Kevin Mertz
What, exactly, is a food plot weed, and how can I control unwanted plants in my food plot? This question is relevant for anyone who has ever planted, or is considering planting a food plot, regardless of their location or surrounding circumstances. There’s a lot to unpack around dealing with weeds in food plots.
To begin with, not all “weeds” are created equal. Some are noxious, invasive, and provide no real benefit to the native ecosystem whatsoever. Those are the ones we really need to focus on removing. Other weeds may have something positive to offer, and we may do more harm than good by removing them completely. The trick is to make the distinction between these two scenarios as early as possible, so that your food plot management efforts end up being rewarding.
Oxeye Daisy - Not all weeds are created equal. Some may provide benefits to wildlife or pollinators and will not completely overtake a food plot. These plants require appropriate management action based on stated objectives of the food plot in question.
There are a myriad of tools available to provide assistance with plant and weed identification. Field guides, books, and apps can all help us do a better job at determining what plant species we’re looking at and how to deal with them. Individual state and county resources, and university extension services, may provide additional layers of assistance on a local level. Problem plant species are too numerous to mention, and very site-specific. Even if you don’t have the ability to narrow a weed down to the species level in the identification process, that doesn’t mean you should give up on weed control. Focusing your efforts in the right direction can mean the difference between food plot success and failure.
One tip to help identify many different plants within your food plot is to construct an exclusion cage to visibly distinguish between those plants being consumed by wildlife outside the cage, and those that aren’t available for consumption inside the cage. Due to the lack of browse pressure within an exclusion cage, those plants have the opportunity to grow to full maturity. The flowering process can really help aid in plant identification, and it provides a fantastic opportunity to evaluate weed control options. During the flowering period it is easy to compare the amount of a flowering plant species inside versus outside the cage. If there is a preponderance of a given plant inside the cage, but not outside, that plant is being consumed by wildlife. By definition of a food plot, that plant doesn’t require removal. If, on the other hand, the flowing plant in question is prevalent outside the exclusion cage it may need to be controlled, and sometimes that needs to happen quickly.
Exclusion Cage - An exclusion cage will assist in your weed control regimen by identifying both planted crops and “weeds”. In this instance there is a clear delineation between what I believe to be daisy fleabane inside versus outside the cage. This weed is providing a lot of forage to deer and other wildlife. Why would I want to get rid of it?
Many times soil preparation is used as one of the first steps when planting a food plot. The initial soil disturbance kicks off a race within the existing seedbank, along with the food plot crop seeds that you’ve introduced. A lot of what takes place next is dependent upon what plants are already present in the seedbank. Generally speaking, annual plants respond most quickly, and there’s a gradual transition to perennial species occupying a site a year or more after the initial tillage takes place. Conventional tillage is traditionally a common form of weed control because that soil disturbance immediately eliminates the possibility of perennial weeds taking over a food plot. On the flip side, annual tillage is not a good practice when your food plot crops are perennial species such as Biologic Non-Typical Clover or Clover Plus.
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Any management plan should consider goals and objectives that you’re trying to achieve with the food plot. Questions should address issues such as, what wildlife species are being targeted? Is the plot meant to provide wildlife nutrition, hunting opportunities, or both? Which crop species are planted? Are they annuals, biennials, or perennials? What are they - grasses, forbs, legumes, a blend? Are weeds present in the soil bank as beneficial natives or noxious invasives? What is the plan for soil nutrients - chemical amendments or a regenerative approach? What tools are available to deliver soil applications? These considerations and more will steer a land manager in the right direction when making a plan to deal with food plot weeds. It’s always a good idea to formulate a plan in advance, as long as you’re willing to be flexible enough to make tweaks to deal with the curveballs Mother Nature inevitably throws at you.
Warm-Season Grasses - Weed control in food plots requires a lot of self-reflection. There are many questions to ponder as we evaluate what’s happening in the plot, in developing a plan to address problem plants, and tweaking our plan based on what Mother Nature throws at us.
