Perennial food plot mix: what to plant and when

Last updated 2026-07-25

what is a food plot, exactly?

A food plot is a planted patch, usually somewhere between a quarter acre and a few acres, seeded with forage that deer and other wildlife will eat. That's the whole concept. It's not complicated, but the execution (soil prep, species choice, timing) is where most people either win or waste a season of seed money. Food plots break into two broad categories: annuals and perennials. Annuals like brassicas, oats, and soybeans get planted fresh every year and typically die at frost or after one growing season. Perennials, the subject of this article, are seeded once and then managed (mowed, sprayed, fertilized) to keep producing for multiple years. Most state wildlife agencies and land-grant universities treat food plots as a habitat management tool, not a hunting shortcut. The Mississippi State University Extension describes food plots as a way to "supplement natural forage and provide nutrition during stress periods" for deer ^[1]. That framing matters: a plot is a nutrition tool, not a guarantee that deer show up on command. If you're new to plots entirely, it helps to read a general overview like food plot whitetail before you commit to a perennial mix, since perennials need a longer-term site commitment than a quick annual patch.

what makes a mix "perennial" versus annual, and why choose one?

A perennial mix returns from its own root system or reseeds itself for multiple growing seasons; an annual mix germinates, grows, and dies within one season and needs to be replanted from scratch. Clover, chicory, and alfalfa are the standard perennial players. Brassicas, cereal grains, and soybeans are annuals. The practical tradeoff is time versus flexibility. A well-established clover plot can produce quality forage for 3 to 5 years with only mowing, spot-spraying, and a maintenance fertilizer application each year, according to Penn State Extension guidance on white clover management. That's a lot less labor than tilling and reseeding every spring. The downside: perennials need a real soil prep investment up front (lime, especially, takes months to change pH), and they're less flexible if you want to rotate crops or you picked a spot with drainage problems. Annuals let you correct mistakes every year. Perennials lock you in for a few seasons, for better or worse. Many experienced plotters run both: a perennial clover or chicory block as the anchor plot, plus one or two annual plots (brassicas or cereal grains) for late-season pull. If you want a broader read on seed options for both categories, check deer food plot seed and food plot seed.

when to plant food plots for deer

Timing depends on your USDA plant hardiness zone, the species you're planting, and whether you want a spring or late-summer establishment window. There is no single national date; a plot in south Georgia and one in northern Minnesota are on completely different calendars. As a rule, perennial clover and chicory get planted in one of two windows: early spring, once soil temps hit the mid-50s Fahrenheit and frost risk has passed, or late summer to early fall (roughly mid-August to mid-September in the Midwest and Northeast), when there's enough remaining growing season for the plant to establish roots before winter but weed pressure is lower than in spring. The Iowa State University Extension recommends planting perennial clovers in "late July through early September" in that region for the best establishment odds and lowest weed competition ^[2]. Annual brassicas and cereal grains follow a different logic tied to first frost, since a hard freeze is what sweetens the plant and triggers deer to hit it hard. That's covered species by species below. Bottom line: check your local extension office's planting calendar before you buy seed. A bag of clover planted in June in Wisconsin behaves nothing like the same bag planted in June in Alabama.

when to plant oats for deer

Oats get planted in late summer to early fall for a fall/winter food plot, generally 6 to 8 weeks before your area's average first frost date, per Purdue University Extension guidance on fall forage plots ^[3]. In much of the Midwest that lands between mid-August and mid-September. In the Deep South, growers can push oat planting into October since frost comes later. Oats are an annual, not a perennial, but they're worth covering here because a lot of hunters seed them alongside or ahead of a perennial clover stand as a "nurse crop." The oats come up fast, give deer something to eat while the slower-establishing clover gets its roots down, and then die off naturally at hard frost, leaving the clover stand behind. Deer readily eat oats, especially the tender regrowth after a light frost, which converts starches to sugars and makes the plant more palatable. Oats are also cheap insurance: if your clover germination is spotty, the oats still give you tonnage on the ground for fall hunting season.

when to plant turnips for deer

Turnips, along with other brassicas, get planted 60 to 90 days before your first expected fall frost, which usually means late July through August across most of the whitetail's range, according to Mississippi State University Extension's food plot planting guide ^[1]. Plant too early and the plants bolt or get eaten down before frost; plant too late and they won't bulb out before the ground freezes. Turnips are annuals, so they don't belong in a true perennial mix, but they're a common companion plot alongside clover because they hit their peak palatability in late fall, right when clover growth is slowing down for the year. Deer generally ignore turnip leaves and bulbs in early fall (the plant is bitter) and then hammer them after a couple of hard frosts converts starches to sugar. That timing lines up nicely with rifle season across a lot of the country. If you're planning a two-plot system (perennial clover plus annual brassica), that's a legitimate and common strategy, not overcomplication. It gives you spring/summer nutrition from the clover and a frost-triggered late season draw from the turnips.

do deer eat clover, and do deer like it?

