On a cool, clear spring morning last week, I seeded one of several wildlife food plots I set up on 70 acres I own near Brainerd.
What? Isn't it way too early to plant anything?
No. I practiced a technique called frost-seeding.
Beneath a cobalt sky, I loaded a hand-cranked seed spreader with clover seed and began crisscrossing a food plot, spreading the tiny clover seed as evenly as possible.
I initially planted the food plot two years ago. Since that time the clover thinned and needed a jump start headed into this year's growing season.
Frost-seeding is not a new practice. Farmers have been using it for years. But, among those who manage their acreage for wildlife, frost-seeding is a relatively little-known undertaking.
Here is how it works: Frost-seeding involves spreading seeds (best to use clover or alfalfa) over ground that freezes at night and thaws during the day. This sequence causes the surface of the soil to heave and collapse, thus creating cracks and crevices in the soil. Seeds, like the ones I spread, are drawn into the soil. After the soil warms, the seeds will germinate.
Because of the lack of insulating snow cover this winter, there is likely more winter kill in food plots — and more need for a procedure like frost-seeding to help restore a plot.
