a season or 2 to really start working and plot start is immediate.

What seeds are in your WHS green forge seed blend from North American whitetails seed

You just quickly shot past why someone Would have a summer plot, and that's exactly what we're looking to do. We haven't had any food plots for years and reestablishing. Also surrounded by mainly timber tracts that have been clear cut last year. What about situations like this?

Do you have a booth at Iowa deer clasic?

You know I love your Channel 2 questions I thought you weren't supposed to plant anything in Brassica as of competition are you saying it's alright to put in some clover and also I thought that I had a natural defense against weeds can you put clover in that also that was really open up my little p l o t please let me know

Can you please give us some tips on the Deep South? everything you post is great content, but it does not translate to us in Alabama. We won’t have frost until Nov/Dec, we get tons of rain, and it’ll be 90° still in September

I might have missed it but Where do you get your seed ?

Hey Jeff getting amped up going up 1st week in August question can I mix 2# of brassica with 5# of clover together on half my plot mixing the seeds in a 5# bucket then putting in my hand held spreader trying too get even flow between the too seeds

Jeff I’ve got a home grown stud I need to get him this year. He’s 5.5 years old. He must be 160 inch’s. I started food plotting in 17. And he was a small 10 then. But he always seems to rut somewhere else. I’ve made some mistakes. I now walk in to the plot. I over hunted my stand too. Last year I got a 133 5/8 8point. Do you think it’s possible that he got pushed out by that buck I shot last year. He always drops his antlers early too early December. Suggestions anyone?

Can you put tillage radish with a oats, peas and winter rye plot? Or should it be put in a brassica plot?

I’m looking for a place to take my son hunting in UP. Any recommendations?