RRWP Whitetail Harvest Salad
Real Worlds “Whitetail Harvest Salad” has been a fan favorite for years because it is easy to grow and extremely attractive. This blend contains three cereal grains and Austrian Winter Peas. The variety of Austrian Winter Peas we use is extremely winter hardy. The deer will hammer the cereal grains when weather conditions have deer going to green food sources. Don’t be misled by other brands that mix annuals and perennials in their fall-planted seed blends or market no-till products. Harvest Salad comes in a 25# bag which is enough to plant 1/2 acre.
The “Deadly Dozen”
50 lbs Harvest Salad + 3 lb jug Plot Topper = 1 Acre Deadly Dozen
When Harvest Salad and Plot Topper are combined it gives you 12 plant species in the same plot. We call it the “Deadly Dozen”. With this combination there will always be multiple plants within the plot that are highly palatable to the deer from the time it first germinates until the following spring. Some of the plants will really draw the deer in early, other plants will attract during the late fall and still others will become more attractive during the late season after there has been a hard freeze.
Harvest Salad – planting instructions
Planting Date – Harvest salad is a fall-planted product. A good general rule to remember in regards to planting dates is as follows – Along Interstate-70 plant Harvest Salad September 1st. For every 100 miles north of I-70 move the planting date up sooner by 1 week. For every 100 miles south of I-70 move the planting date back later by 1 week. It is very important not to plant Harvest Salad too early or it will lose some of its palatability by the time hunting season opens and you want the deer to be hitting it hardest.
Site Prep – Start by spraying your plot in the spring to kill any vegetation. When it is time to plant prepare a good seedbed by disking or tilling the ground so that it is primarily free of bigger dirt-clods. The soil does not need to be worked into a power-fine consistency but just free of large clods.
Planting – Due to the different sizes of seed within the Harvest Salad blend, broadcasting the seed is the only good way to plant it. After broadcasting the seed onto the worked ground, cover it by dragging the plot or using a culti-packer to push the seed into the ground. The goal is to get the seed covered with ½ -1 inch of soil. Make sure the seed is not more than 1 inch deep. If some of the seed is exposed on top of the ground, it can still grow as long as it gets adequate moisture.
Note – Here at Real World Wildlife products our favorite fall-planted food-plot is Harvest Salad combined with Plot Topper. This combination gives you 9 different plants in a single plot. When combining these 2 products in the same plot simply follow the instructions above to plant the Harvest Salad and when you are done just broadcast the Plot Topper over the plot without working that seed into the soil. It is that simple!