Late-Season Forage for Deer

5/26/2010

Okay, so you’ve learned you need roughly 1 acre of food plot for every six deer on your property, and you now know those food plots should be divided into roughly 30 percent perennials, like clover, and 70 percent annuals, like fall/winter forage. Now what? After all, the range of products in the food plot market is enough to make anyone’s head spin.

This month, the Whitetail Institute of North America is releasing a brand-new food-plot annual. Tall Tine Tubers, an extremely cold-tolerant turnip variety that grows into late fall and winter, provides whitetail forage well after the first frost. It’s the first and only turnip specifically developed for deer food plots. More importantly, it will be readily attainable at times when other food sources are not available.

The Whitetail Institute tests every product it releases. To produce Tall Tine Tubers, parent turnip varieties were carefully selected for preference, quick development and cold-hardiness—key ingredients to ensure deer usage. The final formula was chosen after extensive testing at Whitetail Institute research stations nationwide, then the turnip varety was tested on controlled and free-ranging whitetails.

“Tall Tine Tubers is available only from the Whitetail Institute,” said company vice president Steve Scott. “It’s been in the research stage for six years, and the end result is the most preferred turnip product we could develop.”

Tall Tine Tubers is easy to plant and fast-growing, providing forage from germination into winter in most parts of the country. And it’s extremely cold-tolerant, too, offering deer a late-season source of nutrition when other foods have been killed off by winter. It’s available now from the Whitetail Institute.  (800-688-3030; www.whitetailinstitute.com)