The Best Warm-Season Cover Crops for Deer Food Plots

When spring rolls around and soil temperatures start to rise, it’s the perfect time to think about warm-season cover crops for your food plots. These crops don’t just feed your deer herd—they also build healthier soil, suppress weeds, and support better forage production for seasons to come.

Whether you're managing a single plot or multiple locations, planting the right warm-season cover crops can improve the attractiveness of your land and promote better wildlife habitat. But preparing and maintaining these plots—especially when using herbicides or foliar nutrients—can be a challenge. That’s where the Plot Blaster boomless sprayer becomes a vital tool in your land management kit. It simplifies spraying, helps you cover more ground faster, and ensures your food plots stay productive and weed-free.

Let’s take a look at some of the best warm-season cover crops for deer, along with how the Plot Blaster makes planting and maintaining them much easier.

1. Cowpeas

Cowpeas are one of the most popular warm-season crops for deer—and for good reason. They’re high in protein, fast-growing, and deer love them. These legumes also fix nitrogen in the soil, making them a great rotation crop for later plantings of fall forage like brassicas or cereal grains.

Plot Tip: Deer will browse heavily on cowpeas, especially when they’re young. Consider planting in larger blocks or blending with less attractive crops to give them a fighting chance to establish.

Use the Plot Blaster: Before planting, use the Plot Blaster to spray and terminate any existing vegetation. By clearing weeds with an herbicide pass, your cowpeas will get a head start with less competition and better soil contact.

2. Soybeans

Soybeans are another go-to warm-season crop for whitetails. They’re a reliable choice for summer forage and double as a late-season food source if pods are left standing into fall and winter.

Plot Tip: Plant at a higher seeding rate to compensate for browsing pressure in small plots. Also, consider electric fencing or repellents if you’re dealing with heavy deer densities.

Use the Plot Blaster: After emergence, you can use the Plot Blaster with a selective herbicide to control grasses that compete with your soybeans. Add the Plot Blaster drift control agent for better spray accuracy and coverage.

3. Sunn Hemp

Sunn hemp is a tall, fast-growing legume that fixes nitrogen and adds organic matter to the soil. While not a preferred deer forage early on, it becomes more palatable as it matures and is great for soil building.

Plot Tip: Use sunn hemp in blends to provide vertical cover, which can help shy deer feel more secure entering open plots during daylight hours.

Use the Plot Blaster: Use the Plot Blaster with a flow control valve to apply low-volume foliar fertilizers or micronutrients during early vegetative stages. It’s a great way to boost plant health without lugging a wand sprayer around.

4. Sorghum

Sorghum varieties like forage sorghum and Egyptian wheat are great for structure, drought resistance, and summer screening. While not as nutrient-rich as legumes, they’re often used in blends to offer both cover and browse.

Plot Tip: Sorghum is less attractive to deer in early growth stages but provides valuable structure and grain heads later in the season. It also helps protect more tender forage from over-browsing.

Use the Plot Blaster: The wide swath of the Plot Blaster makes spraying pre-emergent herbicides across a large sorghum plot fast and efficient. With a 22-foot spray width, you’ll be done in minutes—not hours.

5. Buckwheat

Buckwheat is a fast-maturing, soil-building plant that deer find palatable throughout its growth. It’s ideal for quick summer food plots or as a nurse crop for fall plantings.

Plot Tip: Buckwheat works well on poor soils and germinates quickly. It’s also great for attracting pollinators and suppressing weeds naturally.

Use the Plot Blaster: Use the Plot Blaster to clear weeds with a glyphosate application 7–10 days before planting buckwheat. Its boomless design means you won’t get hung up when spraying tight lanes or wooded plot edges.

Maintaining Your Warm-Season Food Plots

Once your warm-season crops are up and growing, don’t neglect mid-season maintenance. That includes spot spraying for weeds, applying foliar nutrients, and addressing insect pressure if needed. With the Plot Blaster’s remote control, you can turn the sprayer on or off without leaving the driver’s seat—saving time and minimizing disruption.

The Plot Blaster’s durable aluminum construction, compatibility with pumps from 0.89 GPM to 6 GPM, and ability to dial in your spray pattern make it a smart investment for any land manager serious about growing better food plots.

Ready to Take Your Food Plots to the Next Level?

Warm-season cover crops are one of the best tools for attracting deer, improving soil health, and preparing for a successful hunting season. But planting and managing those crops shouldn’t feel like a full-time job.

With the Plot Blaster sprayer, you can simplify your food plot program from start to finish—burning down old growth, maintaining clean plots, and applying inputs with precision and speed. It’s one of the smartest upgrades you can make to your land management setup.