FOOD PLOTS -
A CRITICAL WILDLIFE HABITAT PRACTICE FOR YOUR FARM PLANT
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GRAIN-BASED FOOD PLOTS - High energy, grain-based food plots are an essential management practice for game birds and other wildlife on private lands. Regardless of winter severity, it always makes good sense to provide additional food and cover for crisis situations, to use food plots to increase habitat diversity, and to create habitat for hunting and wildlife viewing. Where primary winter cover is limited, planting grain-based mixes (like sorghum blends) will provide structural cover in addition to food. Creating larger plots adjacent to your primary wintering areas increases the character of that shelter for your birds. That helps you achieve your primary objective—to bring your hens through the winter in peak condition for spring breeding, so improved body weight helps maximize chick production.
PHOTO BY LOGAN HINNERS
IF YOU PLANT IT, THEY WILL COME.
BROWSE MIXES - The Bird and Buck Line of green browse mixes from Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever provide forage that will help attract big game to your farm. In some cases, these mixes can also provide high quality brood habitat for upland birds. These mixes are a magnet for wildlife. They attract whitetails and other species to your property, and hold them there. PF/QF browse mixes are comprised of specially developed protein and energy rich forages that deer find irresistible. In addition, several Bird and Buck forage mixes create a leafy, insect rich structure that is important for gamebird chicks.
TABLE OF CONTENTS //
GRAIN FOOD PLOT MIXES 04 // 05
BLIZZARD BUSTER COVEY RISE EARLY LONGTAIL MILO CANE MADNESS “DOVE KANDY” SUNFLOWERS WHITE LIGHTNING
06 // 07
WINTER SHIELD WINTER SURVIVAL WESTERN FOOD & COVER MIX DOVE & QUAIL MIX ROOSTER BOOSTER QUICK FOOD & COVER
GREEN BROWSE FOOD PLOT MIXES 08 // 09
CLOVER & MORE WHITETAIL & GAMEBIRD DEER KANDY GREEN BROWSE WHITETAIL FORAGE BRASSICA TRIPLE THREAT BRASSICA CHICK MAGNET
10
SPECIALTY FOOD PLOT PRODUCTS
11
POLLINATOR MIXES
12 // 15
FOOD PLOTS – A CRITICAL
WILDLIFE HABITAT PRACTICE FOR YOUR FARM & F.A.Q.
PHOTO BY JOSH DAHLSTROM
PLANT with a PURPOSE
Purchasing and planting Signature Series Food and Cover Mixes will not only help bring your wildlife through the winter in peak condition, but it will also help bolster wildlife habitat conservation on a national level. All proceeds from our store go directly toward our mission of putting more habitat on the ground, youth in our fields, and birds in the air. Plant your food plots with pride because you’re a supporter of conservation on your own property and all throughout pheasant and quail country.
PHOTO BY LOGAN HINNERS
ENHANCED WITH MICRONUTRIENT COATINGS BLIZZARD BUSTER
COMPONENTS
Blizzard Buster is the 800-pound gorilla of winter food and cover mixes. Mixture of five grain and four tall This grain and forage sorghum blend provides maximum shelter and food forage sorghums. Concep-treated for for game birds in tough winter weather, especially when established in improved weed control. large plots. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791010001 LEARN MORE
COVEY RISE
Covey Rise is a mix of 3 to 5 foot heavy grain-bearing sorghums that provides a super food value & great habitat and hunting structure! Ideal for upland birds, it’s a bit less attractive to the big game that often clean out food plots. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791020001
COMPONENTS
Blend of five intermediate grain sorghums adaptable to many areas. Concep-treated for improved weed control. LEARN MORE
EARLY LONGTAIL MILO
COMPONENTS
Short growing seasons are no longer a barrier to good food production Early maturing grain sorghum with for wildlife. Early Longtail Milo is a maturity grain sorghum that provides a wide area of adaptation. Concepa heavy seed crop in as little as 85 days in normal growing conditions. treated for improved weed control. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791030001 LEARN MORE
PHEASANTS FOREVER // QUAIL FOREVER
// GRAIN FOOD PLOT MIXES //
CANE MADNESS
Cane Madness is a mix of heavy seeded tall cane sorghums for ideal for birds and acting as a cover screen for deer. This blend provides what birds need most — cover that beats winter, and high energy food. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791130001
COMPONENTS
Eight strong stemmed forage sorghums with high grain production. Concep-treated for improved weed control. LEARN MORE
“DOVE KANDY” SUNFLOWERS
COMPONENTS
Sunflowers rank first among the favorite foods of wildlife! Dove Kandy Diverse sunflower mixture with Sunflowers will drive your doves, game birds, and songbirds wild! This multiple maturity ranges and heights. blend of small, black-seeded, high oil varieties are chock-full of energy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791050001 LEARN MORE
WHITE LIGHTNING
COMPONENTS
White Lightning’s mild white and cream sorghums create an irresistible Five distinct grain sorghums designed source of food that will equally entice upland birds and big mature deer. to be attractive to deer. Concep- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791120001 treated for improved weed control.
