How To Avoid Food Plot Failure in Drought Conditions Next Year

The Spring and early Summer of 2024 was one of the better growing seasons in a long time for many parts of the Midwest with timely rains and only a few extreme high temperatures above average. Lots of great looking food plots that made even a beginner look like a pro.
Corn was over waist high by the 4th of July, and there were lots of first year switchgrass plantings that got off to a fast start as well.
By the end of July, landowners started planting their brassica plots with plenty of moisture in the ground and more timely rains on the way. Couple weeks later in August guys were planting their grain blend of oats, cereal rye, peas and winter wheat.
And then on August 15, like a switch, the rains stopped and the temperatures started climbing.
The guys who got their seed in the ground before that had good germination.
Landowners who planted after August 15, are wondering if they’re gonna have any green food to hunt over this Fall. What little germination they had is being browsed down to the dirt.
Even the dew points aren’t that high to wet the ground very well in the morning..
A couple clients were fortunate enough to install a well with a pump and drag some big hoses to irrigate for times like these. I’ve even seen guys bring in some big water trucks or trailers but unless your plots are small, you’re talkin over 3,000 gallons of water to generate only an 1/8 of an inch across a 1 acre food plot. And if you try, its best to do that around sunset so the ground can stay cool and moist all night long.
Some guys are asking if they should broadcast winter rye just so they have something green out there for the deer. Well even though that’s a good option, you still need rain for that to germinate. Otherwise the seed will just bake in the sun and become a tasty snack for turkeys and other birds.
Especially for landowners who don’t live on their property, trying to arrange a trip with everything you need to plant and fertilize in a weekend, before rain becomes a major event. This is why I’m glad I converted several acres from planting annuals every year to a perennial blend of clover/chicory.
My go-to blend is Seclusion 360 from Northwoods Whitetails. It has 3 different ladino clovers that come back every year as well as a high quality chicory that can grow a 4 foot tap root and survives in drought conditions.
Once it’s established, maintenance is pretty minimal. All it needs is a high trim with a mower to keep weeds at bay and the clover flower heads trimmed, and maybe a little grass herbicide until it gets nice and thick in a year or two.
It feeds deer more months of the year with a lot less time and money or worrying about drought conditions. My good friend Jake Ehlinger and I are noticing more bucks in the Seclusion plots during midday this summer.
Some landowners with sandy soil in northern MI have had really good results already after planting this Spring. This landowner applied some turkey manure on his sandy plot before planting in May and it has taken off this summer. With a couple of dividing strips of switchgrass, he has some real good bucks using this plot of clover and chicory already.
Another thing I usually recommend to landowners is to put out an exclusion cage in their food plots. These are cheap and easy to make and they really tell you the story much better than a trail camera for knowing 100% if you have food plot failure, or if the deer are eating it faster than you can imagine.
Whether you have great growing conditions with plenty of rain, or very dry conditions like this year, not only will an exclusion cage tell you how well your plants are growing, but you’ll be able to see how fast deer are mowing it down if you place it within view of a trail camera at a good distance.
If there’s a big difference inside that cage, it’s telling you there’s a problem.
There’s either too many deer for the local habitat to support, or, there’s very little food in the way of woody browse in the woods, or, you need to plant more green food, or a combination of all three.
Just having a cell camera out there doesn’t come close to letting you know what’s going on.
So hopefully your food plots can catch some rain soon, and you don’t find any deer in your neighborhood that have fallen victim to EHD. Several landowners in southern MI and Northern IN are finding dead deer near bodies of water in the last few weeks.
If you find any, drop a comment below with the county you’re in so other landowners can see if their area is being affected like yours.
And as always, if you found this video helpful, give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more videos like this and hopefully I’ll see you holding a nice set of antlers this fall.

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Randy VanderVeen - 616-560-7488 - [email protected]