I always leave a patch of weeds (mostly some Amaranth species, but some mixed grasses there too) standing until spring. Besides the usual shrubs and trees, these seem to shelter some of the small birds in the dead of winter. One thing I've noticed since I bought this piece, there are definitely more species using it than when it was crop ground and pasture. There is still crop ground, but the pasture area is now host to more than a hundred species of woody plants that provide food, cover, etc. to birds, mammals, snakes and who knows what else. The trees that were here are now healthier also. Whereas the Locusts used to get the beetle and lose their leaves by Aug., the frost now decamps them. My Black Walnuts used to get gobs of those horrible bagworms--the picnic table used to have to be moved because of the falling frass. This year, not a bagworm nest. None on the Persimmon either. I think (but can't prove) that this is a result of the Chick-a-dees and Nuthatches poking around on the bark all the time, and the Wrens and Warblers pecking at the webs for stragglers. The Locusts within sight are still afflicted with the beetle, and the Walnuts that line the roads around here are still full of bagworms. I think it is a matter of letting nature heal by allowing for diversity that has improved my situation. No sprays, no weedeaters, no outdoor human-dependent predators.

I have been doing some reading on wildlife food plots. I only wish I had the room to be able to do that on my property. But I did experiment by trying some alfalfa in containers, red clovers in a another row of containers and also hairey vetch. These I planted for the bees and was very dissapointed in that the alfalfa bloomed poorly and the bees ignored the vetch and alfalfa when it did bloom. Not much interest in the red clovers either although the bees liked the white clover in the lawn.

I did plant an area in my veggie garden of approx 3 feet by 12 feet in Buckwheat. I did that to attract bees also and to be able to till it in as a green manure to improve soil. But I did not get to tilling it in and the buckwheat was setting seed and blossuming as it does (both at the same time). I noticed lots of backyard birds started hanging out in the buckwheat patch but I never did learn exactly what they were doing in there. Catching insects? Eating seeds?

Next year I intend to replant the buckwhet patch plus start two more areas in different parts of the garden.

Have sunflowers planted in the veggie garden and want to put a patch of sunflowers and buckwheat in another area of the yard. I am not sure if I would do better mixing some harey vetch in with the buckwheat.

Really I am too suburban to get anything exotic like wild turkeys. (Are there wild turkeys on Long Island? I don't think so.) No deer, rabbits, coyotes or grouse here either. Lots of Morning Doves though and we do have red fox.

I am not sure what I expect to attract with my experiments but its interesting to try and see what might show up!

I never thought about doing this. Any of these shade tolerant? For the spot I'm thinking of it would help if they were attractive looking--or at least not downright ugly.

Loris,

I'd have to do some research to get a complete list, but I'm sure annual rye would thrive. I burn areas of the forest floor to remove the extra leaf matter, this also adjusts the pH alittle more towards neutral. It grows much better if I burn. Then all I do is throw the seed out. When you get rain the stuff just grows. During the coldest parts of winter it may go dormat(but remains nice and green) and during any warm periods it spurts growth. Deer go nuts over it when it is younger and more palitable. By late spring/early summer the plant dies, but reseeds itself for next fall if you let it. Any way I grow it just fine in wooded areas in the foothills of VA and it's cheap our co-ops sell 56lb bags for $6-7( which will cover several acres for my intended use). I'll see if I can't find more winter plantings that will work for you. Oh, watch out with good sun, water, and nutrients this stuff can get 6' tall before death. In shade it's doubtful, probaly more like 18" maybe less if it is heavily grazed.

Water-daddy you are twice blessed. One for having the space to grow the special things that wildlife needs.
The second blessing is to live in such a beautiful state.
I was just there last week in the south western part and the mountains were breathtaking. It is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Jan

Jan, I cetainly do feel blessed, a real pretty state. My house is also surrounded by trenches and rock walls from some of the civil war battles and Native American camps. I'm about 100 miles SW of DC and unforunately the urban sprawl is having it's effects. I'm lucky for what I have and hope that enough land owners will appreciate what we have and not sell out for cheap subdivisions which are coming this way. Guess I'll just have to be optimistic and look out for what I have.

water daddy, I'm thinking of planting in a fairly small spot so I'm ok with the info you've given. Thank you.

