buckaroo
Well-Known Member
Im clearing around foodplots, and fruit trees, cutting and stacking cedars, liming fields and trees
I'm got some liming and frost seeding to do. I've done some TSI already and have more to do. I still take care of my orchards even though it's pointless anymore. I plan to plant about 100 sawtooth oaks at the farm to break up a field alittle. I've got a big access project to do after the dump truck destroyed one of my entrances to one property. Not habitat related but also plan to get started on a cabin spot after the road is repaired. I will need to do a few burns this year also on spots that I burn every other year.
Pines? I'm clearing out 2 acres of cedars, thinking they arent much benefit, going to keep half acre of them for the birdsRealizing none of the hunters in my family are getting any younger, and anything we want to do habitat-wise that we get to see full benefit from needs to be done NOW, we're having a pretty heavy timber cut done on 1/5th of our entire property. In addition, hardwood value is sky-high right now. In the old growth sections (80-90 year-old timber), just about everything is being cut (because it's all marketable). In the younger growth hardwoods (40 years old), probably a 30-40% thinning.
Hope to expand our food plots considerably (to near 10 acres instead of the current 5). And I can't believe I'm saying this as I swore I would never do it again, but looking at planting sections of the clear-cut areas back in pines.
Why is the orchard pointless? I have 125 apple treesI'm got some liming and frost seeding to do. I've done some TSI already and have more to do. I still take care of my orchards even though it's pointless anymore. I plan to plant about 100 sawtooth oaks at the farm to break up a field alittle. I've got a big access project to do after the dump truck destroyed one of my entrances to one property. Not habitat related but also plan to get started on a cabin spot after the road is repaired. I will need to do a few burns this year also on spots that I burn every other year.
You have a lot of work! Hope your retiredHard thinning of approx150 acres of large pine for warm season grasses and forbs, clear cutting another 50 acres to plant native grasses .
Thinning another 50 acres of hardwoods that have canopied over to produce browse and forbs.
Starting to prove firebreaks before burning approx 500 acres scattered all about the farms .
Preparing to order spring seed for plots and will soon frost seed a couple clover plots established last year to fill in and strengthen the stand.
about to clear cut 20 acre overgrown sanctuary to return it to its previous glory of grasses and cover.
then to thin about 100 acres of too slow growth pine that wont make pulpwood to generate tons of browse and acres of cover with grasses and forbs. If everything goes well, ill finish just in time to plant in April.
Pines? I'm clearing out 2 acres of cedars, thinking they arent much benefit, going to keep half acre of them for the birds
I started with several hundred. We didn't have bears everywhere at the time. Now we have bears everywhere. Bears don't let the fruit get ripe. They tend to rip all of the limbs off and break the trees down as early as June. A deer doesn't have a prayer of getting an apple or pear or persimmon or anything here.Why is the orchard pointless? I have 125 apple trees
I'm curious, and I'm sure there's a purpose, but what's the reason for planting native grasses versus burning and promoting it? Fire stimulates decades-old seed beds of native grasses and forbs (which I'm sure you know)Hard thinning of approx150 acres of large pine for warm season grasses and forbs, clear cutting another 50 acres to plant native grasses.
I've worked on my for 7 yrs, but looking back a dozer would have been the easiestI'm struggling with two areas on our place that are cedars....one large area and one smaller area.....these cedars are old and all the bottom limbs are dead up 6 foot high...wide open in this thicket....other trees in area are dogwood and a random poplar....but ground is shaded out with nothing much of benefit growing....wanting to open it up...or at least portions of it....to allow sunlight in.....just struggling with best route to take to get it done.
Its my full time job. I also have contracted and oversee a logger for hardwoods select cuts and another larger logging operation for pine for posts and pulp otherwise I couldnt get all this done.You have a lot of work! Hope your retired
about to clear 20 acres similar ground. Dozer would be easy but will leave a mess of rough ground unless you are disking nd planting. I dont want to deal with that and the seed bank stored there. I will cut and pile with a tractor in windrows that will burn next year and hope for a return of the natives that thrived here before. Warm season grasses and forbs, cover and browse.I've worked on my for 7 yrs, but looking back a dozer would have been the easiest
In a purely hardwood environment, thick evergreens, such as younger pines or cedars thickets, are Mana from Heaven to deer. They use them extensively as cover and during cold, wet weather. However, as pines and cedars mature, the quality of the cover they provide diminishes.Pines? I'm clearing out 2 acres of cedars, thinking they arent much benefit, going to keep half acre of them for the birds
You are absolutely correct and with time might work on this property but This ground was part of a commercial pine property and has had generations of pines raised and harvested then they bulldozed and bogged before replant. This was some of the poorest soil I have ever worked with when I built plots in it and now we are clearing around the plots to create cover, security and native browse, will also have to burn, doze and bog to make it manageable and the owner wants to insure a good stand hopefully sooner rather than later. It takes seeded warm season grasses 3 years to establish (Sleep, creep and leap) are what some call it. On grossly abused and poorly managed soils hoping for the seedbank to deliver can be a long wait. We are hoping for the process you mentioned to work over most of the thinning ground.I'm curious, and I'm sure there's a purpose, but what's the reason for planting native grasses versus burning and promoting it? Fire stimulates decades-old seed beds of native grasses and forbs (which I'm sure you know)
I've been testing small areas using a forestry mulcher. Early summer mulching had a postive response, early fall mulching for firebreaks are looking on the plus side so far. We are just starting winter mulching. What kind of results have you had and what time of the year did you do the mulching?Waiting till early summer for my new property to dry out.
Next summer, bringing in a forestry mulcher to double the size of the new plot i dozed in, create travel lanes through the jungle for deer to access the new plot, and get the beans/ sorgham in. Keep chipping away at the privet with hack and squirt and basal bark spraying.
On another farm, going to spend the $$$ amending the soil and putting in a 2ac plot.