browndog
5 year old buck +
My Norways that I planted in the spring of 2013 look just like yours do now. They looked good last summer/fall and now most of them are toast. My black spruce look better right now too.
Habitat Happening: Live Blog!
- Thread starter SD51555
- Start date
My Norways that I planted in the spring of 2013 look just like yours do now. They looked good last summer/fall and now most of them are toast. My black spruce look better right now too.
I'd say they look like maples as well. You'll know soon enough!
JERRED GRACEY
5 year old buck +
the norways and the spruce, what purpose do they serve? love the thread
Jim Timber
5 year old buck +
I think "toast" is a bit premature. :) You need to wait and see how they respond. In 5 years that whole area will be large trunk and not missed at all if they just lost their needles.
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/sizing_up_winter_injury
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/sizing_up_winter_injury
nwmn
5 year old buck +
Two years in a row of planting norway spruce and each time we had the red needles in the spring. I'll have to check the areas in November to see if any bounce back. Pretty frustrating to see back to back springs. For all our sake, I hope the buds didn't dry out.
Jim Timber
5 year old buck +
I have lost some Norways to winter burn, but I've got several trees that looked pretty ragged in the spring which I know rebounded by summer.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
Day two...
We used a thousand foot pink string to steer our black spruce planting. The idea was to connect the plot, to the other plot, to the thick stuff, to the spot on the road where they cross. We're shooting for a 100% covered highway they can traverse to get across our property. It's fairly open all around us for about a half mile in any direction. If we can get this covered highway in, we may have a shot at really picking up the traffic from the critters.
The dogwoods I planted last year got browsed, and I mean all of them. The good news is, below the browse line I've been finding lots of duel buds. I'm hoping this is the starting point where they will begin to bush out.
We found two more wolf kills today, bringing the total to four kills we've found on our property. We passed on shooting deer last fall, and the wolves killed four anyway. And that's just on our 40.
This is #4.
We used a thousand foot pink string to steer our black spruce planting. The idea was to connect the plot, to the other plot, to the thick stuff, to the spot on the road where they cross. We're shooting for a 100% covered highway they can traverse to get across our property. It's fairly open all around us for about a half mile in any direction. If we can get this covered highway in, we may have a shot at really picking up the traffic from the critters.
The dogwoods I planted last year got browsed, and I mean all of them. The good news is, below the browse line I've been finding lots of duel buds. I'm hoping this is the starting point where they will begin to bush out.
We found two more wolf kills today, bringing the total to four kills we've found on our property. We passed on shooting deer last fall, and the wolves killed four anyway. And that's just on our 40.
This is #4.
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SD51555
5 year old buck +
I was really disappointed in the growth of my trees in the tubes that I planted in the spring of '13. So I made a knee jerk call to throw a fist full of lime around the base of each tube. Anybody want to chime in and let me know if I made the right call there? I also kicked some deer fertilizer on top.
Here's the plot all cleaned up. Marvin got a wild hair to steel rake it off. It's very clean now, and we'd like to pull the harrow across a few times to try to smooth out the humps and holes. We also put the trails cams out today too. I cannot wait to watch this plot unfold as the rye greens up.
All the stumps in the plot got a few cups of trace mineral salt on them to encourage the deer and bears to help dig these up. We were careful to not put on too much that we'd create a dead zone around these stumps.
We had a real soft rotten stump on the edge of the plot. We put a good deal of salt on this one. I just really want to see the deer and bear destroy this rotten stump.
Here's the plot all cleaned up. Marvin got a wild hair to steel rake it off. It's very clean now, and we'd like to pull the harrow across a few times to try to smooth out the humps and holes. We also put the trails cams out today too. I cannot wait to watch this plot unfold as the rye greens up.
All the stumps in the plot got a few cups of trace mineral salt on them to encourage the deer and bears to help dig these up. We were careful to not put on too much that we'd create a dead zone around these stumps.
We had a real soft rotten stump on the edge of the plot. We put a good deal of salt on this one. I just really want to see the deer and bear destroy this rotten stump.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
This is the opposite side of the plot. We had some extra lime, so we ran a streak right down the middle to see if we get a different result. That streak runs right at the trail cam on the far side. We opened up another 1/6th of an acre right next to this plot. We picked up all the crap and limed it. Step two is blasting with gly next month.
Did a little driving around as soon as we were done to count deer. Got a close up shot of this one as we were driving around.
And what update would be complete without a picture of a bear!
Did a little driving around as soon as we were done to count deer. Got a close up shot of this one as we were driving around.
And what update would be complete without a picture of a bear!
SD51555
5 year old buck +
And now final thoughts...
*We've got decent moisture yet, but we'll need some rain soon. The low spots are dryer than they've ever been. We've still got water on our place, but it's in the lowest of low spots.
*The mowed hay fields are looking pretty bleak. Even the road shoulders are barely turning green.
*Stu and Art, you guys were very right to be concerned about frost. We had to do a lot of hopskotch to get the spud bar buried. We found all kinds of frost down anywhere from 2-4 inches. We were able to dance around and find a spot to get through, but we probably couldn't have planted a single day sooner.