We plant several winter wildlife foodplots around the farm every year. A mix of wheat, oats & rye, annual ryegrass, hairy vetch, Austrian winter peas, and Ladino clover. We often stillhunt over these foodplots and harvest a few deer off them, but the other deer, turkeys, rabbits, etc. are the 'winners' in the long run.
Even when deer season is out, it's neat to be able to watch the visitors to the two plots visible from the back porch across the creekbottom pasture.

The food plots are a great idea. I think they are popular with hunting groups that have conservation in mind. So much quail habitat seems to be dissapearing although the deer certainly don't seem to be having population growth problems.

About all I can expect to attract are backyard type birds, too suburban and not enough room for anything exotic. Maybe some mice will move in for the owls and foxes around here to catch.

Last year I had a small buckwheat patch next to the sunflowers and noticed that it was popular with the local backyard birds as chicadees, cardinals, morning doves, the humminbirds, cardinals and the mockingbird often dived in there. I originally planted it to feed the honeybees as there were lots of them around last year. I didn't know that the buckwheat would be attractive to birds but they must eat the seedheads.

I like the fact that buckwheat produces lots of seeds and keeps blooming at the same time as it produces the seed. It reseeds quite easily if you don't pull it or till it before it starts setting seed. None of this I knew last year before planting but learned by watching and looking more into food plots.

I remember buckwheat pancakes used to be very popular when I was a kid so I know one can make flour from the seed.

I also had some hairy vetch and bell beans but the bees and beneficial insects that were supposed to be interested ignored it. Love the pretty purple flowers on the vetch and the black and white pea type blossoms on the bell beans. Will be planting all of the above (buckwheat, hairy vetch, bell beans and sunflowers) again next year.

Lucky, how does the Siberian winter peas do? We have planted all of the stuff you have in the past. This year only had buckwheat, we kinda slipped up. The buckwheat was popular with the bees, and the deer then ate every leaf. Do the winter peas you mentioned try to grow later on into the cold? Or do they just grow like other beans and soybeans, and croak at the first frost? thanks, Lotta

Lotta,
This is my first year planting the AWPs - they were pretty inexpensive, and I thought I'd give 'em a try. Too soon to tell yet how they're going to perform, or how the deer/turkeys, etc., will like them.
They're a cool season plant - really nothing more than an 'unimproved' English/sugar snap-type pea(Pisum sativum). Planted some this fall, but I have some seed left over, and I may go back and sow some more into those food plots in late winter.

Food plots around here mean growing things for the backyard birds to eat. Maybe bees and small mammals like field mice enjoy them too but we don't have any game birds, deer and such.

I ordered both brown top and proso millet to grow along with buckwheat, sunflower, hairy vetch, bell beans, grain sorghum and grain amaranth.

I would love to hear what animals and birds people are enjoying seeing on the wildlife food plots they planted come Spring. Especially what is working well for attracting birds. Last year I discovered that Morning Doves love Buckwheat, totally by accident as I originally planted the Buckwheat to attract honey bees.

This idea of winter food plots really interests me. I've got the land(132 acres) and resources but not the know how. Bought me an old M-F 65 tractor,plow,etc. to try and plant. Already ordered 1000 seedlings of Thunbergii Lespedeza; can anybody comment on how to get this established? What else is good for birds and small game?
Thanks

That's an intersting idea water daddy. What I did this past year was I left all my flowering plants as is, without cutting them down when they died or deadheading. I wanted to leave the seeds for the birds. I'll clean up before I replant, this spring.

Well, I planted an area of Buckwheat and next to that some white proso millet. I hope its not too early. My hairey vetch is long ago planted and I am try purple vetch this year also. Have lots more to get going including amaranth, sunflower, grain sorghum and brown top millet.