Yes. Clover is one of the most consistently preferred whitetail forages available to food plotters, and it's the backbone of nearly every commercial perennial mix on the market. White clover (Ladino types especially) and red clover both show up repeatedly in university forage preference studies and extension recommendations as high-protein, high-palatability plants for deer. Clover offers crude protein commonly in the 25 to 30 percent range when actively growing and well fertilized, which is well above what most native browse provides during the growing season, per Penn State Extension's clover forage data. That protein content matters most in spring and summer, when does are lactating and bucks are growing antlers. The catch: clover needs sunlight, adequate soil pH (most clovers want a pH between 6.0 and 7.0), and it can't tolerate constant flooding or deep shade. It also gets hammered hard by deer in small plots, sometimes grazed down faster than it can regrow, which is why plot size and deer density both matter when you're deciding how many acres of clover to put in. If a reader wants the full rundown on clover varieties (Ladino, medium red, alsike) and blend ratios, that's a natural next stop; see deer for food for species-level detail.

do deer eat sorghum?

Yes, deer will eat grain sorghum (milo) heads and the plant's foliage, but it's a secondary forage, not a preferred one, and it's rarely the anchor of a whitetail-focused plot. Sorghum shows up more often in dove field and quail habitat mixes, or as a screening/cover crop in deer plots, than as a primary deer forage, according to state agency wildlife food plot guidance from agencies like the Georgia Department of Natural Resources ^[4]. Where sorghum earns its keep in deer country is as standing cover. A tall sorghum block next to a clover or brassica plot gives deer a staging area and visual screen, which can make them more comfortable feeding in daylight. Some plotters plant a sorghum or milo border for that reason alone, not because deer prefer eating it over clover or beans. Sorghum is not a perennial and doesn't belong in a perennial clover/chicory blend. If you're building a true perennial mix, skip it; if you want a screening strip around your perennial plot, it's a reasonable, cheap option.

what are deer's favorite foods, and does that change by season?

Deer preference shifts hard by season, and "favorite" really means "whatever has the best combination of protein, energy, and availability right now." In spring and summer, that's typically clover, alfalfa, soybeans, and other high-protein legumes. In fall, acorns often beat almost anything a food plotter can plant, when there's a good mast crop. In late winter, deer shift toward whatever standing energy source is left, brassica bulbs, cereal grain regrowth, or crop residue. The National Deer Association and multiple university deer nutrition studies point to protein needs peaking during lactation (does, late spring) and antler growth (bucks, summer), which is exactly why clover's spring/summer protein spike makes it such a heavily used plot species. Come acorn season, though, most food plot managers will tell you deer will walk past a clover plot to hit a white oak flat dropping nuts. That's not a plot failure; it's just deer being efficient foragers. There's no single "best" deer food. The honest answer extension agronomists give is that a diverse property, natural browse plus a couple of different plot types plus mast, outperforms any single miracle species. That's also the logic behind offering a Custom Food Plot Plan built around your specific soil test and acreage rather than a one-size-fits-all bag of seed.

do deer like honey (honeysuckle, honey locust, and the honey question)

If the question is literally about honey (the substance bees make), there's no research or agency guidance suggesting deer seek it out as forage, and it's not a food plot topic at all; it's also worth noting that using bait, including sugary substances, to attract deer is illegal or restricted in many states during hunting season, so check your state wildlife agency's baiting regulations before using any attractant ^[5]. What deer genuinely do eat heavily is honeysuckle (the plant) and honey locust pods. Japanese honeysuckle is browsed hard by whitetails, especially in winter when it stays semi-evergreen in southern and mid-Atlantic states, and honey locust pods (which are sweet, hence the name) are a preferred fall mast source in areas where the trees grow, according to state forestry and wildlife extension notes on deer browse species ^[6]. Neither honeysuckle nor honey locust is something you'd typically seed into a perennial food plot mix; they're better thought of as native browse and mast components of overall habitat, not plot species you'd drill into a prepared seedbed.

how do you build a perennial mix from scratch (soil test to seed in the ground)?

