Grow Your OwnPlant these crops now to see ducknumbers like you never dreamedpossible this fall.

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kIf I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand

times: “What can I plant for ducks?”Hunters know that ducks like seeds. Not necessarily

cultivated varieties, but all types of seeds. As we dis-cussed last month with moist-soil management, many ofthe plant types that attract and hold ducks are already inyour soil. All you need to do is manipulate the water orcreate a disturbance to get those seeds to grow.

But all too often, duck hunters are stuck in the “ifyou plant it, they will come” mindset. While planting afood plot won’t guarantee you birds in December, onething is for certain: If you sit on the couch and do noth-ing, nothing is what you’ll get.

When considering crops that ducks favor, mosthunters think rice, corn and soybeans. A few of youmay have hunted over milo or grain sorghum, and someof you have hunted fields planted in millets.

So you want to plant one of these crops on yourlease or land to attract great swarms of ducks this win-

By Rob Heflin

Small-seeded cropssuch as millets and rice attract a variety ofducks, particularly tealand pintails. A flooddepth of less than 6inches will attract geeseand ducks, while themaximum depth forduck use is 18 inches.

Specialty Seed millet planting chartSeed Seeding Rate (lbs/acre) Planting Dates Planting Depth

Chiwapa Millet 15-20 pounds June 1-July 15 1/2-inch

Japanese Millet 15-20 pounds Aug. 1-31 1/2-inch

Browntop Millet 15-20 pounds June 1-Aug. 30 1/2-inch

Dove Proso Millet 20 pounds May 15-Aug. 1

The ability of rice to grow in water makes it an idealcrop for ducks in areas thatare susceptible to floodingthroughout the year. Shownhere is rice (background)growing adjacent to Chiwapaand Japanese millet — allflooded after emergence.The tall plants in the foreground are SorghumSudangrass planted along the water’s edge for hunter cover.

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Sorghum Sudangrass

Flown into standing water on June 1,this rice was mature at 100 days.Ducks use rice in periods of colderweather when they need the carbohydrates it provides.

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Chiwapa and Japanese Millet

ter, or maybe you are trying to decide on leasing a property alreadyplanted in one of these crops, but just exactly which one is best?

There are a few things to consider when planting crops forducks. One is cost, another is complexity and another is which oneis best for the birds. Securing a row-planter, tractor, $150 bags ofquality corn seed and dropping several hundred dollars on nitrogenfertilizer and irrigation costs may be out of your budget.

On the other hand, a couple of $30 bags of Japanese millet andan ATV spreader may be right up your alley. Many hunters wouldrather a turn-key operation where they pay the farmer to leave alittle standing crop in the field. And more often than not, huntersare insulted by what the farmer tells them it is going cost them forhim to leave standing corn in the bottom of the field for theirhunting enjoyment.

Let’s do the math on a 10-acre area planted in corn and leftunharvested. Forget about the cost of tractors, planters, field prepequipment and harvesting equipment he has to make a note on eachyear. Let’s just talk about what it costs to plant and grow a 10-acrefield of corn.

The costs associated with raising 10 acres of corn can exceed$2,500 really easily, and some farmers say it takes nearly $500 toraise an acre. Factor in an average of 140 bushels per acre on dryland corn and 250 on irrigated corn at $5 per bushel and the farmercould possibly bring in between $700 and $1,300 per acre. Now hehas to pay the help, the bank and the wife. So when you offer afarmer a couple thousand dollars to plant and leave standing 10acres of corn, don’t be surprised if he laughs in your face.

However, be not dismayed. If you want to grow a 10-acre cornplot, you can more than likely get by a little cheaper. You’ll stillhave some of the same inputs, but you can probably slack off onfertilizer and irrigation expenses.

“Dirty” crops, or ones that are allowed to grow up in nativegrasses after a crop stand is established, are gaining in popularity.One spraying shortly after the crops emerge is used to reduce weedcompetition, and then the natural duck foods are allowed to growunder the crop. This will save you money on herbicides while pro-viding a buffet for the ducks. If you have your own equipment, youcan forego paying someone else for their time.

While corn is an excellent crop for ducks, it may not fit yourbudget. So I’ve asked a couple of biologists a few questions aboutchoosing, growing and managing crops for ducks.

Top crops“The top three crops, in my opinion, would be millet, rice and

corn (in no particular order),” said Houston Havens, waterfowlbiologist for MDWFP. “These crops each have their advantagesover each other, but overall they attract ducks, provide high-qualityfood resources and last a relatively long time after flooding.

“I would rate millet as No. 1, with corn and rice tied at No. 2. Iwould always recommend these over soybeans and milo.”

“If you are in Central Missouri, corn is probably the mostimportant crop on the landscape for migrating waterfowl,” saysKevin Brunke, a waterfowl biologist at Otter SloughConservation Area in the Missouri Bootheel. “However, if youare in the lower Mississippi Valley, I think rice would be moreimportant to waterfowl.

