Buckwheat

[Deerhunter12454]

Has anyone had success getting deer to eat buck wheat? I’m planning to add more organic matter and nutrients to some food plots in the spring but may try to find something the deer will utilize at the same time.

 

[Canuck5]

Are you planning to haul in chicken litter or something like that, or hoping what you grow, will add organic matter?

 

[Dean]

Yes. Planted Spring/Summer plots for those purposes...soil builder (green manure) , and deer utilization. Planted 'throw and mow' on fall plot, ours grew well, deer browsed the tops and leaves, bee's love it to.... for what it's worth, we terminate with herbicide later summer, then throw and mow our fall seed. We haven't plowed those plots in 4 years....

Also Sunn Hemp... good soil builder too. Deer will eat, full of protein. Sunn Hemp can growth tall and thick. As such it is more challenging to deal with that buck wheat when it comes to terminating or dealing with played our stalks.

 

[DSGB]

I planted my little plot in buckwheat this past summer. Didn't see a whole lot of browsing at first, but once it went to seed, the deer/turkeys/quail were all over it. The next crop saw more use, as did the third.

 

[Deerhunter12454]

Are you planning to haul in chicken litter or something like that, or hoping what you grow, will add organic matter?

Both. Trying to turn a new logging deck into a solid food plot. Plot now is really spotty

 

[pinus palustris]

I plant a lot of buckwheat each year, I do not necessarily care about deer utilization, what I am trying to do is 'juice' my pollinator populations so that my wild and introduced wildlife planting are 'swamped' with pollinators. The added benefit is seed for my wild quail!! It's a twofer for me.

 

[Canuck5]

Both. Trying to turn a new logging deck into a solid food plot. Plot now is really spotty

A noble effort to try to increase your organic matter! It's a tuff job but with no-till or minimum till (like Dean suggests) and adding your own organic matter, you can make improvements. It all takes time but worthwhile if you own the land. A farmer tries to get somewhere between 3% and 6% OM.

 

[SakoL61R]

Have planted buckwheat most every season since 2008 and deer will eat it, especially late summer.
x2 on sunn hemp. Been planting it off and on since 2011. Deer tear it up until it gets 5-6 ft tall. Was not able to get any planted this year, unfortunately.

Thread on it from several years back.
https://forum.gon.com/threads/sudan-sorghum-and-sunn-hemp.851238/