Frost Seeding Tips

Midwest Whitetail • March 08, 2023

We're doing some frost seeding today. We have a little 0.2-acre plot that really took a beating last year with the drought. A lot died off. There's still some decent clover in here, but we're going to try and refurbish it a little bit. One of the ways to do that is frost seeding.

One of our goals for frost seeding is weed control. By putting seed down an extra two or three weeks before you'll be able to use a tractor or drill in the ground, you've already got an established root base from the frost seeding. That is going to help with the competition against the weeds and also get a head start on growth for the year.

Another benefit of frost seeding, the freeze/thaw period really drags seed into the ground. We've got a couple other plots that we're going to do as well. They're Brassica plots. The intention behind that is to have a good summer and spring food source for your deer herd, as does go through their lactation phases with new fawns and bucks put on antler growth. Clover has a pretty good protein rate in it.

Turkeys love new shoots that come out in the spring and any kind of seeds you put on the ground. They also like these open areas where they can strut a little bit. This can also be a spot we come back to if we can get a bird around here early Spring.

With our bare dirt Brassica plots, we're putting down six pounds per acre. For pre-established spots, we'll go a little bit lower, closer to three or four pounds an acre--just to fill in some of the bare spots and add a little promotional growth to it.

--Midwest Whitetail