This is what we achieved after having a Forestry Mulcher working on our Upper Peninsula property. The mulcher goes first, then we come behind with the side by side and brush hog for cleanup. I'll be raking the trails soon to remove woody debris, and then plant something in all these areas for ground cover and wildlife.
Does anyone have a recommendation on a fall planting?
The Hardwood Island Trail - YouTube (https://youtu.be/KAuvlIe6NIU)
This was the video I was making that resulted in the fun video Placing and Chasing
Placing and Chasing Cameras - YouTube (https://youtu.be/jhifEK8OzKI)
I caught the "place and chase' yesterday when the bell went off. This was the one I was waiting for. Any idea how many linear feet of trails you cleaned up or created? Seems like an awful lot! That pond area looks great.
It's a lot of work, but I envy you guys to have a place like that. Enjoy it.
We are making a pre pigroast run up there for just a couple days. Jeremy is going to fly the drone. Although I cant use the footage for a general release video, we hope to get an idea of clearing more property towards the pond that Lynda wants to possibly do. Ill try to make a point of walking the trails with the fitbit to get an approximation. Its gotta be well over a mile
Not far!! A mile of trails and I saw only one rock at 4:30. At my place go 29 feet and there is 5 rocks!! I straddle many rocks on my land.
That sure does look good!!! There will be many limbs coming in for the light. That will give you something to do in your spare time.
Id plant legumes as a first crop to start improving nitrogen and PH for good tilth and aeriation going into the future. Will help build your soil to support diverse future plant species for diverse wildlife attractant. Wildflowers and stuff to keep the polinators and songbirds.
Several types of clover, hairy vetch. Id probably toss out some brassicas too for fall. Maybe some type of a lettuce seed like buttercrunch, and some high protein cool season root vegetables with greens for now and bulbs for winter. like chicory, radish, turnip, rutabega. Those will all provides high protein greens going into winter, leave some bulbs to dig for in the dead of winter and then clovers and lettuce will green up immediately in spring providing critical relief to the starving survivors.
In early summer it will set seed and die off. If you then continually RUN IT OVER with the tractor until flattened into a mat like a crop circle you will have a new perennial crop every fall. The tires work the seed into slightly disturbed soil and the mat protects it from birds, sun scald and moisture loss, mulching into the top soil as it breaks down.
One bag of cool season foodplot mix will contain all these goodies but at a premium price. i would buy a pound or two each of several clovers at your local ag co-op as the bulk of initial greenup and lightly sprinkle a food plot bag into that, really stretching it out if necessary. The first stems will be like your seed trees for thickening up the following seasons.
Clover is extremely small so it goes very far despite seeming expensive per pound compared to other seed. And they are all prolific seeders so each season it will multiply itself dramatically. In a few years itll be a saladbar that supresses woody regen.
You put enough of this along your trail borders and youll have does that almost never leave your sanctuary. Bucks obviously like to visit the does dorm when love is in the air. I find bendy forage trails through forested areas, lined with food around blind turns, get waaay more use than open food plot fields. Nothing is comfortable in the open during rifle season.
Some fawns will make a life roughly where theyre raised, and thick, grassy regen areas with many trails and short distance views really attract momma at fawning time. I have one or two holding tight every summer just past the back gate. We bump them all the time. A mineral site will really draw them in as the antlers drop and embyos grow so be sure thats in place for when they need it most. The mineral and water control their movements more than food. I place the mineral and water apart with a browse trail in between that passes a stands line of site. They wont really use the mineral much in hunting season but all year theyve gotten used to using a core trail that suits you and it will become a seekers highway.
Im happy for ya jeff. Have fun with it buddy. smiley_thumbsup
Mike covered it pretty good..
My intitial thought was turnips and rye seeded probably 1st of August ish up there. It's pretty cheap. Then you could throw clover and the other out in food plot areas. A mitten seed house would be a good place to start. A such and such forage and turf...
I am a big fan of Jeff Sturgis (Whitetail Habitat Solutions) who has many hundreds of videos on Youtube. He has been a "Yooper" earlier in his life so he understands the area. First of all you need a soil sample. Take about 6 different samples per plot and have a Farmers Co-op let you know what you need for Lime and Fertilizer. The first year is the hardest to get it to grow. You will have to spray it (Glyphosate) 2-3 times before you can plant to get a complete kill on the grasses and weeds. The typical plot would include Peas, Soybeans, and Oats on one side and Brassica's (Forage Radish, Turnip, Kale, and Rape) on the other half. Then in September you can throw 150lbs / acre of Winter Rye over the Non-Brassica side to fill it in. Each Spring and Fall you can do a No-Till and improve your soil each year. This gives them food all the way from October through December...I also get my seed from the Co-op as many of the flashy packages in the store aren't what you want. They have a lot of inert matter (not seed) and plants that aren't going to benefit you or the deer. I will be happy to talk about it with you at the Pig Roast.
I've got a soil sampling kit coming in the mail. I've aquired a 3pt rake and plan on going up for a quick trip this week to rake what woody debris I can out of the mulched areas nothing really to round up on the trails yet as there aint no green to speak of. Really the only soil prep tool I have is the rake.
