Dealing with leaves in spring?

[MojoRisin]

Please bear with me on what might seem to be stupid questions to some of you keeping in mind I am still pretty new at this.

Two years ago a cleared an area in the woods (1/4 acre lets say) and got a plot started with GRO’s Soil Builder mix. It did well considering the acidic soil. I broadcast additional clover, WR, and oats in there in that fall.

This area is fairly wet and it gets lots of leaves. I felt I needed to rake the leaves this past spring to plant again. After raking the wet leaves, the dirt looked bare. Does dormant clover and WR look like dormant grass (brown and flat)? Did I probably rake out the clover and WR?

I want to make this area a perennial clover plot for a few years to minimize my work. I know I will have to rake again or the leaves will prohibit growth. I raked last year in April and planted the Soil Builder mix in there again and have once again added clover, WR, oats, and some brassicas this year. I would like to frost seed more clover this winter but am concerned the seed won’t make it to the soil, getting trapped on the leaves. I can’t do any fall raking because it is obviously hunting season.

Any recommendations for me?

 

[H80Hunter]

I ran into this in a small 1/3 acre plot in the woods (LC Rye Mix). The canopy over the plot allows a lot of light in, but still in the fall, the leaves are heavy. In the fall, they just lay on top of and among the plants in the plot, but after the winter, it's a mat of leaves. I felt, at least this spring, like it inhibited the clover (and certainly hurt my frost seeding efforts). I'm not sure there's a great option to fix this, you COULD leaf blow in November but I imagine enough leaves working there way in anyway over the late fall, winter and early Spring. Plus, that's only an option for very small plots and I'm hunting also so I'm not sure how beneficial it is to have a food plot, but be in there with a leaf blower in November.

I've pretty much resigned to just leaving it go anyway since this plot doesn't grow many weeds, and I'll replant it next August anyway. By then, the leaves are so broken down that they are basically gone. The clover does seem to fill in eventually.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Pretty sure the last place I would be caught dead in Nov would be in my kill plot with a leaf blower

 

[Peplin Creek]

I have this problem. I hunt in an area where deer are used to hearing chainsaws, leaf blowers etc. so I go in the woods about second week of oct and leaf blow my plots and then paths to my deer stands. The deer don't mind and my big buck sightings have increases because my entries and exits are less intrusive. What I like to also do is late fall, second weekend of Wisconsin's rifle season is if no one else is hunting, Clear off all my plots one more time that need it. Deer are usually pretty skiddish at that point and just hunker down. I do it to try and give my plots every chance to succeed the following spring.

 

[Ben Glantz]

I have 2 plots in the woods. I go into each plot in late Feb or early march(after the snow has melted) and use my leaf blower and rake to remove the leaves. Most years I will also frost seed at that time because we will get freezing nights with thawing days. I had to redo a plot this year due to morning glory invading my clover. Kileld the whole plot with gly. I spread my clover mix, WR and oats. I am kind of hoping/praying the WR will wake up in the spring and help 'pick up' the leaves off the forest floor and allow the clover to take off. If not, back to the leaf blower.

 

[SD51555]

Cut down the trees. You'll get extra sun, alleviate your leaf source, and have some fresh browse on the edge of your plots. Use those trees to tighten up entry and exit points. Then put some apple trees on the north side.

 

[yoderjac]

You can chew up leaves with a bushhog if they are dry, but I like a side discharge finish mower. I simply mow in a pattern that moves the debris and clippings from the inside of the field out.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[MojoRisin]

I have 2 plots in the woods. I go into each plot in late Feb or early march(after the snow has melted) and use my leaf blower and rake to remove the leaves. Most years I will also frost seed at that time because we will get freezing nights with thawing days. I had to redo a plot this year due to morning glory invading my clover. Kileld the whole plot with gly. I spread my clover mix, WR and oats. I am kind of hoping/praying the WR will wake up in the spring and help 'pick up' the leaves off the forest floor and allow the clover to take off. If not, back to the leaf blower.

Ben, when you rake the plot, do you feel like you are raking out the clover and WR? That is my concern with raking. When I have raked in April, my leaves have still been very wet and frozen at times.

There are too many stumps and wet areas in this plot to mow.

Would I be best off putting more clover in now versus frost seeding due to the leaves and then waiting until things dry (say late May, early June) and trying a leaf blower with light raking? Would that be too late?

 

[Bill]

Cut down the trees. You'll get extra sun, alleviate your leaf source, and have some fresh browse on the edge of your plots. Use those trees to tighten up entry and exit points. Then put some apple trees on the north side.

This is my vote also.

 

[FarmerDan]

Wet is something you cannot fix. In your description, the wet bothers me more than the leaves.

 

[yoderjac]

Another thing I've done for micro plots in the hardwoods is to use a leaf blower when the leaves are dry. You have to do this before things freeze or get wet. It is a lot more work, but it does work.

 

[MojoRisin]

Wet is something you cannot fix. In your description, the wet bothers me more than the leaves.

The lower area in this plot is wet but gets enough growth. Alsike is doing fine in there. It is just a kill plot.

 

[BobinCt]

I've ran into the same problem before. Cut the surrounding trees down around it ( unless they are white oaks). I personally couldn't cut white oaks. If you don't cut them, it's on ongoing problem year after year and it just makes you work more by raking leaves. The plot isn't too big so there can't be too many trees. Also, if you do decide to cut them, try and land them outside of the plot or else you will have more work on your hands.

 

[Ben Glantz]

Ben, when you rake the plot, do you feel like you are raking out the clover and WR? That is my concern with raking. When I have raked in April, my leaves have still been very wet and frozen at times.

There are too many stumps and wet areas in this plot to mow.

Would I be best off putting more clover in now versus frost seeding due to the leaves and then waiting until things dry (say late May, early June) and trying a leaf blower with light raking? Would that be too late?

I use a leaf blower most of the time. It seems after the snow melts and a few good dry days, I can get enough leaves up to see the dirt again. I always try to get the leaves off in late February or mid March. Even if the leaves are a bit wet, the leaf blower gets them up and moves them around even if I don't get them all off the plot.

Some years when I blow the leaves off, I can see the clover lying dormant on the ground. Other years it seems like it is bare dirt. I over seed no matter what.

I would add additional clover seed now and also in the spring. I figure it never hurts to have a little extra seed on the ground.

I also add lime and a little fertilizer every other year.

 

[MojoRisin]

Thanks everyone. I will need to consider cutting down the “leaf” trees and will probably go that route. I was hoping to avoid it but not doing so will just cause me more work in the long run versus the less work I am after.

 

[jsasker007]

I would only take trees out if you are sure that area is going to remain foodplot.

 

[yoderjac]

The lower area in this plot is wet but gets enough growth. Alsike is doing fine in there. It is just a kill plot.

Another option is to kill them standing. Eventually you will need to deal with them but they will make a good home for some kinds of wildlife in the meantime. I've done this with a few poplar trees. I simply take my chainsaw and cut through the cambium into the wood and make a ring around the tree. To be sure, I make a second ring an couple inches above or below. I then pain the rings with straight 41% glyphosate using a paint brush and trying to make as much contact with the cambium as I can. The tree will drop its leaves and eventually die. The gly keeps it from forming water sprout below the cut. Trees like this can stand for years before a storm blows them down. At that point, you have some chainsaw cleanup work to do in the field.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[MojoRisin]

Thanks Jack. I like that idea and can do that easily enough.