nwmn
5 year old buck +
Hey all. Been a minute since I've been frequenting this site but I've still been active in the landscape.
In 2020 we moved out to the in laws farm which is a paradise to me as there are giant oaks, tillable ground, and big buck potential. I've been planting food plots and helping that way, but I've been slowly trying to add bedding which this property is absolutely devoid of. Think of a city park and this is what the property looks like. Fescue growing in the woods with zero sun hitting forest floor. All open areas were previously mowed and taken over by smooth brome, ryegrass, bluegrass, etc. All cool season grasses. I've been cutting ash and basswood down to try and get regen and bedding and sunlight but all I do is create areas with taller cool season grass. I try and spray and work up a meadow and plant a pollinator planting during last years' drought and all was good...until this year. WIth no spring, and 12" rain since snow melt and recent temps soaring things have gotten out of control. RCG and thistles have absolutely taken over this planting.
I am trying to create a hot spot for milkweed as it's very prevalent out here but in most cases, where there is milkweed, there is thistle. I bought milestone understanding milkweed has aminopyralid tolerance. I sprayed thistle patches that in some cases took over half an acre in a year, and i'm seeing dieback of milkweed, what I am trying to protect.
I drive around looking at the landscape and all I see is grasses choking out any native species, I see thistles taking over anything that I've worked up, burned, sprayed while trying to add natives back to the landscape.
The only beneficial plant i've seen out here is milkweed. I dont think I've ever seen a native forb or flower besides flowering thistle lol. I'm really hesitant to resetting the grounds because there are oak seedlings growing all over in the grasses and I want to keep those going, but at the same time I would like to nuke it, and work it, then nuke it a few more times until I know the garbage species (rcg/thistle) will not take over once I plant a permanent mix into it and feel like I keep taking one step forward and 3 steps back.
I plan to get aspen logged, which will help add soil disturbance into the woods and get regen. However, I'm now afraid the only thing that will show up will be thistles and cool season grasses once sun hits the forest floor. I'm a fan of rx burning, so if I can manage grasses using that approach, I am more than game. The only thing is, we live in a weird area where we didnt even have one burning day this spring. Most springs we have one or two good days to burn followed by red flag days so it's tricky.
I've been treating many grass areas with clethodim, but haven't seen any affect yet (< 1 week in). I'm trying to pick my battles, but right now I feel like thistle is going to take over if I keep trying to tear out the bad stuff and replace with the good stuff.
Rant over. What would you guys do? I want to eliminate thistle and cool season grasses and add natives back to landscape. Shouldn't be this difficult right? Mother nature is always working against me as well so that's been a treat.
In 2020 we moved out to the in laws farm which is a paradise to me as there are giant oaks, tillable ground, and big buck potential. I've been planting food plots and helping that way, but I've been slowly trying to add bedding which this property is absolutely devoid of. Think of a city park and this is what the property looks like. Fescue growing in the woods with zero sun hitting forest floor. All open areas were previously mowed and taken over by smooth brome, ryegrass, bluegrass, etc. All cool season grasses. I've been cutting ash and basswood down to try and get regen and bedding and sunlight but all I do is create areas with taller cool season grass. I try and spray and work up a meadow and plant a pollinator planting during last years' drought and all was good...until this year. WIth no spring, and 12" rain since snow melt and recent temps soaring things have gotten out of control. RCG and thistles have absolutely taken over this planting.
I am trying to create a hot spot for milkweed as it's very prevalent out here but in most cases, where there is milkweed, there is thistle. I bought milestone understanding milkweed has aminopyralid tolerance. I sprayed thistle patches that in some cases took over half an acre in a year, and i'm seeing dieback of milkweed, what I am trying to protect.
I drive around looking at the landscape and all I see is grasses choking out any native species, I see thistles taking over anything that I've worked up, burned, sprayed while trying to add natives back to the landscape.
The only beneficial plant i've seen out here is milkweed. I dont think I've ever seen a native forb or flower besides flowering thistle lol. I'm really hesitant to resetting the grounds because there are oak seedlings growing all over in the grasses and I want to keep those going, but at the same time I would like to nuke it, and work it, then nuke it a few more times until I know the garbage species (rcg/thistle) will not take over once I plant a permanent mix into it and feel like I keep taking one step forward and 3 steps back.
I plan to get aspen logged, which will help add soil disturbance into the woods and get regen. However, I'm now afraid the only thing that will show up will be thistles and cool season grasses once sun hits the forest floor. I'm a fan of rx burning, so if I can manage grasses using that approach, I am more than game. The only thing is, we live in a weird area where we didnt even have one burning day this spring. Most springs we have one or two good days to burn followed by red flag days so it's tricky.
I've been treating many grass areas with clethodim, but haven't seen any affect yet (< 1 week in). I'm trying to pick my battles, but right now I feel like thistle is going to take over if I keep trying to tear out the bad stuff and replace with the good stuff.
Rant over. What would you guys do? I want to eliminate thistle and cool season grasses and add natives back to landscape. Shouldn't be this difficult right? Mother nature is always working against me as well so that's been a treat.