| Sugar beets? |
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By:
bowhunter22
Date:19-Jul-12
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Has anyone planted any in the Midwest and had luck growing a bulb all I ever get is the greens aren't they suppose to put something like a turnip or carrot ? If so how the deer do with them
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By:
vmcfadden
Date:20-Jul-12
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In my experience they are the best deer attractant. If you can't plant at least an acre of them and keep the deer from eating the tops off for 3 months don't plan on getting actual beets. You also need to keep the weeds down. Sugar beets attract deer more than anything I plant and I think I plant about everything you have seen that deer may like. They do get a bulb and the deer will dig it out of the ground to eat it in early winter. The bulb can get as big as a football with a little bit of . I think they like the greens much better though and its when it counts for hunting. If any plot warranted that fence system the hunting shows try to push it would be sugar beets because they start mowing them down as soon as they sprout.
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By:
badlander
Date:20-Jul-12
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Our soil is not quite right for sugar beets, so when we have planted them the density of the beets that grow is pretty low. However we have planted them last year and this year.
For a month so last year, nealry every deer that came out skipped or passed through either an alfalfa field, brassicus plot, cut soy bean field, or standing corn plots to eventually make it into the beets we had planted. They were one heck of a draw.
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By:
t-roy
Date:20-Jul-12
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Sugar beets are an awesome food plot, but like stated above, you have to keep the deer out of them. I used electric fencing & it works. Sugar beets don't compete very well with weeds, either. I got some RR sugar beets & planted them for a couple of years. Best attractant I've ever planted & I'm like vmcfadden in that I've planted about everything else as well. Too bad you can't get RR beets anymore for food plots.(lawsuits still pending) Hope they get things resolved soon. BH22, when are you planting your beets? I live in Iowa & plant them when I put my corn or beans in. Late April to early June. If you aren't planting them until Aug., you probably won't get much bulb growth, only tops. Of course, if you are as dry as we are right now, you aint gonna get anything! good luck!
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By:
Drahthaar
Date:20-Jul-12
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bowhunter22, not trying to hijack your thread. but I have planted sugar beets 3 times with no luck. planting first of july. how deep are you guys planting? and what month? I live in eastern N.C. very good soil . and soil sample's taken every year. thanks Forrest
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By:
t-roy
Date:21-Jul-12
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Unless they have a coating on them, I would just broadcast them & then run a cultipacker over them. The seeds are very small. If you don't have a cultipacker, some guys drive over the entire seed bed with their atv to compact it. Not sure how long your growing season is in NC, but I would think that you should get good growth out of them if planted in july. You might try & plant them a little earlier, maybe first of june.
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By:
Drahthaar
Date:21-Jul-12
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t-roy, thanks.we have a fairly long growing season,first frost around october 15. I have been using a no till planter. mut be getting the seeds to deep. will try it your way next time. Forrest
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By:
Sagittarius
Date:02-Aug-12
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The above picture is March 1, 2010 in 18" snow, deer ate them to, and below the ground level.
Planted the Roundup Ready variety back in 2008 and 2009 ... when RR sugarbeets were available to foodplotters. In a heavy Ag area with deer at about 25/sq mile ... deer started utilizing them early December when we started getting snow. The greens had little to no browse pressure during the summer/fall.
If the RR sugarbeets once more become available to foodplotters, I would plant them again in a heartbeat. ;-)
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By:
Rex Featherlin
Date:02-Aug-12
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They are supposed to be available to foodplotters starting next year.
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By:
tactical
Date:02-Aug-12
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Dang all this time I thought we were talking about the pink stuff in the bag with Lee and Tiffany on it lol
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By:
t-roy
Date:02-Aug-12
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Rex, I haven't heard anything new in regards to availability. Could you share with me what you know about anything new? (If you can). I am very interested. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks! best regards, t-roy
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By:
vmcfadden
Date:03-Aug-12
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T-roy you beat me to it. I wanted to ask the same ?. Where did that info come from. I can't wait until rr sugar beets go back to public not just produce. I will be planting alot more then. They are very hard and expensive to get a good stand out of them now but definitely preferable by the local deer herd. In this area none plants them either so they must just be able to smell them.
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By:
Sagittarius
Date:03-Aug-12
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28-Feb-2010, deer hitting the sugarbeet plot at dusk, SE Wisconsin Ag area. Plant late April/early May for upper midwest.
Sugarbeets would round out my top 4 foodplot choices with white clover, corn, and soybeans. JMHO.
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By:
bowhunter22
Date:03-Aug-12
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I am going to try them again next year a bit earlier rr beats sure would be better
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By:
Zbone
Date:11-Jun-14
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Curious, as to how much you paying for seed Pat, last time I priced them they were like $17 a pound.... Way above my pay scale...
