The Regeneration Opening (pic intensive)

[Raider Bill]

I'm closer Marcel and have billions of blackberries. Last year I mowed down close to 20 acres worth some 8ft tall. The rabbits eat the berries, then the copperheads come in and eat the rabbits and then I come in a mulch everybody! :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL019GoQMG4

[mesquite buckeye]

You can pick mine without a ladder. ;D 8) 8) 8)

[pine]

Hopefully you have the native type blackberries.  We have a lot of the Himalayan Blackberry which has now been classified as noxious.  They came in a century ago and have been invasive.  Have large berries that make good pies but large seeds and very large canes and thorns.

[thecfarm]

We have a few berries on top of the hill,on paper company land. But just a little ways away there is a wicked patch. The blackberries are the size of my thumb. Takes no time to pick a quart. But it's just about straight up for about 20 feet. I have fell many times. Never spilled them. Had lots of practice not spilling another type of beverage.  :D I ask each year to pick. They don't want them and we pay with a pint of blackberry jam.

[OneWithWood]

Here is a pic of Linnea and Chester harvesting berries for a pie:


 

The pic was taken in 2008.  The area now is a tulip poplar grove on the left, where the berries were, and a wildlife food plot on the right.

[OneWithWood]

June 21,2014.

As always, if I have misidentified something please jump in with the correction.

the large opening facing south


 

the large opening panning east


 

the large opening panning west


 

the small opening facing northeast


 
It is time to mow and spray the stilt grass again.  That stuff is a serious pain in the patootee  :-\

the pond between the two openings


 

[WDH]

It is amazing how open it has remained.  Down here, it would be over head tall in weeds, blackberry bushes, and sweetgum. 

[OneWithWood]

June 21, 2014
A closer look at some of the flora:

White oak, Quercus alba, seedling


 

Red oaks, Quercus rubra
 

  

Black oak, Quercus velutina, seedlings


 

windthrown oaks


 

American sycamore, Platanus occidentalis


 

Sassafrass seedling, Sassafrass albidum


 

Hickory, Corya, stump sprouts.  I am not sure which of the many hickories these are.  You have your choice between shagbark, shellbark, pignut, bitternut or mockernut.


 

Eastern red cedar, Juniperus virginiana


 

Joe Pye weed, Eupatorium fistulosum


 

Horse nettle, Solanum carolinense


 

Field thistle, Cirsium discolor


 

Blackberry, Rubus fruiticosus


 

Ox-eye daisies, Chrysanthemum vulgare, and Christmas fern, Polystichum acrostichoides


 

Common mullein, Verbascus Thapsus


 

Penstemon or Beardtongue, Penstemon schmidel


 

Slender mountain mint, Pycnanthemum tenuifolium


 

[OneWithWood]

Good morning, Danny. 
Yes, these two clearings are not normal in the sense that the brambles have not taken over as you suggest.  All the other openings I have done were to dense to walk through after the second season.

[OneWithWood]

I need to work on my gallery.  I see many of the pics need to be rotated.  Gimme a minute or four.  :

[OneWithWood]

Well, crapola.  I went back to my gallery and attempted to rotate the pics but even though the prompt showed the pic rotated and saved nothing happened.  My apologies if you need to lay on your side to clearly see the pics!  >:(

[OneWithWood]

June 21, 2014.

My ongoing battle with invasive or unwanted plants continues.  It seems I was able to knock back a bunch but I will probably be doing mop up activities forever.

Pink multiflora rose


 

Multiflora rose, Rosa multiflora


 

Burdock, Arctium minus


 

Paulownia or Empress tree, Paulownia tomentosa


 

Autumn olive, Elaeagnus umbellate


 

Canadian thistle, Cirsium arvense


 

Not pictured is Ailanthus or Tree of Heaven.
Actually if you go back to the pic of the Sycamore you will see an Ailanthus in the far right of the pic.

[OneWithWood]

June 21, 2014.

Fauna!  finally!

These pictures were captured by a game cam I set up facing the small opening. 

Deer


 

Turkey


 

Hen turkey - lower left of pic


 

Coyotes


 

That's all until next time.  Maybe by then I will have figured out how to properly rotate pics.

[thecfarm]

Burdock,I have no idea what kind you have. My Father and me frought that stuff for years. Neighbor up the road has it. Hope it stays up there.
I like the game pictures.

[OneWithWood]

 We have the pain-in-the-a$$ kind!  :D

[thecfarm]

Ayup,same kind.  ;D

[WDH]

Robert,

You might not be much on rotating pics, but you sure make a nice opening  .

[OneWithWood]

Ok, with the advice of Magic and Jeff, I was able to correct the out-of-kilter pics.
Hope it is easier to look at now.

[Wick]

I'm closer Marcel and have billions of blackberries. Last year I mowed down close to 20 acres worth some 8ft tall. The rabbits eat the berries, then the copperheads come in and eat the rabbits and then I come in a mulch everybody! :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL019GoQMG4

What is that small tree standing to the right of the pine at the 2:35 mark. I have the same situation between my 7 yr old pine tree stand. It's a chore keeping them under control. I have to use my commercial John Deere mower between them now, as the tractor won't fit anymore. I have cut some 6 or 7' tall this year 
Have been wondering what kind of weedy tree it was. The birds must love them and spread the seeds everywhere.  :-\

[WDH]

It was either a sumac, probably winged sumac, Rhus copillinum, or devil's walking stick, Aralia spinosa.   

[Wick]

Thanks WDH. A quick search and it appers to be sumac, not poison.

[OneWithWood]

Hard to believe it is fall already, where did the summer go?
Here are the pics taken September 22, 2014.

The small opening - the brownish purple spots are the remains of some stiltgrass that was treated with Poast.


 

The pond between the two openings.  There is a lot of reflection so the water is a bit hard to see.  The clarity of the water is excellent now.


 

The large opening panning east.


 

The large opening looking due south.


 

The large opening panning west.


 

Here are some ground level pics to help put the growth in perspective.
Large opening looking east.


 

Ground level facing south.


 

Ground view from the NW corner.


 

Ground view from western edge.


 

Ground view looking back north.  You can see the observation stand at the far northern edge.  Compare this photo from one of the first pics in this thread to get a good feel for how this plot has changed over time.


 

The ground view images give you a better perspective of the trees that are starting to top the ground vegetation.  Most of the stems are sycamore with a smattering of tulip poplar and big tooth aspen.  There are still a fair number of oaks that survived the wind.

We had cooler evenings than normal for September this year and most of the flowers got nipped.  Here is a shot of a Senecio vulgaris (common groundsel) with some seed still attached but much more bare than the same time last year.


 

This is one fruiting plant best avoided.  Solanum carolinense (horse-nettle), deadly poisonous.


 

and I could not post an update without showing a hickory and an oak seedling.


 

The blackberry canes are beginning to gain some ground and there is more thistle than I would like but the area is still passable three years in.

[WDH]

Thanks for the update.  Good thing that you don't have sweetgum  :D.

[OneWithWood]

We do have black gum, or tupelo, but it seems to be much better behaved than your sweet gum.  ;)

[OneWithWood]

Another 3 months have rolled by.  Here are the pics taken 12/22/2014.  It was an overcast day and due to a messed up back I did not linger in the area for long.  Much of the flora and some of the fauna were napping anyway.

The small opening:


 

The pond between the two openings:


 

The large opening panning east:


 

The large opening panning east from ground level:


 

The large opening facing due south:


 

The large opening facing south at ground level:


 

The large opening panning west:


 

The large opening panning west at ground level:


 

That's all for now.  I hope to do more close up documentation in the spring.