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PURCHASE SEED
PHOTO BY JOSH DAHLSTROM
ENHANCED WITH MICRONUTRIENT COATINGS WINTER SHIELD
COMPONENTS
Winter Shield (AKA Nebraska Mix) is loaded with high-yielding forage, grain Four distinct grain sorghums, six sorghums, and millets to provide the critical energy needed to pull your birds forage sorghums and two millets. through the toughest winters. It creates among the best winter cover and food NOT Concep-treated. available for pheasants and quail. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791040001 LEARN MORE
WINTER SURVIVAL
COMPONENTS
Winter Survival creates excellent cover and food for wildlife where winters Corn, grain sorghums, forage are tough. A blend of broadleaf and grass-like plants combine upland sorghums, buckwheat and sunflowers. wildlife’s favorite foods — corn, sorghums, sunflowers, and buckwheat. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791060001 LEARN MORE
WESTERN FOOD & COVER MIX
COMPONENTS
Western Mix is an exclusive blend that uses short maturity varieties of Sunflowers, forage and grain sorghums, sunflowers, forage and grain sorghums, sudan grass, sweet clover and sudan grass, sweet clover and millets. millets designed for drier climates. As an added bonus this can also create a two year cover plot. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -#791080001 LEARN MORE
PHEASANTS FOREVER // QUAIL FOREVER
// GRAIN FOOD PLOT MIXES //
DOVE & QUAIL MIX
COMPONENTS
Dove and Quail Mix is a diverse food plot blend of broadleaf and grass- Sunflowers, grain sorghums, forage like plants. This combination of sunflowers, sorghums and millets provide sorghums and millet. a great food source for doves, but also create food and cover for quail, pheasants, songbirds and other wildlife. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791090001 LEARN MORE
ROOSTER BOOSTER
COMPONENTS
Rooster Booster creates diverse feeding habitat for deer, turkeys, pheasants, Grain sorghums, corn, buckwheat quail and other wildlife that will normally outlast corn-only food plots. and millets. This early maturing mix is heavy on sorghums, with plenty of corn, buckwheat and german millet. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791070001 LEARN MORE
QUICK FOOD & COVER
COMPONENTS
Quick Food is a fast growing, 4 millet blend that creates lush food and early Includes hybrid pearl, proso, season cover. Primarily a small-seed food source, the stiffer-stemmed Japanese and German brown millets. proso and pearl millets provide good structure but is not an effective winter cover. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791160015 LEARN MORE
PURCHASE SEED
PHOTO BY LOGAN HINNERS
ENHANCED WITH MICRONUTRIENT COATINGS CLOVER & MORE
COMPONENTS
Bird & Buck Clover & More is a unique blend of high quality, long lasting Alsike, arrowleaf, berseem, crimson, clovers, rapeseed and alfalfa. It produces superior deer and turkey browse, ladino and red clovers, with alfalfa and great brood habitat for gamebird chicks. and rapeseed. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #795110001 LEARN MORE
WHITETAIL & GAMEBIRD
Whitetail & Gamebird was designed by our biologists to produce superior browse for deer and turkeys. It also benefits nesting and brood rearing pheasants and quail by providing a bug-rich habitat . 8 Lbs Bag - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #795090001 25 Lbs Bag - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #795090003
COMPONENTS
Alfalfa and rapeseed with alsike, arrowleaf, berseem, crimson, ladino & red clovers, partridge pea, ryegrass, bluegrass, switchgrass, timothy & millet. LEARN MORE
DEER KANDY GREEN BROWSE
COMPONENTS
Deer Kandy is an irresistible green browse mix for deer & turkeys that All legume mixture of alfalfa, alsike, also creates an insect haven for gamebirds. This all-legume blend ladino, and medium red clovers with includes superior varieties that make this a very durable and long lasting partridge pea. browse habitat. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #795130001 LEARN MORE
PHEASANTS FOREVER // QUAIL FOREVER
// GREEN BROWSE FOOD PLOT MIXES //
Bird & Buck WHITETAIL FORAGE BRASSICA
COMPONENTS
Whitetail Forage Brassica is specially designed to produce superior Prescription formula of hybrid browse that deer and turkeys find irresistible. The high sugar content in rapeseed, kale, three forage turnips the mature leaves attracts and keeps deer where you want them. and canola. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #795140001 LEARN MORE
TRIPLE TREAT BRASSICA
COMPONENTS
Triple Treat Brassica combines both forage and food grade turnips, with Deer forage turnips, forage radishes big-leafed forage radishes that will pull in those big bucks and keep them and food-grade turnips. close to home. This also provides a bug substrate for hungry broods. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791150006 LEARN MORE
CHICK MAGNET
COMPONENTS
Chick Magnet broadleaf mix creates a haven for the juicy bugs your hungry Pasja, Sweet Clover, Buckwheat, Cool broods love while also providing a favorite spot for deer to forage and a Season Peas, Sunflowers, Cowpeas, place to hunt birds come fall. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - #791140025 grain sorghum, white mustard.