I’m going to outline the approach that I have used, to serve as an example of a weed control plan. To be clear this is not something I would advocate as an end-all/be-all solution for everyone. It is clear that each of us have very specific goals and objectives, and site-specific conditions to address. Your situation is likely to be very different than what is being shared. Having said that, I hope this example can help gamekeepers prepare in dealing with their own unique scenario.
Twenty-eight years ago I started my own food plotting journey, and my initial efforts were a failure. It was that failure that challenged me to get it right the next time. I came to the conclusion that my hunting plots needed to be in specific locations where habitat, terrain features, and access converged in specific locations across the land. I realized early on that I should realistically budget finances and time associated with food plot maintenance, and limit acres planted to what I could feasibly manage with the equipment I had available on an ongoing basis. The first few years I had an abundance of annual food plot crop response, and annual weeds as well. With annual plantings I could apply glyphosate as a foliar herbicide to kill almost anything growing in the plots. Some plants didn’t seem affected by glyphosate, and they required additional maintenance to control. In my case those included plants such as thistle and sedge. There were other broadleaf plants that were being heavily consumed by deer, for example marestail and ragweed. Still others persisted because I have not adequately suppressed them with a regular cadence of spot-spraying. Perilla mint/beefsteak is a great example of this where I’m at. It expands its foothold rapidly and requires ongoing maintenance to keep it from taking over and monopolizing the entire food plot. Other examples nationwide may include plants like Japanese stiltgrass, ryegrass, Reed canary grass, and many more.
Perennial white clover has become the base layer of my food plots. Since clover is a legume, it helps make nitrogen available within the soil profile, and prompts other plants to grow alongside it. I’ve learned to incorporate blends of different food plot crops so that I no longer need to add chemical fertilizers or soil treatment, using principles of regenerative soil health. Now I have a simple, regular routine for weed suppression that has served me well for the past several years.
The biggest ongoing problem I have is the proliferation of wild grasses. This includes both annuals and perennials, and cool- and warm-season varieties. Quite honestly I can’t identify many of them, but that doesn’t keep me from addressing the problem they create. Crabgrass, tall fescue, and broomsedge are a few that I can ID. Their presence results in the application of a grass-selective herbicide like Clethodim 2e at least once, if not twice a year. Once the grass gets tall it’s too late for that chemical to be effective. I try to target spraying when grass is just a few inches high. Always follow the label as far as the application is concerned, however I’ve had best results on the high side of their rate recommendations (around 16 oz per acre). Cool-season grasses are prime to be sprayed around late March to mid-April in my neck of the woods, while warm-season grasses require an application typically in June or July. The better you can time your application to the early growth stage, the better the results that can be expected. Another quick tip is to use surfactant, and avoid spraying shortly before it rains or when the temperature is low, for best results.
Clover Base Layer - Clover is a legume. Grasses and other nitrogen-loving plants thrive in a base layer of perennial clover. It’s not easy to keep unwanted grasses in check while promoting others such as milo or cereal grains, but it is possible.
There are certain forbs and broadleaf plants that I want to survive, including chicory, which is incorporated into my food plot blend. Chicory is the plus part of Clover Plus. For this reason I tend to avoid broadleaf-selective herbicides such as 2,4-DB, and instead concentrate on mowing just prior to, or during, the problem plant’s flowering stage. Mowing height is also important using this technique. The plot should be mowed high enough to avoid clipping too much of the top of a white clover/perennial base layer, while at the same time low enough to remove seed-producing flowers of unwanted species. This mowing method helps keep the unwanted species from spreading a bunch of seed and taking over a plot. This approach to mowing has helped me contain the spread of oxeye daisy, old-field aster, Canada thistle, and lots more.
We certainly don’t want to go overboard with mowing or herbicide application either. Studies have shown mowing too much actually results in a reduction of wildlife use. Many plants provide shade, collect dew, and make nutrients available within the soil, all of which can positively influence the health of your target food plot crops. So we shouldn’t be too quick to remove everything from our food plots if we didn’t plant those crops ourselves. It’s okay to leave some structure in the field, even if it doesn’t satisfy your desire for aesthetically-pleasing plots. Food plotting is supposed to be a fun and rewarding experience. I sincerely hope you achieve that level of success while addressing “weeds” the best way you see fit. Good luck and God Bless!
