native warm season grasses

[blueridge]

Do they benefit deer?I'm interested in an alternative to food plots.

 

[Tree Tramp]

For sure. The taller stuff like big bluestem and indian grass seems to be best for deer based on what i have. They seem to prefer these grasses to bed in, at least on my place. I would highly recommend it if you desire quick bedding areas and want to hold deer.

 

[blueridge]

Do they only use them for bedding or for browse to?

 

[landman]

there is a couple of guys who have a booth at NWTF, in front of the FT C buck display the are dealing with that stuff

 

[Tree Tramp]

Do they only use them for bedding or for browse to?

I would say mainly bedding, but other food sources grow under the native grasses. They browse on the plants underneath such as clover. I have food plots bodering some of mine and they wear them out.

Quailman would be another one to talk too. I think he knows quite a bit about NWSG's and the program.

 

[BSK]

Do they only use them for bedding or for browse to?

Primarily bedding (deer are not grass-eaters). However, there are techniques available, such as disking strips through the NWSG, that will promote broadleaf weed production, and broadleaf weeds are a high-value food source in summer.

 

[dr]

You can add some lespedeza with it, native season grasses are good bedding for turkey quail, and deer.

 

[fourwheeler431]

Could these be used it recently logged areas,to thicken it up quicker?

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

yes,i think so

 

[BSK]

Could these be used it recently logged areas,to thicken it up quicker?

Yes, but I doubt it would "thicken up quicker" than just letting an area go naturally. NWSG take two years to really get established. Two years will produce a lot of natural growth in a logged area.

Now if you wanted to favor NWSG growth over hardwood saplings in a logged area (basically, change the habitat type of the area on a long-term basis), planting NWSG in the area would certainly accomplish that, althpough broadleaf-specific herbicides would probably be needed as well.

 

[Football Hunter]

Could these be used it recently logged areas,to thicken it up quicker?

Yes, but I doubt it would "thicken up quicker" than just letting an area go naturally. NWSG take two years to really get established. Two years will produce a lot of natural growth in a logged area.

Now if you wanted to favor NWSG growth over hardwood saplings in a logged area (basically, change the habitat type of the area on a long-term basis), planting NWSG in the area would certainly accomplish that, althpough broadleaf-specific herbicides would probably be needed as well.

I would agree with that,places that I cut last year,by June you couldnt walk through em

 

[fourwheeler431]

The areas that they started in last year are starting to get thick already. I thought maybe the NWSG would help in the newer areas.

 

[MickThompson]

NWSGs are not shade-tolerant at all. They are fairly expensive to establish, and if you did not maintain the plantings with prescribed fire to control woody encroachment, the planting would be lost just a few years. NWSGs are slow to establish as well. You would not have an appreciable stand until the second season. I would just let succession happen. Within 3 years, it will as thick as you could want it.