buckeye dan

I spoke with UL earlier today and we aren't out of the woods just yet. Repairs are in progress however so hang in there!

DocR
I have to warn you that Birdsfoot Trefoil is considered an invasive species in your area. Some of the other things you mentioned may be as well. Sorry but I can't memorize them all. It may actually be illegal to plant specific things where you live. I can't stress enough how important it is to know these regulations.

Not only can this knowledge keep you from jail and fines but it may also prevent some mediocre crop from destroying the ecosystem critical to all sorts of things we are hardly aware of but still vital to the area..

Birdsfoot is tolerated in hill country as a mechanism to fight soil erosion. Even in those regions it is under scrutiny for being an invasive.

I urge you to take the time to learn what is and isn't a good idea for your region. This website should send you in the right direction:
http://www.dnr.state...ives/index.html

Case and point:
Multiflora Rose was once considered to be natures answer to barbed wire. Look how that turned out.

Regional birds can distribute seeds for miles. Migratory birds can do it for hundreds or thousands of miles.

The most important thing any of us can do as stewards of the land is develop native habitat. You'd be surprised how little that requires the effort of human interaction. More times than not I can enter a wooded area and fell a couple dozen trees in a choice location without spraying chemicals, soil disruption or without planting a single seed and do more for the wildlife than any other man made plot can accomplish.

Stuff to think about...

The problem with water soluble fertilizers is the fact they are water soluble. They don't stick long enough to be absorbed by the plants without repeated applications. It works great in potted plants unless they are saturated enough to wash it through the drain holes. You would be much better off correcting PH so the plants can use the food that is resident in the soil. Time released solids are much better.

Deer will eat the greens. Frost seems to make them more palatable. That much has already been said and I'll verify it.

The roots are low in carbs, high in starch, virtually fat free but they do siphon trace minerals and vitamins. Depending on the strain they can contain some proteins but not a lot of calories. Given the proper conditions (soil, temperature, moisture etc etc) they can be high in sugar which does attract deer.

Depending on climate the deer may or may not expend the energy to dig them up. Don't sweat it if they do not eat the roots. The nutrition they gain at the time the roots are most palatable to them really isn't worth the trouble for them to extract them from the ground. Again this varies based on soil, temperature, habitat, moisture etc etc. If the deer are pounding them it could be an indicator that they lack other things you could provide for them for a lot less money.

When the radishes trigger deer is when they need carbs, calories and fat the most. The question arises "Should we be offering this food to them?" I'm going to let the deer in your area take care of themselves and answer that question for you. There just isn't enough research to answer that.

The one thing they do that we humans can appreciate is drill the soil. I've seen them referred to as natures rototillers. Maybe not the best thing for deer but they do good things to the soil. Everywhere one exists that is allowed to die creates a void. They add organic material, aerate and redistribute trace material that is all good for future plantings of stuff that the deer would benefit from even more. It's even been said they can remedy hard pan under the proper conditions.

I wish I had some more precise info to provide. The early introductions of the Daikon to the plotting market was full of marketing claims trying to justify the price of expensive seeds that were nutritionally questionable while trying to appeal to the farmer in all of us. If you could find the seed cheap enough I would toss them into a 4 year rotation strictly for the soil benefits as part of a secondary crop with something that plays well but is more nutritious to the deer.

I've been reading up on the cpanel hacks. Let me know if you need any help. Also make sure you have the latest version of cpanel. The latest iteration claims to have fixed 202 "bugs". Sounds a lot like a Microsoft update.