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PURCHASE SEED
SPECIALTY FOOD PLOT PRODUCTS
Get creative! We can provide you with products that help you customize our Signature Series Mixes or create your own blend. These offerings are MicroNutrient enhanced, inoculated where required, and are not treated with Concep. Don’t see what you are looking for? Just ask!
Check out our website for details about these and all of our seed offerings, or to purchase products online: www.pheasantsforever.org/seed
POLLINATOR MIXES
Thoughtfully Designed & Highly Diverse Pollinator Habitat Whether it’s pollinator habitat for the backyard or the back 40, what’s good for the bees is good for the birds. In fact, during the spring young chicks rely on insects to eat and these insects love the diverse forbs found within our pollinator mixes.
STATE SPECIFIC CP42 POLLINATOR MIXES Carefully designed by our team of wildlife biologist to meet your statespecific CRP pollinator conservation standard and provide great habitat for pheasants and other wildlife. Affordable mixes from basic to fantastic across a range of site conditions. Looking for a custom mix? We do that too.
MONARCH & HONEYBEE INITIATIVE MIXES Mixes specifically designed by our team of wildlife biologist to meet the rigorous standards for state-specific monarch and honeybee initiatives to provide these imperiled species the necessary reproductive and forage habitat while simultaneously providing great bird habitat.
MIDWEST POLLINATOR PLUS MIX (Not eligible for CRP Projects) The Midwest Pollinator Plus Mix is not designed to meet state-specific conservation standards, but still provides all purpose pollinator and wildlife habitat in America’s Heartland for non-CRP projects. It meets Pheasants Forever’s own high quality standard and includes more than 40 species of grasses and wildflowers (including milkweeds) with species blooming throughout the growing season.
READY TO ORDER? www.PheasantsForever.org/crpseed
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS WHY DO I NEED FOOD PLOTS ON MY FARM? High quality grain food plots play a critical role in the relationship between food, cover, movement and winter bird mortality. The logic is simple. Locating well-planned food and cover plots adjacent to heavy roosting cover provides a dependable source of high-energy food. With the food adjacent to winter cover, birds establish safe foraging patterns, and movements are minimized – so predation and weather losses are reduced. WHAT MAKES PF/QF MIXES SPECIAL? Our biologists have developed PF/QF grain and forage mixes to provide the food and cover prescription that the wildlife on your farm need. Through continual product improvement, we have formulated very specific blends that are adaptable to most growing conditions, and that maximize benefits for your wildlife. ARE SPECIALIZED MIXES WORTH THE EXTRA COST? Yes. Seed is likely the smallest expense in your overall food plot spending, yet it is the foundation of your effort to improve wildlife survival. Buy the very best seed that you can for your food plots. PF/QF food plot products come to you after extensive development and research, and following years of successful establishment on farms across the country. And they come to you with the full backing of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, two of the nation’s most respected private conservation organizations. MUST I USE HERBICIDES? Weeds are the most serious threat your food plot will face. Thus, we recommend some sort of herbicide treatment. Food plots planted without weed control have highly variable results. Weed problems can be addressed by tillage, chemical suppression, or a combination of both. While a few weeds actually improve food plot diversity, severe competition that causes the primary planting to fail wastes your food plot investment, and puts your wildlife in a bad position for winter. PF/QF food plot mixes are not RoundUp Ready, however, some are Concep-treated to allow expanded weed control. Pay attention to weed control recommendations on the bag for the best planting result. DO I NEED FERTILIZER? Yes. Food plots are a crop for your wildlife--fertilize accordingly. Nutrient needs are easily assessed before planting season with a simple soil test (farm co-ops routinely do this at low cost), and the results will allow you to amend the soil properly. Legume food plots do not need nitrogen, but may require other