Tolerate? I got a bag of plot spike oats at tractor supply as an experiment to try a couple wooded areas. My question is all other factors aside how much shade can i get away with . Thanks
You're gonna find out! I really don't know how much sun you have .... 2 hours/day? 4 hours/day? 6 hours/day? or no sun at all. Are you in a pine plantation or is it a hardwood area, in which case you will have more sun when the leaves drop?
Anyway, I say go ahead and plant it and I suspect you will get it to grow (ph adjusted? fertilizer to put down?). My guess is it will not make a head, but you don't care, since the deer will prefer it in the fall.
I would suggest that you go with plan B and that would be to add a white clover and dwarf essex rape, just as a back up plan, in case the oats fail.
Yessir! I have a white clover / brassica mix i plant that does well. This was more experimental to see if it did well. I guess i will report back on the shade tolerance. Two of the spots get dapled shade all day with sunny periods late afternoon. We will see!
Update! The oats are doin fine in pretty heavy shade. Ive got some that get full sun for a few hours that are slightly ahead, but not that big of a difference.
Sometimes the shade allows moisture to remain longer since the sun is not drying it out. I had a power line that clearly showed the shade edge doing best. However, it needs warm sun once it starts cooling down. Ground temps make a big difference in growth once we start getting cold nights