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By:
turkulese
Date:11-Jun-14
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FYI... there is a Round-Up Ready variety of Sugar Beets as well. I'm sure more expensive.
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By:
Hammer
Date:11-Jun-14
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I live in southern MI and the deer here do not seem to eat the Sugar beets very much. I used them for several years and they barley touched them. When I lived in Northern MI they did eat them.
Maybe it is because they can scrounge the corn fields to get enough to get by?
What is your folks opinion on why they do not seem to eat them very much around the area where I live?
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By:
stick n string
Date:11-Jun-14
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We planted the mossy oak sugar beets and winter bulbs 3 yesrs ago. Did about 1/4 acre, plotsaved the whole thing. Got a great, lush beautiful plot with nice plants and good "bulbs" underneath, the deer NEVER touched it, even after it snowed. Farmer plowed it under the next spring. There is a very very high population of deer on that farm. We thought it was a done deal, never could get a deer to feed in it. Only year we tried it
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By:
TMA1010
Date:11-Jun-14
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It makes you wonder if other factors about the field they are planted in plays a role in the response to the deer hitting them. If the field is open to traffic and observers who slow down to gawk at the deer that could push them off of the food plots. Most of our fields are pretty well screened and although I haven't tried sugar beets we have had a lot of success with the turnips and rape that I've planted.
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By:
bo hntr9
Date:11-Jun-14
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I planted 1/8 acre of sugar beets in S.E Illinois last spring. Got bulbs about baseball size. Deer never did eat on them. They ate standing soybeans next to the beets all the way to the ground.
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By:
writer
Date:11-Jun-14
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Wouldn't the plots planted near "gawkers" still get his after dark? Our farm fields by a county road sure do.
Some in Kansas say deer don't hit their turnips, but they do ours. The first year it wasn't until butt-chilling cold and snow. Every year since they've hit the plots earlier and earlier.
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By:
Julius K
Date:12-Jun-14
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Pat,
I have never had luck with brassicas here in Maine. My buddy in another county can't keep them planted, the deer destroy them....
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By:
Mad Trapper
Date:12-Jun-14
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We can't get our brassicas to full maturity because the deer hammer them. A friend fifty miles north of us can't get them to touch his brassica.
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By:
killinstuff
Date:12-Jun-14
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The beets in Michigan can grown to a bit bigger then a football and you need to til them up for the deer to eat them. Its like candy to them and they only eat so much, not like corn, clover or acorns.
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By:
rooster
Date:13-Jun-14
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I don't do any food plotting, but in the past it seemed to be that every gas station in Michigan would sell sugar beets as deer bait during the season.
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By:
Hammer
Date:13-Jun-14
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Killingstuff,
I use to buy big bags of sugar beets at one time and they barley touched those either in southern MI. Tilling them up was never the issue. It was a diminishing return so I do not plant them.
rooster,
Yeah they sell a lot of sugar beets in Northern MI. I have noticed the past several years that they do not seem to be selling as many or at least there are fewer places to get them that in the past always had them in abundance.
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By:
reid
Date:15-Jun-14
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New to the Site. I planted a half acre of beets two weeks ago they are starting to come up good but I have a lot of grasses that are coming up to. Anyone know where I can order betamix and upbeet? I planted them last year and they were awesome but I did fight some weeds. I seem to have more weeds than last year and I have to spray. Thanks
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By:
nutritionist
Date:15-Jun-14
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Sugar beets are one of the most finicky things one can plant after carrots. They need to be 1/2 deep, where as most brassicas can be 1/8- 1/4" deep. I have planted both coated and uncoated sugar beets this year. It is one of the seeds i always recommend to plant the coated version.
My source for all herbicides is th agri chemicals 1-866-666-thag
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By:
reid
Date:15-Jun-14
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Thanks I will give them a call.
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By:
buckhammer
Date:18-Jun-14
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I live in west mi. and have had great success with sugar beets.
The deer really start to hit them hard after a good frost.
I prefer to plant them in rows versus broadcasting. I seem to get a better return on my investment.
Have never had a problem with the deer eating the green tops until after they have frosted.
I buy my seed from Debruyn Seed Co. in Zeeland MI. It is $10 for a one pound bag of seed.
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By:
nutritionist
Date:19-Jun-14
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In rows is a great recommendation, buckhammer. Sugar beets don't compete well with weeds and if broadcasting, not going too heavy is important. Sugar beets can be planted earlier than most brassicas and deer hit them earlier due to their higher sugar content.