supplements to optimize the stand. Grain plots almost always require significant nitrogen, and other supplemental nutrients (rotating into old legume browse areas may save you some money on nitrogen). PF/QF mixes carry micronutrient seed coatings to help our seed to get a jump on early growth. Even so, primary food plot fertilization is a must-do. HOW DO I DECIDE WHICH MIXES ARE RIGHT FOR MY FARM? First examine your habitat objectives for your farm. What do you want to accomplish for which wildlife species? What are your desires for hunting and viewing? Look closely at winter food and cover conditions. If high energy winter food is limited, or poorly distributed, you need grain food plots to assist gamebirds. If deer lack succulent forage, you may need green browse plots, as well. Usually, if you have sufficient water and growing season length, there is a PF/QF food plot mix that will meet your needs.
PHOTO BY LOGAN HINNERS
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO PLANT? With a few exceptions, Signature series mixes are planted in the spring. The agricultural operations occurring in your area will give you some idea of when to plant, but not all types of seed can be planted at the same time. Detailed planting instructions are found on each PF/QF food plot mix. Read them carefully. WHAT ABOUT PLANTING EQUIPMENT? Signature Series food plot mixes can be established with standard row planters, drills, drop seeders, or with broadcast seeders mounted on a tractor, ATV or pickup truck. Complete planting instructions are on each bag. If you do not have your own equipment, it can often be rented from USDA Offices, local implement dealers, or wildlife agencies. PF/QF habitat specialists, private contractors, or a neighbor also may be able to assist you in planting your food plot. For more information on food plot design and other considerations consult the Pheasants Forever Essential Habitat Guide, and/or talk to a PF Habitat Specialist near you. WHAT’S THE BEST LOCATION FOR MY WINTER FOOD PLOTS? Grain food plots should restrict unnecessary travel, and provide high quality food and supplemental cover adjacent to your bird’s primary wintering areas. Birds forced to cross hostile territory for food suffer predator and weather mortality. Combat this by locating generous sized food plots directly next to winter cover (3 acres or larger is best). Blocks are preferable to linear plantings, and placement on the windward side of winter cover improves that habitat. If winter cover is scarce, 10-acre plantings of sorghum blends with heavy leaf structure (like Blizzard Buster) may provide all the food and shelter that birds need. Green browse plots will provide no winter cover for upland birds, but will provide forage for deer. HOW LARGE SHOULD MY FOOD PLOT BE? We can’t predict when wildlife will most need assistance, so commit to planting substantial food plots every year. Plan grain food plots for the worst case weather scenario. Don’t create a project that will be buried by the first blizzard. Your plots will be used by many kinds of wildlife. Deer and turkeys consume a lot of grain. They exhaust small food patches well before winter ends. Since you can’t keep them out, larger food plots (3-10 acres) are always most desirable. Select a food plot mix based on the cover and food values you need, and carefully assess the critical factors of size and location for your farm. HOW LONG WILL MY FOOD PLOT LAST? Hopefully all winter long! Grain food plots generally last only until the next growing season (particularly if deer use it heavily). Almost without fail, you need to re-establish these food plots annually. In rare instances of low wildlife use, the grain from one year may carry over to the next on the stalks. Allowing a plot like this to grow up into annual weeds provides excellent brood habitat. Legume-type green browse food plots (blends of clovers, alfalfa, etc.) generally last several years. Combination leafy forage/root crops like turnips need to be re-planted each year. WHAT OTHER FACTORS SHOULD I CONSIDER? Food plots alone are not going to “bring back the birds.” Well-placed food patches will help bring more hens through winter in better condition. At that point, however, the other habitat you have established on your farm (nesting cover, brood rearing habitat, etc.) will play the leading role. Be sure you focus on establishing and managing those important areas for wildlife, as well.