Deer Food Plot Timing for Brassicas, Clover, and Cereal Grains

A plot planted on the wrong week feeds deer in July and stands bare in November. A turnip needs 75 to 90 days to reach maturity [8], and frost does not wait. Brassicas, clover, and cereal grains each run on a different clock, and the days of growth left before frost matter more than the date.

The three groups are not interchangeable. Brassicas build leaf and root through fall and can hold that forage into cold weather. Clover is a perennial legume that carries protein through spring and summer across several seasons. Cereal grains germinate quickly and typically put green forage on the ground within weeks of planting.

What Does Each Group Put in Front of a Deer?

Forage brassicas include turnip, radish, rape, kale, and swede. Penn State Extension reports crude protein of 15 to 25 percent in brassica herbage and 8 to 15 percent in the roots [2]. A University of Tennessee study measured brassica leaves above 32 percent crude protein both before and after frost [3].

That same study found starch levels in kale and radish leaves did not drop after a frost, so the familiar sweetening story does not hold up [3]. Deer often shift onto brassica plots late in the year, which is why the group earns its place in a hunting season plan.

Clover is the protein base and the part of the plot that lasts. Red clover in a pure stand can persist two to three years under good management [4], and ladino clover can hold four to five years in northern country [5].

Cereal grains do the fast work. Cereal rye typically carries crude protein in the 20 to 25 percent range from fall through spring, ahead of maturity [6]. Oats across the northern half of the country are generally killed by cold weather unless a cold-hardy variety goes in [7].

When Does Each One Go In the Ground?

Count backward from frost rather than forward from a date on the calendar. Turnips reach maturity in 75 to 90 days [8]. Penn State Extension puts turnip and rape at 80 to 90 days from seeding, with slower kale and swede at 150 to 180 days [2].

A brassica plot generally needs roughly three months of growing weather in front of it. Extension and habitat guides put radish in the ground in early August in northern states and mid to late September in the Deep South [9], and rape from late July to early August in the North [10].

Cereal rye goes in later: late August to early September in northern regions, and September or October in the South once soil moisture is there or rain is in the forecast [6]. Ladino clover can be established from August through October, and in northern states from late January through April [5]. A spring brassica seeding waits until soil temperature reaches about 50 degrees F [9].

Local frost timing is the input everything else hangs on. Iowa State University Extension publishes first and last freeze dates by county from weather records covering 1950 to 2021 [11]. Find the figure for your county, then subtract the days to maturity of what you are planting.

How Much Seed Goes On an Acre and On a Small Plot?

Broadcast rates from extension and habitat food plot guides, for one species at a time:

• Turnip at 5 pounds per acre alone, cut to 2 pounds per acre in a blend [8].
• Forage radish at 12 pounds per acre alone, 6 pounds broadcast or 4 drilled in a blend [9].
• Forage rape at 8 pounds per acre broadcast, 4 pounds drilled, 2 to 3 pounds in a blend [10].
• Cereal rye at 120 to 150 pounds broadcast, 70 to 80 drilled, 30 to 40 in a blend [6].
• Oats at 120 to 150 pounds broadcast, 70 to 80 drilled, 40 to 50 alongside clover [7].
• Red clover at 10 to 12 pounds per acre in a pure stand, 6 to 8 with a forage grass [4].

An acre is 43,560 square feet, so a 5 pound turnip rate works out to roughly 1.8 ounces per 1,000 square feet [8]. Drilled rates run lower because the drill places each seed at depth, while broadcast seed sits on the surface until something presses it in.

Brassica seed is small, and that is where plots go wrong. Turnip seed belongs no deeper than 1/8 to 1/4 inch [8], and mixed with clovers and cereal grains, brassica rates drop to no more than 2 to 3 pounds per acre broadcast [12]. A spreader still set for a grain rate can lay down many times that, and the stand comes up thick, thin stemmed, and short on bulbs.

Does Lime Go Down Before the Seed?

