The mighty pokeweed

weekender21 · Sep 6, 2019

I enjoy observing what the deer are utilizing as their preferred browse throughout the year. Paying attention to heavily browsed areas tells me where the deer are and what they might prefer. Now in our second full summer of ownership, I’d label pokeweed near or at the top of the list for summer browse on our place. Poplar stump sprouts and nettle are readily available and also popular options but browse pressure on pokeweed is really impressive.

Pokeweed that aren’t hit by deer on our place grow to 6’ or more. Some of the plants in heavily traveled areas never become more than a small bush.

The apples and acorns are starting to fall. I’d guess the summer food sources have likely peaked and the deer will begin drifting towards the fall food.

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j-bird · Sep 6, 2019

Looks like that got that one trimmed back pretty good! I have 100's of acres of soybeans in the summer and yet I see deer browse on "weeds" right next to those same beans as well. Especially when that "weed" is in a soft tender state and actively growing. I see deer browse on pokeweed, ragweed, nettles, jewelweed and all sorts of things. This is why our plots are only a part of the puzzle in providing the deer what they need.

weekender21 · Sep 6, 2019

I really enjoyed a recent Hunt the Land Podcast by Mark and Moriah explaining a relatively simple topic of “what deer eat”. This is the first time I’ve heard deer described as “concentrate selectors”. Although I already had a basic understanding of deer selectively browsing based on plant nutrition peaks and their needs relative to the time of year, I had not heard it explained in that fashion.

I have quite a few trail camera pictures of deer feeding in my plots this summer but I wonder what percentage of their diet is food plots vs. native browse vs. hard/soft mast and when. I’ve heard numbers tossed around but would imagine it varies greatly from region to region and even more specifically neighborhood to neighborhood.

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Matt Casto · Sep 6, 2019

I’ve collected 1/2 cup of pokeweed seeds from a pokeweed that grew close to my house hope to toss out in spring after I clear out some stubborn autumn olive this winter as pokeweed is few and far between on the farm.

Native Hunter · Sep 7, 2019

I've been looking for years for browse on pokeweed at my farm but never seen it. However, in the fence row at my house (20 minutes away) they eat it pretty good. Not sure why so much difference, but they definitely like it at your place.

Chainsaw · Sep 7, 2019

Matt Casto said:
I’ve collected 1/2 cup of pokeweed seeds from a pokeweed that grew close to my house hope to toss out in spring after I clear out some stubborn autumn olive this winter as pokeweed is few and far between on the farm.

The deer here like poke weed as well but not to the point that they eat it so much that it doesn't get to grow to maturity and get to create seeds. Interesting like daylilies the poke weed seeds apparently have dormancy and benefit from winter stratification.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/weeds/extension/common-pokeweed
We stratify our daylily seeds planting them in jugs and placing them out in the winter.
http://deerhunterforum.com/index.php?threads/recreating-a-deer-woods.1088/page-37

Assuming the pokeweed seeds do have dormancy as stated then planting them in jugs in the winter or directly into the soil in the fall might yield the better results as compared to spring planting. Planting them in the spring could result in a very poor germination rate that year. Though the seeds survive being processed thru birds and may just need some open ground with a rope perch strung over it to expedite the regeneration process, supplementing poke weed regeneration with planting the seeds ourselves sounds like a good move.

weekender21 · Sep 7, 2019

Native Hunter said:
I've been looking for years for browse on pokeweed at my farm but never seen it. However, in the fence row at my house (20 minutes away) they eat it pretty good. Not sure why so much difference, but they definitely like it at your place.

I think it goes back to that term concentrate selectors. Pokeweed is very high in protein but if they have beans like on your neighbors or another native plant with higher protein content they may skip on the poke and eat that instead. We also enjoy very wet summers in the mountains. The pokeweed in our climate seems to hold more moisture and might stay palatable longer into the summer months. We still have plenty of pokeweed with zero browse pressure but in certain spots they hammer it.

Mennoniteman · Sep 7, 2019

weekender21 said:
I really enjoyed a recent Hunt the Land Podcast by Mark and Moriah explaining a relatively simple topic of “what deer eat”. This is the first time I’ve heard deer described as “concentrate selectors”. Although I already had a basic understanding of deer selectively browsing based on plant nutrition peaks and their needs relative to the time of year, I had not heard it explained in that fashion.

I have quite a few trail camera pictures of deer feeding in my plots this summer but I wonder what percentage of their diet is food plots vs. native browse vs. hard/soft mast and when. I’ve heard numbers tossed around but would imagine it varies greatly from region to region and even more specifically neighborhood to neighborhood.

