Me and a friend were discussing food plots and I was wondering if there was any vegetation that would germinate and grow this time of the year. He said oats would but I don't think so. I know they will grow but will they come up if you planted them to day? Do you know of something that would? I have always thought the ground needed to warm. Thanks Daniel

People talk about frost seeding clover, bit dont know exactly when the germination takes place.

I think cereal rye will pretty much grow anytime as ling as there is moisture.

Oats will burn in freezes, so i wouldn’t do oats this late in the winter.

Texas buckeye, thanks for the information. I will do some research. Have you got any idea of nutritional value? Thanks Daniel

Austrian winter peas and lentils both seem to handle cold temps pretty good.
You need to have planted them in Fall though to really do the best (grow) and be hardy for really cold temps.
Both of these are usually included in 'cool season' deer-plot mixes.

I actually just bought a couple of 5# bags of lentils from the dry-beans section of Walmart!
(this was after raiding a handful of the same from an open-bag in wife's pantry, and doing a germination and small test-bed to see if they grow)
They actually survived the 7° dip in temps we had a few weeks ago (6" high plants now - seed planted in November) - and the deer are tearing them up!

Clovers/ legumes are definitely the way to go for cool-season; high nutrition, and if you get the inoculated seed, you don't need to put tons of fertilizer!

I know some people that plant 'spring' wheat/oats. Given our mild winter and (so far) abundant moisture, it would probably work well this year. My question would be why, at this point. If you planted either in the fall you should have a pretty good stand - just let it grow. If you're trying to create something for the deer to rebound from winter, it's not a bad idea, provided you have some bare ground to do it. I wouldn't till under any current vegetation, as the little clovers and other winter weeds should be decent forage and you'd be trading tit for tat.

I would lean towards oats over wheat. While limited, my experience with wheat is that it can sour out before germinating in some cases.

Well, as for me I don't like to see gals with tats. So, I'd make that trade.

What is you end goal?