MANURE OR FERTILIZER FOR FOOD PLOTS 

In this video I discuss using manure vs synthetic fertilizer to feed the plants growing in our food plots. Manure has some great soil building benefits, such as increases organic matter, porosity, and soil tilth, but also some big issues to look into, such as low nutrient analysis, pathogen and disease concerns with fresh manure, and difficulty handling large volumes that are needed without specialized equipment. Synthetic fertilizers are widely used because of the ease of spreading, they are readily available, and come with many different nutrient analysis where we can better match the fertilizer applied with the needs of the soil test. Food plots require large amounts of nutrients, and if these nutrients are low or not available in the soil we must add them. Corn soybeans, alfalfa, clover, wheat, rye, oats, turnips, radish, sun hemp, and lab-lab all require nutrients in order to grow and become a high quality food source for whitetail deer.