“It’s a tossup between rice and corn for No. 1. Milo and millet

Rice

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36 Mississippi Sportsman MAY 2011 www.MS-Sportsman.com

would be a tie too, depending on your goals and water depth. I wouldplant milo if my water was deeper (than 12 inches). However, millet isnice because of the shorter growing season, so you can use it afteryou’ve conducted control on a noxious weed or needed to do a late-season disturbance for another reason. It would also be more accessi-ble to ducks than milo in shallower water (around 6 inches). However,if ducks want the milo, they will get it in shallow water too.”

When I asked the biologists about planting and flooding soybeansfor ducks, both agreed that beans were not their preferred choice.

“I do not recommend planting soybeans for the sole purpose ofwaterfowl habitat management,” said Havens. “Although ducks do useflooded soybeans, research has shown that soybeans deteriorate thefastest of all flooded crops.

“Also, there is sometimes an issue of food compaction killing ducksthat have gorged themselves on soybeans.”

According to the Wetland Management for Waterfowl Handbook,after being flooded for 90 days, 86 percent of soybeans have deteriorat-ed, versus 50 percent of corn and 19 percent of rice. only 42 percent ofmilo has deteriorated, 57 percent of Japanese millet and 25 percent ofbrowntop millet.

So if you are going to flood it and leave it, you’ll have more rice andbrowntop millet seed left after 90 days than with any other crop.However, if the area you have selected for your plot will be wet duringthe growing season, rice and Japanese millet will excel in these condi-tions. A drier site would be better suited to corn, milo and browntop.Soybeans would probably favor the middle ground; moist, heavy soilsbut no standing water during the growing season.

A time to plantI asked both biologists when they would plant their selected crops.

Right now in early spring, thousands of acres of corn are being planted

across the Delta. Rice planting will follow shortly, if it hasn’t startedalready. But the reason farmers like to get an early start is so theycan get their crops out before fall rains make harvest difficult toimpossible.

A duck manager isn’t worried about getting his crop out. In fact,he wants it to remain a viable food source in the field long afterfarmers have trucked their crops to the elevator. If you’re huntingland farmed for harvest, you won’t have a choice of leaving the cropin the field. But if you plan to leave your plot standing, you need toplant as late as possible to get a mature crop before frost, whilereceiving timely rains for growth.

If you have the luxury and the funds of being able to irrigate,then all you have to worry about is making seed before frost.

“In my situation, I don’t plant corn until after I’ve completed adrawdown targeting moist-soil plants,” said Brunke. “However, wemanage 2,500 acres of wetlands, and only about 5-8 percent of thatis any type of crop.

“In our case, it doesn’t make sense to change the entire hydrope-riod of an area to affect only 8 percent of the landscape. We wouldbe shortchanging the ducks if we did that. Therefore, a lot of ourcorn does not get planted until June.

“If we were going to plant corn across an entire field, we wouldwant to do it earlier in the spring to take advantage of spring rains,so mid-April through May would be better for planting corn. Weusually only plant millet if we didn’t get a good moist-soil responseor if we conducted control on a noxious weed. Therefore, if weplanted millet, it would be in July and sometimes early August.”

“Timing of planting for ducks is generally later than for produc-tion agriculture,” said Havens. “The goal is to produce a crop thatwill mature in early fall, and therefore does not deteriorate in theweather before becoming available to ducks.

“Corncan beplantedfor ducksanywherefrom mid-April toJune,depend-ing on thevarietyand maturation period.Japanese, chiwapa andbrowntop millets arethe typical varieties Irecommend. These should be planted in July or August, again,depending on the maturation period.”

Havens mentioned chiwapa millet, which is a relative ofJapanese millet but has a 120-day growing cycle versus the shortergrowth period of Japanese millet.

The strategy behind chiwapa is that it can be planted earlier inthe year to catch frequent spring and early summer rains, but itwon’t mature and drop seed on the ground too early. You can plantchiwapa in June, catch a few rains, and it will be mature in October.

On the other hand, if you planted Japanese in June, it would bemature in late July and the seed would more than likely fall to theground and resprout, or be consumed by birds long before duck sea-son arrived.

And while resprouting can sometimes be a good thing, if it frostsbefore the resprouted seed makes another crop, you are left with

MAY 2011 Mississippi Sportsman 37www.MS-Sportsman.com

Chiwapa, like rice, can be floodedafter it reaches 6 to 8 inches inheight. Take care to inspect Chiwapafor chinch bugs about halfway throughthe growing season.

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nothing for the ducks to eat. However, the advantage ofthe shorter growing cycle associated with Japanese andbrowntop millets is that if you can irrigate, you can plantthese two crops in August and have them mature rightbefore frost in late October.

For information on planting dates and rates of waterfowl-friendly millets, visit www.specialtyseed.com orwww.chiwapa.com.

According to the Mississippi State Wildlife Food Plot PlantingGuidelines, corn, which has roughly a 120-day maturity, shouldbe planted from March 15 to June 1 at 12 pounds per acre. Milo,which has a 90- to 115-day maturity, should be planted at 8pounds per acre from April 15 to June 15. Both of these cropsshould be planted in 30- to 40-inch-wide rows.

