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Imperial PowerplantWe have planted PowerPlant in two food plots in the spring of 2006. PowerPlant is a blend of sorghum, sunflower, beans and peas that can only be planted in the spring. In both plots we applied over one ton of lime per acre and fertilized with 19-19-19. We also sprayed all vegetation with Round-Up to try to kill everything off before we planted and then disked the ground real well. The directions say to drag or lightly disk the seed in no more than one inch deep. In the first plot the dirt worked up so well that I was afraid to disk the seed in for fear that it would be too deep so we just dragged it with the old bed springs pulled by our ATV. One week later it looked like most of the seed was still on top of the ground so we went over the plot with a small set of disks using the ATV to try to get a little dirt on top of it. When we planted the PowerPlant in the next plot I went ahead and disked it over with our large disks while watching to make sure the seed didn't get burried too deep. The dirt in the first plot had worked up over six inches deep whereas the dirt in the second was probably about four inches deep. As of early July the first plot that we had difficulty planting has been overtaken with a pretty purple flowered weed. The good thing is that the deer love this weed and we get a lot of pictures of them eating it. I think the trouble I had planting the plot and disking the seed twice jeopardized the potential of this plot although the sorghum has grown strong along with the weeds. The other plot in the hayfield started growing great but the deer have been in the plot eating a lot. I've jumped a deer out of the hayfield next to this plot on two occasions while setting up our digital game cameras. Through late August the sorghum is growing strong and there are still remnanst of the beans, peas and sunflowers here and there. We've continued to get pictures of deer in this plot throughout the summer. Over a two week period on late-August early-September the deer came in and cleaned up all of the seed heads on the sorghum. As we progressed into fall this plot became less and less of an attraction for deer and once deer season rolled around in mid-October there was nothing left for them here. Our final thoughts are that the Imperial Powerplant did provide a considerable amount of good forage for the deer through the summer and we'd plant it again for a summer forage.
You can read more about our food plot expoits at the Food Plot Journal Updates and you can sign up to recieve The Food Plot Journal below.
This is one of our Imperial Powerplant food plots in early July. You can see that the deer have not let it grow very tall.
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