Corn and Cow Pea Food Plot

Cowpeas a a great food plot for summer and corn is a favorite of deer when the weather gets cold. Grown together, this is a killer combination.  The peas can use the corn stalks to climb up to the sun and give the food plot more thickness and biomass. More importantly, the peas can be eaten in late summer when palatable food starts to become scarce.  Also, the N fixation of the peas can help keep the soil fertile and save on fertilizer.
In this case, I had planted a summer cover crop mix in my yard.  In the spring I decided to plant sweet corn.  I was surprised to see cow peas popping up in the garden in June.  Now, in August, the peas have climbed up the corn and filled in all the open places to collect maximum sunlight.  The best thing about it is that I did not plant the peas, they must have reseeded themselves last year and the seed germinated naturally.  
Reseeding food plots can be done with crimson clover, buckwheat and cereals.  Just let the seed get mature and lightly disk or go over the area with a cultipacker.
This stand of food looks great without any inputs and just a few bucks worth of corn seeds.
I think next year I may try a food plot with cow peas and corn planted together and see what develops.

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