Rice is one of the more challenging crops to grow for ducks.Able to grow in standing water, it is not as susceptible to flooddamage as other crops. However, the ability to irrigate rice ismore important that the previously mentioned crops.

Rice doesn’t have to grow in water, but flooding is a veryeffective weed control method, and provides excellent habitat forearly arriving teal and shorebirds in the fall.

Rice should be planted from April through June at a rate of 50-60 pounds per acre if drilled or 80-90 pounds per acre by air. Onebenefit of growing rice is that it can be “water seeded.” What thismeans is that it can be broadcast into shallow water. The watershould be drained after a day or two so that the seed can sprout.Once the seedlings reach 6-8 inches in height, a permanent floodcan be established to control problem weeds.

A time to flood“Rice should be flooded about 8-12 inches,” said Brunke.

“Corn shouldbe flooded toabout 12inches, unlessyou have verytall stalks,then it shouldbe flooded towithin about6 inches of the ear.

“If you flood your fields too deep, you are limiting the amountof bird use they can get. In my opinion, a field should have vari-able water depths ranging from about 2 feet to mudflat with mostof it being in the prime dabbling-duck foraging depth of 8-12inches.”

“Flooding depth will depend on the topography of theimpoundment, but rice should generally be flooded to an averagedepth of about 12 inches,” said Havens. “I usually recommendplanting corn in the deeper areas of impoundments, so the waterlevels can be raised to near the ears, while the remaining areas arestill flooded to shallow depths so ducks can bottom feed.

“I recommend flooding crops for ducks later in the year whenfeasible. Ducks use agricultural crops for high-energy sources, par-ticularly during cold-weather events experienced in late winter.Natural vegetation (moist-soil) areas can be flooded earlier andlonger, because natural seeds don’t deteriorate as rapidly as crops.”

The millets can be flooded more shallowly than taller crops

38 Mississippi Sportsman MAY 2011 www.MS-Sportsman.com

Corn provides a high-energy foodsource for ducks during periods ofcold weather. Standing corn stalkscan also provide cover for hunters aswell as thermal cover for ducks.

Most duck hunting takes place on harvested agriculturalfields. Disking is not recommended because it reduces theamount of food available for ducks post-harvest. Rice stubblecan be burned then flooded for maximum duck use. Huntingover croplands manipulated pre-harvest is not legal, but it islegal to hunt over crops manipulated after they are harvested.

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40 Mississippi Sportsman MAY 2011 www.MS-Sportsman.com

like corn, but as both biologists mentioned, flood depth too great lim-its a puddle duck’s ability to reach feed on the bottom. Geese preferwater depths less than 6 inches, whereas 12-18 inches is the preferredfeeding range of mallards, pintails and teal.

I asked Havens how long a duck manager should leave impound-ments flooded after hunting season, barring the hindrance of agricul-tural operations in crop fields.

“As long as there are ducks using impoundments, I recommendleaving areas flooded as long as possible,” he said. “Food resourcesare very important to ducks in late winter and early spring, as theyprepare for their northward migration. However, when productionagriculture is the main objective of the landowner, it’s not always fea-sible to keep fields flooded into the spring.”

Habitat diversity“Food plots provide ducks a good source of energy,” said

Brunke. “However, moist-soil wetlands and timber provide energyand a diverse suite of nutrients and cover types for ducks.

“During molts (early in the fall and late in the winter), ducks will usually target moist-soil areas. During cold snaps and after fly-ing long distances, ducks need a quick source of energy, and willuse crops more frequently. However, I’ve seen ducks do just theopposite too, so it’s best to have a diverse set of habitats on yourproperty.”

“Unharvested crops provide much more food for waterfowl thanharvested crops,” said Havens. “However, unharvested crops cansometimes be too dense for waterfowl to easily access.

“I recommend either planting strips of crops next to strips of nat-ural vegetation, or harvesting strips of crops to allow areas forwaterfowl to access the food resources. It’s important to rememberthat unharvested crops cannot be manipulated for waterfowl hunt-

ing. Harvestedcrops shouldnever be diskedbefore floodingif attractingwaterfowl isthe objective,because thisgreatly reducesthe amount ofgrain available for ducks.Research has shown thatburning and flooding ricestubble after harvest is aneffective way to attractducks and provide accessto the leftover grain.”

You can visitwww.msucares.com formore information on growing food plots for waterfowl. Your localcrop consultant can provide you with specific instructions on grow-ing crops on your property. The goal is to provide a diversity ofhabitats ranging from natural foods to planted crops. Water levelmanagement before, during and after hunting season will providemany months of valuable habitat for migrating waterfowl. By pro-viding everything a duck needs — water, food, cover and arrange-ment — and by limiting hunting pressure, a waterfowl manager canhave ideal conditions for ducks on his property. ■

Geese prefer water depths 6 inchesor less, and the shallow conditionsfound in rice fields are ideal feedinglocations. Beware that too much of agoose thing can be detrimental toduck hunting on a property. Whitegeese will feed out a duck hole in amatter of days, if not hours. Closewatch must be given to any duckholes in goose country.

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