*We started a new mineral site. The old one had lots of poo and pee in it, and I didn't want to keep the nutrients on top of that. I also didn't want to carry that 20lb bag that damn far.
*We ended up planting about 370 of those black spruce, planted 10 manchurian crabs into tubes that had failed trees, and put in 16 white pines for the fun of it.
*Got all the tubed trees pruned that needed it.
*Cams out. One on plot, one on the new mineral site. Marvin will get his out somewhere next month. Next step now is to figure out what to do with our rye plot for the early summer. We want to seed it to pure brassica for the fall, but I don't know what to do in the mean time. I don't want to let the rye get so high that we get a residue problem. Any suggestions?
*We've got decent moisture yet, but we'll need some rain soon. The low spots are dryer than they've ever been. We've still got water on our place, but it's in the lowest of low spots.
*The mowed hay fields are looking pretty bleak. Even the road shoulders are barely turning green.
*Stu and Art, you guys were very right to be concerned about frost. We had to do a lot of hopskotch to get the spud bar buried. We found all kinds of frost down anywhere from 2-4 inches. We were able to dance around and find a spot to get through, but we probably couldn't have planted a single day sooner.
*We started a new mineral site. The old one had lots of poo and pee in it, and I didn't want to keep the nutrients on top of that. I also didn't want to carry that 20lb bag that damn far.
*We ended up planting about 370 of those black spruce, planted 10 manchurian crabs into tubes that had failed trees, and put in 16 white pines for the fun of it.
*Got all the tubed trees pruned that needed it.
*Cams out. One on plot, one on the new mineral site. Marvin will get his out somewhere next month. Next step now is to figure out what to do with our rye plot for the early summer. We want to seed it to pure brassica for the fall, but I don't know what to do in the mean time. I don't want to let the rye get so high that we get a residue problem. Any suggestions?
Jim Timber
5 year old buck +
Yep, that's a damn good day's work!
sandbur
5 year old buck +
I enjoyed the tour. I need to get back to 172, since it has been a few weeks and I have two crab apple trees to plant, fertilize a few other fruit trees, and plant those 600 plugs.
Just come comments.
I have never planted plugs before, but when I planted bare roots or transplanted volunteer spruce and balsam, my luck is terrible if there is frost int he ground.
Some trees, especially conifers, prefer acid soil. Lime might discourage growth.
Have you considered an group exclosure for some of those shrubs? You can remove the fence after 5 years or so and the shrubs can better withstand browsing. The exclosure can also act as part of a funnel if properly placed.
Do you have any conifers on your place? It sure looks open in the spring.
Just come comments.
I have never planted plugs before, but when I planted bare roots or transplanted volunteer spruce and balsam, my luck is terrible if there is frost int he ground.
Some trees, especially conifers, prefer acid soil. Lime might discourage growth.
Have you considered an group exclosure for some of those shrubs? You can remove the fence after 5 years or so and the shrubs can better withstand browsing. The exclosure can also act as part of a funnel if properly placed.
Do you have any conifers on your place? It sure looks open in the spring.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
We've put in roughly 600 spruces now. Last year we also planted around 300 RO dogwood. We have a decent population of native RO dogwood as well.
So far the browse pressure seems about right to get them to bush out more and not so much they'd die off.
Every inch of ground that gets decent sunlight is planted into something. We've just got to wait and see and manage accordingly from here. I hope Jim Timber is right about those winter burnt spruces that they'll bounce back.
The tubed trees were the only ones that got lime. The chokecherry, elderberry, wild black cherry and plums all seem to be growing slowly. Hopefully that lime will alleviate the tie up and they can get going this year.
I had pretty bad die back on my elderberry. I trimmed those back to a few inches above the top most emerging buds.
So far the browse pressure seems about right to get them to bush out more and not so much they'd die off.
Every inch of ground that gets decent sunlight is planted into something. We've just got to wait and see and manage accordingly from here. I hope Jim Timber is right about those winter burnt spruces that they'll bounce back.
The tubed trees were the only ones that got lime. The chokecherry, elderberry, wild black cherry and plums all seem to be growing slowly. Hopefully that lime will alleviate the tie up and they can get going this year.
I had pretty bad die back on my elderberry. I trimmed those back to a few inches above the top most emerging buds.
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BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Looks like your brother did all the work while you just walked around and took pictures. He must have worked his ass off with that green rake to get that plot that clean. You know what you should do. On the north edge of that plot you should put some spruce trees. They should be able to get some good sun there, and then they can close that plot up a little so them deer feel more secure. Maybe you should plant some pumpkins along the north edge of that plot too.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
Elderberry is shown as native for the north half of Cass County, but that is about the northern range according tot he Trees ans Shrubs of Minnesota book.
Please keep some notes on how those trees do in the tubes and which ones benefit from lime.
every inch planted- you got the fever just like the rest of us!
tooln
5 year old buck +
We found two more wolf kills today, bringing the total to four kills we've found on our property. This really p*$$e$ me off. We passed on shooting deer last fall, and the wolves killed four anyway. And that's just on our 40.
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I don't see any bones?[/QUOTE]
View attachment 4667
I don't see any bones?[/QUOTE]