The Hairey and purple vetch is growing well. The first seeding of Buckwheat is almost ready to bloom. Bell Beans are growing like crazy. The Sunflowers that seeded themselves are doing well but the ones I started from seed myself are barely growing with this wet spring. I bought both browntop millet and dove proso millet, both of which I have seeded at least three times, rain comes and washes it away, I seed it again. Anyway, I have yet to see it grow.

Sounds like Rita is off to a good start. This spring I've been more interested in developing some riparian buffers. Our creeks now have persimmons, thornless blackberries, several species of bush cherries, a few weeping willows, and blueberries along with some self propagated plants. Everythings paying off, I've been spotting bears several times a year. 10 yrs ago a bear sighting would have been talk of the town, now we just accept them as shy neighbors.

My first patch of Buckwheat is doing great, flowering and setting seed. Other Buckwheat patches are starting to flower. My proso millet is setting seeds and so is some of the browntop millet. The hairey vetch is almost done flowering. I haven't decided yet if I am going to replant it or not. But the purple vetch definately finished flowering and I pulled it out and replanted.

Rita, the vetch should grow back quite rapidly as long as you don't mow it during while it's flowering. Hairy vetch is usually pretty cold tolerent, but you do have colder winters than I. Speaking of New York, what can you tell me about the Adirondacks area? I was looking at a cabin up there. Is land generally cheap? Will the winters require more than a 4X4, particularly on unpaved roads?

The Hairy vetch died during the winter so I had to replant it this spring. I never mow it. You would think it would at least reseed itself but that does not seem to be the case. By late summer it starts to get very dried out and ratty looking and dies off. The purple vetch is new to me this year. I like it because it grows quickly and flowers before the hairy vetch flowers. The flower clusters are smaller than the flower clusters on the Hairy vetch and are a reddish purple color, nothing like the color of the flowers on the Hairy vetch. People that come visit my garden must think I am nuts as I grow the vetches just because I like the foliage and flowers. The first year I planted Hairy vetch, I planted it to attract beneficial insects and bees. But I have never seen any type of insect on it so now I just grow it because I like it.

I tried common vetch last year and did not like it. It only has very small single white flowers, not flower clusters, and not many flowers at that. The whole plant seems to be bigger than the Hairy or purple vetch. Same leaves and growth but the leaves and plant are bigger. Too bad the flowers aren't bigger.

My buckwheat does reseed itself but I get denser coverage when I replant it. Don't laugh, but my main buckwheat patch is only about 4 by 12 feet so I have no problem replanting it.

I live on Long Island so the Adirondacks are far away from here. Much colder climate than my zone 7/6 garden. Land there is very inexpensive compared to here, but I have no idea how it compares to other rural areas around the country. You had better like cold Winters if you move up there.

Well, the annual Millets, both Browntop and Dove Proso, have nice seedheads and are starting to ripen. I am looking forward to seeing if any birds like it. At least the many Morning Doves that hang around here for the birdseed handouts should find it attractive.

My grain Amaranth is forming Seedheads. I can't wait to see them in full bloom. Grain Sorghum is growing nicely also.

Both my replanted Hairey Vetch and Purple Vetch are growing well. I will get my second bloom of the year on them.

I have been seeing the Song Sparrows back after being absent the hotter part of the Summer. They were around late Spring but then seemed to dissappear. Anyway, they like to hang out in the annual millets, which are ripening seeds.

The Cardinals absolutely love the Buckwheat seeds and flocks of them (mom, pop, and the fledglings) dive into the buckwheat patch many times each day. I can see them picking the seeds off the buckwheat plants.

As of now the Goldfinches are in the ripe seedheads of the Golden Giant grain Amaranth. Plus they still are eating on the later of the crop of annual sunflowers. Songsparrows are still interested in the grains of the annual millets but the buckwheat seeds are done long time ago. It self seeds, so young buckwheat plants always come up, but its too late for buckwheat to make anything of itself now.