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Here's an interesting chart that a biologist Hewlette S. Crawford, a research wildlife biologist with the US Forest Service compiled in 1982.

weekender21 · Sep 7, 2019

Very cool chart. I wonder what similarities my deer have to the herd studied in Maine? I'd imagine some similarity during moderate times of the year but probably no comparison to the January-March conditions that those deer endure.

Mennoniteman · Sep 7, 2019

Although I haven't done any scientific studies, I think his Maine chart looks like it's very similar to what our deer eat in Pennsylvania. But I never realized that deer eat that many mushrooms.

THE LLC · Sep 7, 2019

Poke seeds need to go through a bird to come up I think.

Chainsaw · Sep 8, 2019

Mennoniteman said:
Although I haven't done any scientific studies, I think his Maine chart looks like it's very similar to what our deer eat in Pennsylvania. But I never realized that deer eat that many mushrooms.

One time while "on stand" sitting on the ground with my wife during early muzzleloader season (about October 15) just for fun we counted all the different type mushrooms "looking" at us sitting there. There were 17 different mushrooms visible to us without moving from our sitting "stand" position. We were amazed there were so many types in one spot.

We used to have a hunter/camp chef in our Maine deer camp that was a mushroom ID expert. Pretty much all of Bob's deer sighting stories each night involved a deer eating a mushroom (Latin name and all) or walking between mushrooms or just checking the mushrooms out. That would have been around Nov. 11 time frames. Bob spent most of his deer hunting day gathering mushrooms for our regular evening feast so we just figured the reason he saw almost all of his deer around mushrooms was because that was where he spent his day. Little did we know then the deer thought mushrooms to be a feast as well!

Jeff H · Sep 9, 2019

Native Hunter said:
I've been looking for years for browse on pokeweed at my farm but never seen it. However, in the fence row at my house (20 minutes away) they eat it pretty good. Not sure why so much difference, but they definitely like it at your place.

I wonder if its the difference in minerals in the soil at the two separate locations. I've see the same sort of things at farms in the same region but not next to one another. Always wondered if it was the soil.

Native Hunter · Sep 9, 2019

Jeff H said:
I wonder if its the difference in minerals in the soil at the two separate locations. I've see the same sort of things at farms in the same region but not next to one another. Always wondered if it was the soil.

I’ve always thought it was that the farm had more abundant food but can’t say for sure.

weekender21 · Sep 10, 2019

This is about as tall as I’ve seen pokeweed on our place. Like I said, the deer don’t get them all.

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Gravel Road · Oct 10, 2019

Looks like I'm set for pokeweed planting. There were several plants around the house so I've been throwing berries in a bucket for a few days. I put on rubber gloves and started mashing berries while running water out of the hydrant. It was pretty easy to get them cleaned up. Spreading them out on paper towels and letting a fan blow over them for a few days worked well, and got them nice and dry. I might have overdone it because there are several 1000 seeds there

Next, I'm going to throw them in an old rock tumbler with a few rocks and know the coating off the outside. The decision now is whether or not to start throwing these out now, or stratify over the winter in the refrigerator (leaning towards spring). Unfortunately, due to such a wet fall there was no way to get the tractor out and rough up some areas to plant the seeds.
Many people probably consider these to almost be invasive or at least a mess, but I think they are good for deer food and quail cover. Anyway, it'll be a learning experience

Mennoniteman · Oct 10, 2019

Gravel Road said:
Looks like I'm set for pokeweed planting. There were several plants around the house so I've been throwing berries in a bucket for a few days. I put on rubber gloves and started mashing berries while running water out of the hydrant. It was pretty easy to get them cleaned up. Spreading them out on paper towels and letting a fan blow over them for a few days worked well, and got them nice and dry. I might have overdone it because there are several 1000 seeds there Next, I'm going to throw them in an old rock tumbler with a few rocks and know the coating off the outside. The decision now is whether or not to start throwing these out now, or stratify over the winter in the refrigerator (leaning towards spring). Unfortunately, due to such a wet fall there was no way to get the tractor out and rough up some areas to plant the seeds.
Many people probably consider these to almost be invasive or at least a mess, but I think they are good for deer food and quail cover. Anyway, it'll be a learning experience

You will have pokeweeds around your place for the duration. Fortunately they aren't a really big problem, they mostly take over field edges, and any other unmowed spots that get lots of sunshine, and bears and deer eat them sometimes. But they can choke out tree seedlings if you don't deal with them, mostly by hand weeding.

The mighty pokeweed

weekender21

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j-bird

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weekender21

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Matt Casto

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Native Hunter

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Chainsaw

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