Crazy. Ordered Saturday here today.
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I'm guessing it's around 5.5 or a little lower.
Any other guesses? Winner gets . . . . . NOTHING!
Testing is better than guessing. . .
Much of it used to be farm land, so I'm not wagering anything on where it might be, But Id think acid for sure. But then again we are in big time limestone country. I think from some parts of the property to another, there could be big differences.
Interesting. Limestone could certainly be a factor. Leaf litter, etc. probably dictates the top 6-12". Testing tells the story. It'll be interesting to see how much variation you get over the whole place.
Thought Id throw this out now for y'alls consideration on where to go. We are off to do pigroast shopping today.
DIY Soil Sampling. From SHOVEL to RESULTS - YouTube (https://youtu.be/KfOvDUMb9vY)
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I'm surprised that most are alkaline. You are ready to plant in those plots after you kill off any weeds...The Roundabout will need some lime.
I bet it is because of all the area limestone. Im going to do again with distilled water just to be sure.
Quote from: thecfarm on July 19, 2021, 09:36:50 AM
Not far!! A mile of trails and I saw only one rock at 4:30. At my place go 29 feet and there is 5 rocks!! I straddle many rocks on my land.
That sure does look good!!! There will be many limbs coming in for the light. That will give you something to do in your spare time.
You and your darn stones lol
With all the stone haulin you do out in yer woods you would of been a key player in the making of the Egyptian pyramids lol lol
Quote from: HemlockKing on July 26, 2021, 01:47:11 PM
Quote from: thecfarm on July 19, 2021, 09:36:50 AM
Not far!! A mile of trails and I saw only one rock at 4:30. At my place go 29 feet and there is 5 rocks!! I straddle many rocks on my land.
That sure does look good!!! There will be many limbs coming in for the light. That will give you something to do in your spare time.
You and your darn stones lol
With all the stone haulin you do out in yer woods you would of been a key player in the making of the Egyptian pyramids lol lol
Yeah I think the same thing every time I see Jeff moving dirt or making holes. We could never dig post holes here the way Jeff can. You need a shale bar to break what you can and likely a hammer drill or an excavator with a hammer on it. Two stones for every dirt. Part of my plot then shelf comes up out of the ground, and at the back edge it is down 2.5' below grade, but all shelf. No fun putting in a septic tank. Took a big excavator with a hammer about 12 hours to cut the hole. AT Least Cfram can dig and move his, here it's all one piece. :D ;D >:(
You can get a lot done with a Landscape rake. It will even smooth out dirt fairly well.
We have some rocks in the topsoil, but they're round river rocks not very densely populating the dirt. I always thought that the last time a glacier pushed through the area, it drug them out of the river.
On our trails, after I got all the sticks out of the way with the landscape rake, I used a 67" tiller behind the tractor. I tied up the flap on the back, and every rock it hit, it threw it up in the air to land on top. We just went along with a stall cleaning fork, and threw them off the trail into the woods. We galloped horses through there, and didn't want them to step on a rock.
The rake worked pretty good.
Distilled water
Big difference. Now acid.
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Now that little tid-bit is fascinating and useful. I missed i in the video, but I assume (now) that the instructions called for distilled water? Certainly puts things in a different light.
It doesn't mention distilled water until it talked about rinsing dirty strips to make them readable. And then again later on.
There is a longer version of the video. Ive not made either public. May not until I update with this new revelation.
So from your reading, which is 'correct' distilled or not? Seems to make a big difference and I am thinking you don't want the PH of the water affecting your readings. I'll be interested to hear the full details when we finally meet in a few days. ;D ;D
It reads like dyslexic bomb disarmament. .
Now cut the blue wire. But first....
Quote from: Jeff on July 26, 2021, 08:35:46 PM
It reads like dyslexic bomb disarmament. .
Now cut the blue wire. But first....
:D That is EXACTLY the impression I was was getting as you read it on the video! Glad it was just a PH test kit and not the real thing. Like directions we got from one of my wife's girl friends decades ago to find their new house "two blocks before the old maple on the right, make a left..." (They got worse after that.)
Lynda found this photo from ubout 10 years ago. The only time I ever got her out to the hardwood Island, Before the big trees were brutalized by storm and age.
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Here is what I was able to do with a landscape rake on some of the newly mulched areas.
Clean up your WOODLAND trails with a LANDSCAPE RAKE! - YouTube (https://youtu.be/wlaEx9mWbUA)
I went to a "how to field the deer class". Was a couple hours. Had one guy that said, he would scatter the seeds than drive over it with his four wheeler to "pack" down the seeds into the ground. Worked better than a special roller he bought to do the same thing.
have fun!!!
That is exactly what I do Ray. :)
@Jeff (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=1) you can check your ph on just pure distilled and i think it should read 7. you can check the other water and see what it is. sort of a control.
Love that landscape rake. A 15yd load and a 10yd load of gravel raked and leveled with the 8n.
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Beautiful pictures 👍
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