Clearing an old pasture

[mike_belben]

I dont know what any of those weeds are.  The flea beatles hit everything first.. When the yellow cuke beetles show up my cukes are destined to get the blight shortly after as well as most cucurbits.  I will go from beautiful fruit to 1 in 3 being edible if you overlook the ugly.  No way sellable.  Junebugs and caterpillars are last.  I will pull 20-40 a day out of that tiny garden and then go around spot spraying another hundred a week atleast.  One briar can have 30 on it all mating away.  The caterpillars i get wreck my kale until it gets too cold then bug problem are over but so is most of the garden!  Drives me crazy. 

[Southside]

I haven't forgotten what the burdock is like, just saying these are on steroids. 6' is not a problem at all.

Gregg Judy has a YouTube video where he turns 300 head into a burdock patch that showed up after a flood. You literally can't see the cows through the weeds.

Mike is spot on when it comes to blight, rust, wilt, etc.  Heat, humidity, and zero air movement, perfect storm.  We actually are going to triple if not 4X the foot print of our garden this year, without adding any plantings to speak of.  Going to hill a lot more and leave a LOT of space between rows so the sun can get down in there and keep the plant bases from rotting out.  

On the subject of weeds, can't believe I forgot about the king of them all down this way - Pigweed, especially Palmer Pigweed - the one with sharp, hard, spines that run up and down it.  That stuff will germinate from March through October, and does not take long at all to have viable seed later in the year.  

Lets say you manage to get your corn in by late March.  Now if it's sweet corn the smut will take it over, assuming it didn't turn to 95 degrees the week it tasseled out, if it's sileage then it will be off by late August.  As soon as that ground sees sunlight it will explode with weeds, and even in August and September there are enough days for Palmer to produce 1 million viable seeds per plant before the killing frost.  It's a massive problem in the south now, the chemical response was to go to 2,4-D, but now even that doesn't work.  Nature will find a way.  

[SwampDonkey]

Forgot to mention, we do get a lot of 90's days up here now and certainly over 80, but thankfully our summer is shorter than yours. 90% humidity with 90F heat is the same no matter where you stand. ;D It will take the 'p***' out of ya. All the extra water your drink'n, see? :D The last 4 years have been brutal, especially when on the end of a clearing saw. ;D We usually start cutting by 5:30 am depending on how far the travel. You can get a lot of ground cut between 5:30 and 9:00 am, by 2:30 pm you're on the way home, often by 1:00 pm. That's still almost 8 hrs on that saw. ;D Back 10 years ago, for 3 years, I was saying, "is the sun ever going to come out"? Rained 3 out of 7 days a week. I mean rain, not that mist.  Farmers couldn't even hoe the taters. A lot of them now have them big tractor/airplane looking sprayers, no hauling big tanks behind anymore.:D

[mike_belben]

I tell people all the time that the dog days of summer are the same in both places, we just trade a few winter months for summer months.  The different isnt so much more intensity (like hawaii.. Thats sun is a lazer) but lack of shade.  The northeast US is much more expensive and crowded with building.  Very little horizon to be seen and lots of shade to hide behind.  The south has so much more wide open. My yard down here i have to move about to follow the one spec of work shade or get burnt to a crisp. 

 

I will have something growing from like late march to maybe november.  But i never succeed with corn.  


I asked around and at a consensus of recommendation, tried sevin one time in the garden on plants i knew werent gonna put up any more fruit, and it made no difference i could see.  Still had variety of bugs.  So i took to blasting the japanese beatles directly with it on a lap around every other evening.  we call'm june bugs here not sure if thats correct.. they sure venture beyond their calendar appointment!  The 5ft high brushy weedy edge growth all around me supports swarms of them.    And i realized they were the white ground worm ive began stomping every time i see them.  so i hope last years reduction makes a big dent this season.



There are some old NY hippy transplants been here 40 years that i know and they grow year round with plastic tunnels.  Actually in the tunnels their stuff grows like wildfire!  I couldnt believe the photos.


I had too much going on for it this year but i think a lot of my solution will be going to more cool season gardening under plastic.  No bugs or blight to swear at.  Summer time hobby farmers are all over selling cheap out of truck beds in parking lots so why not support them more?  

