Planting Corn as a Food Plot for Whitetails
Do not plant your corn too thick.
- Planting depth: 1.5″-3” deep
Be careful, go slow, and check every 10 minutes (depending on how much you’re planting of course!) to make sure seed is in each furrow. Visually inspect with a screw driver, making sure the seed is there and at the proper depths. Can conventional till or no till, if you do it carefully (row cleaners or cleaner soil). UREA – get treated if no till. Disc in if not treated. Spray after if you work the soil.
Before Planting Your Corn Food Plot
Spray 2-3 qts Atrazine (or simazine- EITHER IS JUST FINE!) + 40 oz. S-metolachlor (or Acechlor) & you could use light 2,4-d if you wanted. 3rd herbicide that’s a must in the mix…. Callisto (GET GENERIC Mesotrione) at burn down with Atrazine & Dual II. N-P-K (if no soil test)… (BELOW – just spray Acuron or Bellum + Post emergent, etc if you want to make simple) ACTUAL NITROGEN to ground per acre: 140-200 lbs. P= 60 lbs., K= 70 lbs. Pelletized lime: 200-400 lbs. per acre. If need more sprayings, Round-up or Liberty (depending on which gene it’s meant for in corn) & possibly 2,4-d if it’s well before corn tassels. More atrazine & dual is an option as well.
How to Plant Corn in Your Food Plot
30” rows or wider is fine, 25-35k seeds per acre is ideal but you can plant a bit heavier if the deer tend to pressure it (browse it heavily). PLANT APRIL 20 to May 20. Other good pre-emergents are available and you should research what works well in addition to atrazine, Dual (and something like Callisto) & post emergent in your area. There’s Herbicide that contains: Atrazine, S-Metolachlor & Callisto on the market – this might make this simpler for you. Just add a post emergent with it and spray it down. I believe the pre-mixed “cocktail” is branded with names like: LUMAX, LEXAR, ETC (get generic). ACURON is a newer mix that has all 3 + bicyclopyrone, If you want to make corn EASY… Acuron with Post emergent (like Liberty, Round-up, & even add 2,4-D & ammonium sulfate) will roast everything and keep it clean for season. SO, if it were ME, I’d spray: 40 oz Liberty or Round-up, pint of low vol 2,4-d, Ammonium Sulfate & Acuron…. some possibility for a 2nd spray later with a post emergent. I would plan on making a second pass or be ready to make a second pass.
Corn Food Plot Herbicide Reference Material
Here is a good PDF on Branded Corn Herbicide Options from Syngenta (you could also google generics for other options)
