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Creating a Wild Backyard - Crops for Wildlife

Farming crops for wildlife? That's what "wildlife food plots" are all about. The main purpose behind growing crops for wildlife is to provide food in the form of seeds and nesting cover in the form of grasses and legumes. Grain crops like corn, millet, or sunflowers are planted in plots to help provide food for wildlife from late summer to early winter. Grasses and clovers add shelter and also have food value which can last through much of the winter. Whether you have a large farm or a small backyard, you can use these plants to help wildlife find food and shelter.

Food Plots in Your Backyard
In a backyard of less than one acre, most people prefer to have attractive landscaping, rather than farm crops! However, it is possible to include some of the plants recommended for food plots that are attractive as well as provide food for wildlife. Sunflowers are the most popular type of food for gold finches, house finches, cardinals, bluejays, titmice, chickadees, and many other birds. The best type of sunflower to plant is the black-oil or "Peredovik" sunflower, which grow to be about 3 feet tall. Other attractive flowers that produce seeds include black-eyed susans, daisies, marigolds, and four-o'clocks.

Millet, buckwheat, and clover can all be incorporated in your landscape. These plants have a very attractive appearance in the late summer. Millet and buckwheat, as well as other small grains can be added to a raised flower bed to provide an approximately three-foot background to your sunflowers, marigolds, daisies, and four-o'clocks.

In larger backyards where corn can be grown, wildlife will appreciate any unharvested ears. Clover can be grown following the final corn harvest and removal of stalks, providing nitrogen for the soil, and food and shelter for all kinds of animals.

Food Plots on the Farm
With lots of acreage on a farm for planting, food plots can attract ducks and geese, mourning doves, quail, deer, turkeys, rabbits, and many songbirds. Food plots with a mixture of plants will attract a greater variety of animals than will those with just one type of crop. The following are suggested mixtures for two different soil conditions in a 2000 square foot lot (weights indicate seed bulk):

Dry/Upland Soils (Perennial mix providing food and shelter)
1.5 lbs of little blue-stem grass
1.5 lbs of side oats grama
4 oz. of maximillian sunflower
4 oz. of black-eyed susan
1 lbs of ladino clover

Wet/Lowland Soils (perennial mix providing food and shelter)
1.5 lbs of big blue-stem grass
1.5 lbs of switch grass
4 oz. of maximillian sunflower
4 oz. of black-eyed susan
1 lbs. of ladino clover

A suggested mixture of annual food crops for upland areas is:
3-4 lbs. of soybeans
3-4 lbs. of milo
2.5 lbs. of Japanese millet
2 lbs of Gold millet
0.5 lb of Buckwheat

Note: Perennials may not bloom or produce seeds in their first growing season.

The Shape and Placement of Farm Plots
Farm food plots should be rectangular in shape and about 100 to 2000 square feet inn size. A long, narrow food plot is easier for wildlife to use than a square block. If you are able to plant more than one plot, vary their size and shape to feed the most wildlife. Several small plots are more valuable than one large plot. Food plots should be placed next to or in between woodlands or hedgerows or even next to a pond. As wild animals venture in the open to feed, they need thick vegetation or water for waterfowl to return to should danger appear. Ideally, a 10 to 15 foot path between the woodland, hedgerow, or pond and the food plot should be mowed to lawn height. This provides space for maintaining the plot and allows wildlife to better reach the food inside. Mowing should only occur before April 1 or after August 15, to protect nests of birds near the ground.

How to Plant a Food Plot

1. Have a soil test done on the site to determine the soil type and structure, soil pH, and any plant nutrients that may be missing. Contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service office in your county for more information. Nutrients and other requirements provided by the soil differ for each plant species. The U.S.D.A. Cooperative Extension Service can assist you in choosing the right crops/nutrient/soil combination for your area and your needs.

2. Prepare the soil by plowing or discing the area to be planted

3. Seeds can be planted by spreading and raking tem in or by drilling them into the seedbed.

Recommended Planting Dates for Food Plots

List of Suggested Plants for a Food Plot

A mixture of plants is better for wildlife than a plot of one plant species.

For Additional Information, Contact:
 
 Wild Acres Program
 Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service
 Attn:  Marilyn Mause
 Gwynnbrook WMA
 3740 Gwynnbrook Ave
 Owings Mills MD 21117
 410-356-0941
 E-Mail: customerservice@dnr.state.md.us