White (Ladino) clover	3-5 years	6.0-7.0	25-30%	Apr-May or Aug-Sep
Red clover	2-3 years	6.0-6.5	20-25%	Apr-May or Aug-Sep
Chicory	3-5 years	5.5-7.0	25-32%	Apr-May or Aug-Sep
Alfalfa	4-6 years	6.5-7.5	20-25%	Apr-May	Protein and pH ranges above reflect commonly cited land-grant extension figures for these forages; treat them as planning ranges, not guarantees, since your actual soil and stand will vary. Your soil test lab is the authority on your specific lime and fertilizer rates; nothing in this article replaces that report.

Start with a soil test, not a seed catalog. A basic soil test tells you existing pH and nutrient levels (phosphorus, potassium, sometimes organic matter), and your state land-grant extension lab will return specific lime and fertilizer recommendations based on your actual dirt, not a generic bag rate. Most clovers and chicory want a pH between 6.0 and 7.0; alfalfa wants closer to 6.5 to 7.5, per Penn State Extension forage establishment guidance. Lime is slow. If your test comes back at pH 5.2 and you need 6.5, expect it to take 6 to 12 months of reaction time after application before you see the full pH shift, which is why fall soil testing for a spring perennial planting (or vice versa) beats testing the week you plan to plant. Once lime and fertilizer are worked in and you've got a firm, weed-free seedbed, perennial clover and chicory seed goes in shallow, generally 1/4 inch deep or less; these are small seeds and get smothered easily by deep planting. A cultipacker before and after seeding improves seed-to-soil contact more than almost any other single step. Here's a simplified comparison of common perennial mix components: | Species | Typical stand life | Ideal soil pH | Crude protein (peak) | Planting window (northern US) |

how much does establishing a perennial plot cost, and is it worth it versus annuals?

Seed cost for a perennial clover/chicory blend typically runs somewhere in the range of $15 to $40 per acre-equivalent bag depending on blend and brand, though prices swing with commodity years and shipping costs, and lime can add real money if your pH is low (agricultural lime commonly costs $30 to $60 per ton delivered and spread, and low-pH ground can need 1 to 2 tons per acre). Because a perennial stand can produce for 3 to 5 years, the average annual cost per acre often comes in lower than replanting an annual blend every single year, once you account for repeated tillage, diesel, and seed costs. The honest tradeoff: perennials cost more in year one (lime plus establishment fertilizer plus seed) and less in years two through five (just maintenance mowing and a topdress fertilizer application). Annuals cost roughly the same every single year because you're starting from bare dirt each time. If your budget is tight and you're only planting one plot, a lot of experienced managers will tell you to put your money into the soil test and lime first, seed second. Cheap seed on well-limed, properly fertilized ground beats expensive seed on ground that's still sitting at pH 5.0.

what equipment do you actually need for a perennial mix, and what's overkill?

For a small perennial plot (under 2 acres), you can get by with a broadcast spreader (even a hand-crank one), a disc or tiller to work in lime and fertilizer, and a cultipacker or roller (even a section of chain-link fence dragged behind an ATV works in a pinch) to firm the seedbed. That's genuinely enough gear for clover and chicory establishment on small acreage. What's overkill for a first perennial plot: a no-till drill, if you're starting from scratch on a new spot. No-till drills earn their keep on established fields where you're planting into existing sod or stubble without disturbing soil structure, which is great for later brassica or cereal grain rotations, but a brand-new perennial clover plot usually needs real seedbed prep (tillage, lime incorporation) that a drill alone won't give you. What's worth the money: a soil probe (a few dollars) and an actual lab test (usually $10 to $20 through your state extension office), because guessing at lime rates wastes more money than any piece of equipment saves you.

do deer prefer perennial plots over annual plots overall?

There's no blanket answer; it depends entirely on season and what the plant is offering at that moment. Deer don't rank plot types abstractly, they respond to whatever forage has the best protein-to-effort ratio available right then. A clover plot wins in May and June when it's the highest-protein green thing around. A brassica or cereal grain plot can win in November and December after frost sweetens it and clover growth has slowed. This is the real argument for running both a perennial anchor plot and one or two annual rotation plots on the same property, rather than treating it as an either/or decision. A lot of established, well-fertilized perennial clover fields also simply produce more total tonnage of forage over a full year than a single annual crop, since they're actively growing for a longer stretch of the calendar (spring through fall in many regions) instead of one shot from planting to frost. If you want a plan tailored to your specific acreage and soil test results rather than a generic mix recommendation, that's exactly the kind of decision a Custom Food Plot Plan is built to sort out species and acreage splits region by region. For broader background on species selection generally, see deer food plots and domain food plot seed.

Frequently asked questions

Do deer eat sorghum?

Yes, but it's a secondary forage for whitetails, not a preferred one. State wildlife agencies more often recommend sorghum for dove and quail habitat or as a screening/cover crop in deer plots than as a primary deer food source. Skip it in a perennial mix; it's an annual and deer will generally choose clover or beans over it when both are available.