[SwampDonkey]

Our June bugs here are huge fat things in the lawn under the roots that the skunks dig and eat (white grubs). They fly at night, and thankful for screen'n or they would buzz right on into the house. They are big like dung beetles. Lots of skunks around by the dozen. ;D

"Cheap, out of truck beds" don't compute up this way. You're $3 for 3 lb of carrots in the store will be about $9 from them. :D Your probably used to $2 eggs down there, your not going to get them from the hobby guys up here for less that $6.50 a doz. :D I can get them for $3 if I go out of my way, or get them $3.50 in store with the rest of the groceries. :D

[mike_belben]

Eggs get pushed on me free my a friend with a chicken problem.  Thankfully i hardly ever deal with skunks any more.  Had to shoot a mess of em under my shed in mass.


Theres no money on this plateau.  14 an hour is a lifer wage.  Someone can ask what they want but theyll just be bringin em home to rot.  Theres one guy i see in one particular spot always packing up a full load as "rush hour" ends.


Its meth marlboro and mountain dew so that whole organic thing hasnt really took off yet 

;D

[SwampDonkey]

I don't deal with the skunks, they deal with the grubs. They can dig all they want on this lawn. Father always called it a ram pasture, so ain't hurt'n noth'n. :D Besides, skunks is purdy critters. Skunks like to rob eggs.

[Southside]

I leave the skunks alone as they eat a lot of grubs, same as the possum since the suck up every tick they can find.  

[DDW_OR]

how many acres total?

My 2 cents
spend your $$ carefully, they are hard to come by, try to have $3,000 in reserve
get the chainsaw and mower, echo makes a good general use chainsaw

raised beds = Good
Greenhouse = Better

2 fuel tanks, one diesel and one non-ethanol gasoline
can be 55 gallon drums with hand pumps with water separator filters.
one pump gasoline rated

then get a tractor, diesel, minimum of 30 HP and 4x4, with front-end-loader (FEL) with skidsteer quick attachment

attachments, front or back
rototiller
disk plow
skidder winch with trailer hitch
box blade, or grader blade
pallet forks, i added 2 extra forks to make a tractor pitch fork

I have used Agdirect.com for forestry loans.ALWAYS get Fixed Rate

Future - get a sawmill. the Wood-Mizer can be modified to cut wider.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=84823.msg1297441;topicseen#msg1297441

[Nebraska]

Fence it, 48 inch woven wire. and add some goats to that previous  list  (big ones,not pygmy or nigerians)  to the 1.5 acres they will quickly  eat /destroy anything tree wise you don't need a chainsaw to cut.

[Tacotodd]

And they will readily trim what falls!

[aquinnk]

Total land I have is 13 acres, all woods currently, except a roughly 2 acre pond and 2 creeks. The entire plot used to be apart of a very large pasture, but was broken up over the years and is now mostly trees. The area in question was always grass up until 2014, which is when the pines made their stand. No more I say. I bought an echo 410u, and have been making good progress. Lots of scrub pines everywhere.

I should've been more clear with the 1.5 acre usage, as it won't all be one big garden. It's just me for now so I'll probably have a .5 acre garden, maybe some chickens and turkeys as well. Really it'll be my open area, with multiple uses. I just wasn't sure if having all of the pines converted to mulch was really worth the expense, which after reading everyone's comments, I decided it wasn't.

Here are satellite photos from 2014 vs 2020. In the 2014 photo you can see where the pines started to spring up.

[SwampDonkey]

It's a constant battle for sure. A 1/2 acre garden will certainly feed ya. A lot of the time and garden will have a large viney plant spot that can take a lot of space. Chickens will be in the greens, they will also eat bugs. ;D Up this way an unattended pasture can become a really thick spruce grove (limbs intertwining neighboring tree limbs) in 15 years or aspen grove. I have been watching a little patch on a neighbor and it is solid spruce thicker than grass. :D

[mike_belben]

that pine don't waste any time.  in 2015 i mowed a row of seedlings i didn't know was there.  they're approaching 10ft tall now.