hard county
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2007
- Messages
- 785
I cleared out this half acre spot this year and just planted it. I thought I'd share my thought process with you guys.
#1 site selection. Sage was already on the ground in this spot and all the stumps you see are from gum trees which are as worthless to wildlife as sawmills. A few hours with a chainsaw and I had a huge pile of gum trees in the middle of a ring of mature hard mast trees bordering the plot.
#2 after a few weeks of drying I burned the brush pile. The wood ash left contains potassium and is very alkaline. I didn't get around to doing a soil test, but there are acid loving ferns growing everywhere in those woods so I knew the answer to the question How much lime? Was - More than practical for a small space you can only get an atv to. I did put out a small amount of lime and shoveled the wood ash onto the plot as well.
3. Site prep. I started by raking and burning the leaves but didn't have much luck, wasn't time efficient. I eventually had the idea to try a riding mower and it worked great. I picked up all the sticks, avoided stumps, started in the middle blowing leaves to the outside and by the time I finished had bare dirt showing. After that, i put out ~50lbs lime, one bag 0-20-20, wood ash. One pass over everything with a 4' section hare and it looked pretty good.
4. Sowed the seed and put up the feeder. I like a feeder like this as a sort of cover crop for new plots. It gets deer used to using the area and gives them something to eat other than brand new clover. A gravity feeder like this keeps the corn up off the ground away from cwd threats and dry to prevent alfatoxin mold. The plot is crimson/arrowleaf with some oats and greens. I fertilized with the clover in mind as it will be all thats left if it reseeds next year.
5. The salt lick in the picture is on a hollow gum tree. I filled the hollow up with 50lbs white salt and set the two trace blocks on top because I didn't get around to putting them on licks at other places I hunt. I'm curious to see how this works. Ive never used a hollow stump for this, and never put 150 lbs of salt out at one time.
6.if you can see, there a two big logs on the far side of the plot. The closest one curves so that the space between them forms a trough. Walmart has garden soil on clearance right now for 1$ so I thought I'd fill it up with 10 or so bags of dirt and plant some shrubs. Im thinking alegheny chinkapin, beautyberry, and strawberry bush. The last two are already on the place but I've never tried the raised beds in the woods like this so who knows if they'll do better, worse, or the same as if I'd just put them in the ground.
Would be glad to hear y'all thoughts! I'll be sure to post a follow pic or two once it starts coming in.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
#1 site selection. Sage was already on the ground in this spot and all the stumps you see are from gum trees which are as worthless to wildlife as sawmills. A few hours with a chainsaw and I had a huge pile of gum trees in the middle of a ring of mature hard mast trees bordering the plot.
#2 after a few weeks of drying I burned the brush pile. The wood ash left contains potassium and is very alkaline. I didn't get around to doing a soil test, but there are acid loving ferns growing everywhere in those woods so I knew the answer to the question How much lime? Was - More than practical for a small space you can only get an atv to. I did put out a small amount of lime and shoveled the wood ash onto the plot as well.
3. Site prep. I started by raking and burning the leaves but didn't have much luck, wasn't time efficient. I eventually had the idea to try a riding mower and it worked great. I picked up all the sticks, avoided stumps, started in the middle blowing leaves to the outside and by the time I finished had bare dirt showing. After that, i put out ~50lbs lime, one bag 0-20-20, wood ash. One pass over everything with a 4' section hare and it looked pretty good.
4. Sowed the seed and put up the feeder. I like a feeder like this as a sort of cover crop for new plots. It gets deer used to using the area and gives them something to eat other than brand new clover. A gravity feeder like this keeps the corn up off the ground away from cwd threats and dry to prevent alfatoxin mold. The plot is crimson/arrowleaf with some oats and greens. I fertilized with the clover in mind as it will be all thats left if it reseeds next year.
5. The salt lick in the picture is on a hollow gum tree. I filled the hollow up with 50lbs white salt and set the two trace blocks on top because I didn't get around to putting them on licks at other places I hunt. I'm curious to see how this works. Ive never used a hollow stump for this, and never put 150 lbs of salt out at one time.
6.if you can see, there a two big logs on the far side of the plot. The closest one curves so that the space between them forms a trough. Walmart has garden soil on clearance right now for 1$ so I thought I'd fill it up with 10 or so bags of dirt and plant some shrubs. Im thinking alegheny chinkapin, beautyberry, and strawberry bush. The last two are already on the place but I've never tried the raised beds in the woods like this so who knows if they'll do better, worse, or the same as if I'd just put them in the ground.
Would be glad to hear y'all thoughts! I'll be sure to post a follow pic or two once it starts coming in.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