Everthing sounds like it's going well for Rita. Do you have any pics? I see if I can't muster up some too.

Up until four days ago, when the deep Freeze hit here in the Northeast, the hairey vetch was nicely growing. Thick and green. Its still green right now, even if frozen.

Rita: I live 50 miles north of Boston and wild turkeys are actually becoming a problem here. You may see some yet!

Planted Hairey Vetch and Alfalfa today.

The first planting of Buckwheat is growing extra well as it has been quite warm lately. Vetches, Alfalfa and Bell Beans all doing well. Some of the Clovers are growing well, others need reseeding. I grow a bunch of different types but can get very few of them thru the winter. Haven't even planted any of the Millet type grasses yet as I have been so busy this Spring.

Rita,
I admire you for keeping at it. I was wondering do you have the space to add other attractive features? I built a water pool that feeds off a creek, added a small sand bar for the turkeys, built a few brush piles, planted a small mixed evergreen stand, and burnoff a small adjacent plot of natives herbs annually. It's great! if I could keep the roaming dogs at bay it would be perfect.

Water Daddy, I too am planting for wildlife. I only have 6 1/2 acres but I am surrounded by expressway and subdivisions so it helps a little. I have been looking for a couple of persimmon trees to add to the walnut, wild cherry, mulberry trees. Do you know who sells them? I am in the Louisville, Ky area.
Thanks,
Martha

Martha, Glad you take an interest. You may want to check in with friends, I'm sure their indigenous to your area. Walnuts are notorious for popping up in yards/flower buds but often are considered weeds and removed. I use to transplant trees from planned developments w/ permission of course and have relocated many of the forementioned species. I recommend planting some chestnut trees for personal and wildlife benefit. You can get 6 trees for less than $12 at www.eburgess.com. Let us know how it goes.

My water features are those plastic type ponds as there is no room for anything bigger here. Still, it really works for drawing in the animals as all sorts of birds and animals use the pond. I see racoons out there splashing most summer nights and birds drink from it all day long.

My Bell Beans are flowering and my Purple Vetch just started flowering. The Hairey Vetch is not flowering yet. My Alfalfa rarely flowers and my annual millets are just coming up as I did not get them seeded earlier. My Buckwheat is doing great, blooming away and a new planting in another area is coming up now.

Cardinals have been eating the Buckwheat seeds and I have more plantings of Buckwheat plus my second plantings of annual Browntop millet. The first is setting seedheads now. Had to replant the vetches as they died out during the hot weather. That happens to me every year.

I did plant crimson clover this year for the first time and it has been blooming away for weeks now. The most beautiful of the clovers in my opinion. I liked it so much I planted more of it yesterday and two weeks ago. It is so RED while all the other clovers I have are variations of pink/purple or white.

I have read about the many food plots that many of you are providing for wildlife and I think that is just great. I am in need of purchasing millet seed to feed with my sunflower seed to the birds in my backyard. Is there a difference between white millet seed and white proso millet seed. I would appreciate if someone will help me with this. Thanks in advance.

Here it is early January and my Purple Vetch has been growing exceptionally well and is STILL nice and green. Even the Hairy Vetch is starting to grow again. None of my clovers have frozen as yet, in fact most of the regular lawn grass is still green. The millet grasses, of course, browned out and died out ages ago.

Food plots here mean planting for game animals, not birds.

While the DOW here does plant food crops for wildlife (mostly Turkeys) we don't. Our wildlife manager does not believe in artifical feeding or being convenient for the hunters who love the idea (has nothing againt hunters-it's just not our business so to speak).

It seems that the food plots attract more of the non-native Rio Grande turkeys than our natives. For us these crops mentioned (and the ones that the DOW plants in the state) are not native to our area anyway. Just a thought....

We can't do a real food plot here in the burbs. But I plant what I can around so that it attracts birds and insects. My vetch was very slow to get going this spring but is finially growing nicely.