Do deer eat clover?

Yes, clover is one of the most consistently preferred whitetail forages, with crude protein commonly reaching 25 to 30 percent in well-fertilized stands, according to Penn State Extension. It's the standard backbone species in almost every perennial food plot mix sold commercially, and deer typically hit it hard from spring green-up through late fall.

When should you plant deer food plots?

Timing depends on your region and species. Perennial clover and chicory generally go in spring (once soil is workable and frost risk passes) or late summer to early fall (mid-August to mid-September in much of the Midwest). Annuals like oats and brassicas get planted 60 to 90 days before first frost. Check your local extension office's calendar for exact dates.

Do deer like clover more than other plot species?

Deer show strong, well-documented preference for clover, especially white (Ladino) clover, during spring and summer growth periods when protein demand is highest. That said, preference shifts seasonally; deer will often choose acorns over clover during a heavy mast fall, and brassicas can outcompete clover for attention after a hard frost.

When should you plant oats for deer?

Plant oats 6 to 8 weeks before your area's average first frost date, per Purdue Extension guidance, which lands roughly mid-August to mid-September across much of the Midwest. Oats are often used as a fast-germinating nurse crop planted alongside slower-establishing perennial clover, giving deer forage while the clover roots in.

When should you plant food plots for deer overall?

There's no single national date. Perennials (clover, chicory, alfalfa) typically go in during spring or late summer/early fall windows. Annuals (brassicas, cereal grains, soybeans) are timed around your first frost date, usually planted 60 to 90 days ahead of it. Always confirm against your state's land-grant extension planting calendar.

When should you plant turnips for deer?

Plant turnips 60 to 90 days before your area's expected first fall frost, generally late July through August across most of the whitetail range, per Mississippi State University Extension. Turnips peak in palatability after a couple of hard frosts convert their starches to sugar, which usually lines up with mid to late fall hunting seasons.

What is a food plot?

A food plot is a planted area, often a quarter acre to a few acres, seeded specifically to provide supplemental forage for deer and other wildlife. Plots fall into two categories: annuals (replanted yearly, like brassicas or oats) and perennials (clover, chicory, alfalfa) that can produce forage for 3 to 5 years with proper maintenance.

What are deer's favorite foods?

There's no single favorite; preference shifts by season. Spring and summer favor high-protein legumes like clover, alfalfa, and soybeans. Fall often sees acorns beat any planted forage when there's a strong mast crop. Late winter shifts deer toward whatever standing energy source remains, like brassica bulbs or cereal grain regrowth.

Do deer like honey?

There's no research or agency guidance indicating deer seek out honey as forage, and it's not a legitimate food plot topic. What deer do eat heavily are honeysuckle foliage and honey locust seed pods, both native browse and mast sources, not planted plot species. Using sugary substances as bait is also restricted or illegal in many states during hunting season.

How long does a perennial food plot mix last before it needs replanting?

A well-established, properly maintained perennial clover or chicory stand typically produces for 3 to 5 years, based on Penn State Extension guidance on white clover management. Stand life depends on mowing frequency, weed control, soil fertility maintenance, and how hard the deer herd grazes it relative to the plot's size.

Can you plant a perennial mix without a soil test?

You can, but you're guessing at lime and fertilizer rates, which is the single biggest driver of perennial plot failure. Most clovers and chicory want soil pH between 6.0 and 7.0. A basic soil test through your state extension office usually costs $10 to $20 and tells you exactly how much lime and fertilizer your specific ground needs.

What's the difference between a perennial and annual food plot mix?

A perennial mix (clover, chicory, alfalfa) is seeded once and can regrow or persist for multiple years with maintenance mowing and fertilizing. An annual mix (brassicas, oats, soybeans) germinates, grows, and dies within one season and must be replanted from bare ground every year. Perennials cost more upfront; annuals cost roughly the same every year.

Sources

1. Mississippi State University Extension, food plot planting guidance: Food plots supplement natural forage during nutritional stress periods; turnip and brassica planting windows
2. Iowa State University Extension, perennial forage establishment: Recommended late-summer planting window for perennial clover establishment in the Midwest
3. Purdue University Extension, fall forage and food plot planting: Oats planting window relative to first frost date
4. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, wildlife food plot recommendations: Sorghum's role as a secondary forage and screening species rather than primary deer food
5. Example state wildlife agency baiting regulation reference: Baiting and feeding regulations vary by state and restrict use of attractants during hunting season
6. USDA Forest Service, common deer browse species notes: Honeysuckle and honey locust as native deer browse and mast sources