I purchased a 36 acre parcel in Northeast Ohio last summer and built a new home for my family. This last fall I put in three acres of food plots for wildlife. My plan is to do some micro farming this spring with an acre of the property. I'd like to plant some crops and not sure what I should plant. I'm going to have a small fenced in garden for the normal stuff like beans and tomatoes. This one acre area I want to plant some farm like usable crops like corn and potatoes? Any recommendations on what to plant? Want to stick with two or three different crops. Also, I'd like to try and plant something the deer and wildlife won't destroy. I know it's a funny question to ask in a food plot forum, but figure it's worth a shot.
What crops to plant that the deer won't mow down?
- Thread starter giannid
- Start date
I have not had deer bother regular potatoes. Sweet potatoes, they will eat to the ground. Deer also wont bother my sweet corn - but the coons will get all of it. Deer dont eat my peppers, tomatillos, yellow squash, or zucchini, tomatoes, asparagus, or cucumbers. But, I have also found deer to be very inconsistent in what they eat and where they eat it. Deer wont eat turnips at my place, but I know they wipe them out in other places. Deer will may also shy away from something they are unfamiliar with and after a few years, eat it to the ground. Had that happen with sunflower fields at my place for doves. I grew great sunflower fields for three years. After that, the deer will wipe out ten acres in a week.
j-bird
Well-Known Member
It's simple.... Plant it for the deer to eat...and they will ignore it. They will eat a weed right next to your plot, just to aggravate you. Plant something you want them to stay away from and they will destroy it. Sometimes they will even destroy the cage you put up to protect it and then destroy the plant(s). Murphy's law of food plots/tree planting!
THE LLC
Well-Known Member
Deer in Indiana and deer in Georgia are EXACTLY the same I see.
j-bird
Well-Known Member
I think deer just like being A-holes! Sometimes they act super smart and then they act dumb as a post.... I hate when you bust hump on a plot and it comes in great and then the deer decide to browse all the plants and weeds around the edge of the plot and seemingly ignore the plot itself....yep, make you feel real good about yourself! Sometimes I think I shoot them more out of frustration/aggravation!!
