Big Buck Mix

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PAGUY

Member
This is a mix from Ernst seed company. Any thoughts it?

Keystone Big Buck Mix

Mix Composition
35.0% Trifolium repens, Ladino (White Clover, Ladino)
20.0% Trifolium repens, Dutch (White Clover, Dutch)
10.0% Medicago sativa, VNS (Alfalfa, VNS)
10.0% Sanguisorba minor (Small Burnet, ‘Delar’)
10.0% Trifolium pratense, Medium, Variety Not Stated (Red Clover, Medium, Variety Not Stated)
7.5% Trifolium alexandrium, 'Frosty' (Berseem Clover, ‘Frosty’)
7.5% Trifolium michelianum, 'Fixation' (Balansa Clover, ‘Fixation’)

General Product Information:
The non-native legumes and forbs attract deer year-round. Mix formulations are subject to change without notice depending on the availability of existing and new products. While the formula may change, the guiding philosophy and function of the mix will not.

Item Number: ERNMX-133-1
Product Categories:
Wildlife Habitat & Food Plots
Height: 1.3 – 3.0 Ft
Seeding Rate: 15-20 lb per acre
 
That's an good mix, but it's mostly clover with alfalfa and burnet, so it's good to give you a clover field, which is only one component out of three in a lickcreek style food plot, the other two being brassica and cereal grains. What gets my goat with these BOB mixes is their misleading information in their advertising, and this is a prime example; this seed mix will not "attract deer year-round", by late November the plot will be mostly bare and will not be back until mid April. To attract deer in those winter months you need brassica and rye.
 
I was thinking about adding rye and/or spring oats. Can I add a brassica to this mix as well? I should add...I don't have a drill. Going to plow, disc, seed and drag.
 
Yes, you can add rye, oats and brassica to this mix. Some guys might do some of these components as separate plots but they actually make a pretty nice plot all together as one. The critical part is to get the right amounts of each one. Maybe 10 lbs of the clover mix, 7 lbs of brassica, 100 lbs of rye and 50 lbs of oats per acre? Different guys tend to like different quantities, this would be about my amounts.
 
You might consider not plowing, if you need your soil loosened diakon radishes can do that for you. Plowing can do more harm than good for soils with the destruction of fungi.
 
To paraphrase Momma, from Waterboy: "Plowing is the devil!" ;)

That's an interesting, and likely pretty expensive, mix of clovers...with some alfalfa and SB added in. You can almost certainly get there just as easily buying it in a brown paper sack instead of the buck-on-a-bag solution. At the same time, it would be as good a choice as any to plant in the fall, with a nurse crop of cereal grains (winter rye, wheat, oats, triticale, etc.). For variety and drought tolerance, mix in 2-5lbs/acre of a forage radish and 1-2lbs/acre of chicory. That will give you something that really WILL feed deer for more or less the entire year.
 
I've had a similar plot last summer, I ran through six foot high sorghum with the sprayer booms dragging on the weeds, that killed some of them, then I broadcast the seed and mowed on top of the seed, and sprayed again right after seeding and mowing. I had an absolutely beautiful fall brassica plot. You may need to run over the weeds one time with a cultipacker to partially lay them down so you can properly spray, let set for a week, then broadcast seed and mow. You can seed mow, and spray roundup immediately to kill what the mowing didn't without hurting the seed because it hasn't germinated yet.
 
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PAGUY said:
$3.20 per pound. https://www.ernstseed.com/product/keystone-big-buck-mix/?anchor=1

I lost my plot last year because I mowed it way too short. It's currently 2 acres of weeds about head high.

Planned on mowing, spraying and starting over. If I don't plow how do I get seed to soil contact?
Click to expand...
I had the same scenario this year on a field that I had let go for a few years. I sprayed first, then a week and a half later I mowed it down as far as I could. Then I waited for a decent rain a week later so that the soil was mostly soft and disced the field until the thatch was ground into the soil. This would work better with a rotary tiller if you have one available. I then will cultipack, then sow, and then cultipack again. I'm using Hancock Seeds Killer clover mix which is somewhat similar to the big buck mix that you're planting.
 
PAGUY said:
$3.20 per pound. https://www.ernstseed.com/product/keystone-big-buck-mix/?anchor=1

I lost my plot last year because I mowed it way too short. It's currently 2 acres of weeds about head high.

Planned on mowing, spraying and starting over. If I don't plow how do I get seed to soil contact?
Click to expand...

That's a very good price and would be hard to beat by mixing yourself.

Mow, wait 2-3 weeks, spray, wait 2-3 weeks, disc lightly when the soil has good moisture, cultipack, broadcast, cultipack again. Plowing kills your soil and is way more than you need to do for a successful food plot.
 
Thanks for the link PAGUY. I’m planning on adding a variety of clover with a cereal grain nurse crop this fall, no reason this blend wouldn’t work.

Except my PH sucks, guess that’s a reason.

Sent from my iPhone using Deer Hunter Forum
 
If you added some chicory to use some of the nitrogen that will be made by the alfalfa and clover I think would make more sense to compliment the mix and add to the longevity. Chicory also grows well when it's too hot for clover and takes some pressure of the clover.jmo
 
 
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