Clover is the pH sensitive part of any blend. Penn State Extension puts white clover between pH 6 and 7 [1], red clover at 6.5 or higher [4], and legumes as a group at 6.5 to 7.0 [13]. Brassicas are looser, wanting 5.3 to 6.8 for optimum production [2], and cereal rye tolerates acidity and low fertility better than the other cereal grains while still preferring 6.0 or greater [6].

Lime is slow. Aglime is applied well in advance of acid sensitive crops and reacts completely within about three years [13]. A soil test pulled in spring gives lime the months it needs to move pH before a late summer clover seeding.

Where First Year Plots Fail

The failures repeat from plot to plot:

• Brassicas seeded too late, with too few growing days left to build leaf and root before frost [14].
• Brassicas seeded too early in a warm, wet year, which raises the odds of disease [14].
• Seed broadcast onto a loose bed with no cultipacking, so seed to soil contact does not happen [15].
• Clover buried deeper than 1/4 inch, past what a small seedling can push through [1].
• A small plot under heavy browsing pressure, grazed flat before the plants reach useful size.
• Weed competition in year one, when a new clover stand often has no canopy of its own.

The fix for the third one is mechanical: cultipack to firm the bed, sow the small seed, then cultipack again [15]. Radish is relatively tolerant of heavy grazing and can produce 2 to 3 tons per acre of dry forage plus roughly another ton of root [9]. On a quarter acre plot, that tonnage is the difference between a stand that holds and one grazed to dirt by October.

A Nurse Crop Carries Clover Into Next Year

Clover comes out of the ground slowly and competes poorly with weeds in its first months. A cereal grain seeded with it grows fast, shades weeds, and gives deer something to eat while the clover roots.

Rate discipline is what makes that blend work. Rye drops to 30 to 40 pounds per acre broadcast in a mix [6], and oats to 40 to 50 pounds per acre alongside clover and chicory, so the grain does not choke the legume out [7]. A prebuilt big game forage mix sets those ratios for you. The grain dies back or is mowed off in spring, and the clover underneath can become a stand nobody had to replant.

Match the species to the growing weather you have left, then set the rate for the plot you actually have rather than the acre printed on the bag. If you are laying out next season’s plots now, Nature’s Seed groups its food plot blends by season and plot size, and the planting window for your region is worth checking before the order goes in.

Sources

[1] Penn State Extension. White Clover. https://extension.psu.edu/white-clover

[2] Penn State Extension. Use of Brassica Crops to Extend the Grazing Season. https://extension.psu.edu/use-of-brassica-crops-to-extend-the-grazing-season

[3] National Deer Association. Do Brassicas Actually Get “Sweeter” After a Frost. https://deerassociation.com/do-brassicas-get-sweeter/

[4] Penn State Extension. Red Clover. https://extension.psu.edu/red-clover

[5] National Deer Association. Ladino Clover for Deer, A Step by Step Guide. https://deerassociation.com/food-plot-species-profile-ladino-clover/

[6] National Deer Association. Cereal Rye for Deer. https://deerassociation.com/cereal-rye-deer/

[7] National Deer Association. Food Plot Species Profile, Oats. https://deerassociation.com/food-plot-species-profile-oats/

[8] National Deer Association. Food Plot Species Profile, Turnips. https://deerassociation.com/food-plot-species-profile-turnips/

[9] National Deer Association. Radishes for Deer. https://deerassociation.com/radishes-for-deer/

[10] National Deer Association. Forage Rape for Deer. https://deerassociation.com/forage-rape-for-deer/

[11] Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Frost and Freeze Dates in Iowa. https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/frost-dates-iowa

[12] National Deer Association. Choosing the Best Brassicas for Your Food Plots. https://deerassociation.com/break-down-the-brassicas-to-choose-the-best-for-your-food-plots/

[13] Penn State Extension. Soil Acidity and Aglime. https://extension.psu.edu/soil-acidity-and-aglime

[14] National Deer Association. Avoid Brassica Food Plot Failure With These Simple Steps. https://deerassociation.com/avoid-brassica-food-plot-failure-with-these-simple-steps/

[15] National Deer Association. Successful Food Plot Seeding Rates. https://deerassociation.com/successful-food-plot-seeding-rates/