PH effect on Palatability of clover/chicory plot
- Thread starter Petreaux1
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yoderjac
Well-Known Member
IMO, palatability is very overrated. When it comes to deer use of a plot, it is one of the least important factors. First, during most of the year, the algorithm in a deer's brain is balancing food with security. Deer will often choose a lower quality food that is available in a lower risk environment. So, the location and activity around a plot play a much more important role. As the seasons change this balance changes. For example, as fall is turning to winter, in a mast crop failure year, deer need to get enough nutrition to build reserves to make it through winter healthy while at the same time dealing with the rigors of the rut. In a case like this, deer will tolerate much more hunting pressure over a plot and still use it. In another year when acorns are plentiful, deer tolerate very little pressure before abandoning a plot. Deer also have changing nutritional needs over the seasons that affect food choices.
Having said that, there may be some changes in palatability as soil fertility changes, but they are generally not a big factor in deer use. Given your description of a small plot in the deep south, I presume you are focused on attraction over QDM. Depending on deer density, a small plot can be decimated quickly depending on the deer herd. Getting the pH right will make the existing soil fertility more available to the crop and you will healthier crops that can withstand more deer pressure.
Having said that, there may be some changes in palatability as soil fertility changes, but they are generally not a big factor in deer use. Given your description of a small plot in the deep south, I presume you are focused on attraction over QDM. Depending on deer density, a small plot can be decimated quickly depending on the deer herd. Getting the pH right will make the existing soil fertility more available to the crop and you will healthier crops that can withstand more deer pressure.
Phosphorus seems to influence palatability the most.
www.deer.psu.edu
Pass the Phosphorus
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www.deer.psu.edu
yoderjac
Well-Known Member
Good link. Once deer have decided to use a field at a given point in time, which eliminates other influences, fertilization can influence plant selection by deer.Phosphorus seems to influence palatability the most.
Pass the Phosphorus
This blog doesn’t just write itself. So Duane and I are always looking for fun and interesting stuff to share. It’s not always easy especially after almost 10 years of posts! I asked Duane if he had any cool trail camera videos to give me some inspiration. Instead, I got a paper published in...
But... I think sometimes we draw the wrong conclusions from some of these studies. It is easy to walk away from it with the incorrect understanding that if I do X, deer will use my food plot more. Generally, other influences swamp any impact palatability has.
You don't need to fertilize to consider phosphorus levels. Different soil types have more or less fertility. My dad created a tiny clover plot along a creek bottom a number of years ago. The clover looked great, but the deer never touched it. They were using other clover a few hundred yards away. We didn't fertilize either. The creek bottom plot they wouldn't touch had very sandy soil. When we soil tested a year or two later, the creek area had very low phosphorus levels, which likely explained why the deer ignored it despite it looking great.
yoderjac
Well-Known Member
Yes, I think the key was "a few hundred yards away". Food sources are always changing for deer. It is a very complex equation. I had an interesting situation one year. I had 2 small clover fields (1/4 acre or less) that were several hundred yards away. The surrounding habitat was seemingly identical. I had wireless cameras on each field.
Day after day, like clockwork, deer would enter one of these field and feed. Deer almost completely ignored the other field. Both were planted and managed identically. About 4 weeks later, the deer reversed. They completely ignored the field they had been feeding in and used the other like clockwork. This was during archery season and no one was hunting this area of our property at the time. I still can't figure that one out. In subsequent years, I have not seen that phenomenon. That doe group now using one field or the other randomly.
Elkaddict
Well-Known Member
I think there’s more going on. I think deer are drawn to the specific plants providing the nutrients they are most in need of at a given time….and that changes. I used to plant multiple varieties of clover in strips to observe preference. They were fertilized the same some years, and not other years. I’ve observed deer dig down through a foot of snow to feed on very short white clover completely ignoring red clover a few feet away that was taller and significantly more voluminous. At other times of the year, there was a distinct preference for the red clover even though the white was voluminous and in great abundance mere feet away. At other times of the year, I’ve watched them ignore all clover and focus on chicory. I’ve spent lots of time with rancher friends who have observed the same when cattle are in the high country. The cattle are drawn to what they need…which changes regularly.
Soil sample calls for 30# N , 45# K, and 2 tons lime . I was curious if I skipped lime and doubled fertilizer would the plot produce the same? And would deer eat it? Spreading 2000 lbs. of lime is getting to be a chore. Last lime application was 3 years ago and got ph up to 6.3.
Not sure why high P, Mg, Zn.....I use 33-0-0-12 and 0-0-60 to the sample recommendations.
Not sure why high P, Mg, Zn.....I use 33-0-0-12 and 0-0-60 to the sample recommendations.
yoderjac
Well-Known Member
That doesn't work. Poor pH limits the plants ability to uptake nutrients, including those you add. Since I stopped tillage, I have not used fertilizer for about 8 years with no change in deer use. I do keep the pH right. Keep in mind that fertilizer recommendations are for farmers, not deer managers. While there is some commonality between farming and food plotting, there are some big differences. Farmers are generally restricted to monocultures because of harvest equipment. Farmers have to maximize yield to make a profit. Any plant, other than the crop he planted, reduces yield and is a weed to a farmer. Because the harvest, farmers are removing significant amounts of nutrients from the field each year.
Food plotters generally don't need yield. We can plant a smart mix of crops that complement each other, including legumes that fix N into the soil. We don't harvest. Wildlife eat some of our crop, but contribute nutrients back with their droppings. Many "weeds", to a farmer, are as good, or better deer food, than the crops we plant.
Get the lime right, and don't reduce your organic matter by deep and frequent tillage. Don't sweat the details with fertilizer.
Food plotters generally don't need yield. We can plant a smart mix of crops that complement each other, including legumes that fix N into the soil. We don't harvest. Wildlife eat some of our crop, but contribute nutrients back with their droppings. Many "weeds", to a farmer, are as good, or better deer food, than the crops we plant.
Get the lime right, and don't reduce your organic matter by deep and frequent tillage. Don't sweat the details with fertilizer.
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MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
As long as you’re close, shouldn’t affect much. If you wanna give it a little flavor boost, throw about 200 lbs/ac gypsum on there once a year.
Sulfate is the flavor and protein formation nutrient.
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