I had stated in another topic here about using cover plants in food plots to let a perennial mix get established. For those of us with farming backgrounds, most of us have been around planting oats or other grain crops that are harvested and then alfalfa comes up after. The problem with that for us that run food plots is that we either don't have the time or resources to do things this way.
I had started using buckwheat as a cover plant 2 years ago to allow my new perennial stands a chance to get going. It continues to work very well for me, and I thought I'd post some of the pics here for examples. The buckwheat is also an excellent food source until it heads out completely or that's what it seems like to me as the deer seem to leave it alone once the flowers get heavy. What I have found though is that with using buckwheat, the time it heads out, the perennial mix underneath is already well on it's way, and buckwheat isn't as thick as things like oats so it can simply be mowed off with a brush hog to let the perennial then take over. I'll also be posting the trail cam pics from the camera's first 2 weeks of run time on the plot in the deer photos section.
Pics of the Buckwheat....about 2.5 feet tall.
Maxi-Rack G-Force Perennial Blend underneath...