J-birds place

[j-bird]

Nothing major to update. Had a get-together with some friends on saturday so today was clean-up day. I did move the trail cam and checked the card.....all does. I did check on my chestnut trees and the burrs are growing so that is encouraging. They are the size of a ping-pong ball or so.

Need to break-out the mower next weekend or some evening this week. Things need a trim.

Did see a splash of color while I was out as this swallowtail butterfly visited an iron weed plant in bloom.

The MG/Bill grass on the back deck seems to be doing fine and my sawtooth/catscratch oaks seem to be holding their own as well. They don't seem to be growing so to speak but at least seem to be surviving. My plan is to get them into tubes to spur their growth come spring. Always seems to be some sort of task to complete.

 

[j-bird]

MG from cuttings now in containers are about "knee high" right now. I think I will wait until September to transplant them into their permanent home........ for a screen along the road. At least on the deck I can ensure they get enough water to survive and not have the heat cook them. Can't wait until these are established enough to where I can get my own cuttings and start the process over and expand my MG planting to include screening a plot or two and maybe some stand/stand access routes.

We have a chance for a few pop-up thunderstorm later today and the next few days here as well. With amounts of an 1/8" to 1/2" being forecast depending on the day. I need to get some mowing done and some spraying as well. Wish I had some interesting trail cam pics, but just does so far....... I'll find something to do this weekend. That's the nice thing about living on the place - I can run out and do a quick spray job or mow a plot or do a small project without having to do much advanced planning. Some weekends I just make it up as I go....

 

[Bill]

I'll send you a bunch more next June to give another jump start. Those are doing good. I bet the roots are circling in the pots. Which won't be the same problem as it is with trees. When the little white roots grow to rhizome size thier a tangled mess anyway.

 

[j-bird]

I'll send you a bunch more next June to give another jump start. Those are doing good. I bet the roots are circling in the pots. Which won't be the same problem as it is with trees. When the little white roots grow to rhizome size thier a tangled mess anyway.

How long will it take once they are in the ground and established to be able to get my own cuttings or rhizomes to propagate them myself? Not that I'm not grateful for your offer of more cuttings......I just have plans for needing more....a lot more, and I certainly don't want to burden you any more than I already have. There is a fair chance that this may just get out of hand......

 

[Bill]

Sorry I'm in Colorado with limited data. :(
The cuttings will be slightly ahead of a freshly planted rhizome next spring. I'd expect 5 to 10 shoots. The following summer you may be able to take a few cutting from each. After that take a bunch.

I've got over 1200 going into year 5 next June. I can cut you a boat load and never thin my barricade.

 

[j-bird]

Sorry I'm in Colorado with limited data. :(
The cuttings will be slightly ahead of a freshly planted rhizome next spring. I'd expect 5 to 10 shoots. The following summer you may be able to take a few cutting from each. After that take a bunch.

I've got over 1200 going into year 5 next June. I can cut you a boat load and never thin my barricade.

Cool - I will eventually need a "boat load" but covering the back deck in MG cuttings in pots I think may be a bit more than the wife will tolerate! I'm thinking next year I may be limited to another couple dozen. I eventually want mine to be mature to the point where I can get my own cuttings and try a higher volume planting directly into the soil after they sprout roots. I think this will be riskier for success, but if I'm using my own cuttings then I'm not out much if those experiments fail. You are going to have to tell me something I can help you with.....I have lots of JBH, canada thistle and johnson grass! Seriously if you ever see me post about something that interests you to try - let me know......I owe you one.

 

[j-bird]

Spent the day getting some spraying (cleth in clover plots) and getting a few updates and starting a few mock scrapes based off different ideas/concepts

South bottom plot - the one with too much corn. That is sunflowers in the middle. The amount of corn doesn't seem to be bothering the soybeans. I doubt the corn will produce much if any grain, but that wasn't the idea any way.

Same area - I got an apple update:

Then tried something I have never done before - used a piece of grapevine and a few trimmed crab-apple branches to see if I can get a scrape started. Grape vine is simply tied/lashed into the crab-apple tree.

Off to the SW plot......this is the bean plot with not quite as much corn as I would have liked.

I put this grape vine scrape in just off this plot on a mowed path that the deer are using. Again - just a freshly cut piece of grapevine lashed to a tree.

 

[j-bird]

Continued from the last post......

Now off to the north. Checked on my Chestnuts....they seem to be doing OK - the burrs are the size of a buckeye.

I also checked on the lone white oak that is producing on my place. Looks promising as well. I do have a question for folks out there....anyone else have a tree that seems to only produce in a certain section? This tree produces nearly every year, but only on the lower most section of the tree.....I'm not sure why that would be the case.

I then put in a string of different mock scrapes along a logging trail in an effort to see what may work and what may not.

Some I simply used rope/cord to pull a limb lower and cleared a stop on the ground to bare dirt.

In one place I simply hung a piece of fresh cut grapevine with a piece of 550 cord. The sap dripped out of the piece of vine and that was where I cleared the dirt under it.

And finally a "Jim Ward" scrape..... I used beech in the hopes it will hold the leaves the longest and help retain scent. Strung this up between trees using essentially clothes line (plastic coated wire kind) and then used a finer wire to tie the branches to the w

All these scrapes are along a logging trail that cuts thru the north side of the property. They start up in a basin that the deer use and is sort of a sanctuary type area. The grape vine is in a convergence with another trail and then the Jim Ward set-up is near a location where I believe a buck is bedding. I know the does travel this route and I hope the bucks will follow. Once I see some signs of use I will move a trail cam if possible. I typically don't see much scraping action but we will see, I typically don't do mock scrapes like this so maybe it will help.....maybe it's a waste of time.

 

[Bill]

It will be interesting to see if the vines get used. they dont really scrape under mine. more of a licking branch. Now that limb you tied down and cleared under is a different story. They always seem to use mine as scrapes when I do that.

 

[j-bird]

It will be interesting to see if the vines get used. they dont really scrape under mine. more of a licking branch. Now that limb you tied down and cleared under is a different story. They always seem to use mine as scrapes when I do that.

I'll report what I can....I only have one cam, but I'll be certain to look for signs of use on the others as well. I typically don't see much use of this sort of stuff on my place but you never know. It's not like I spent lost s of money or time on these. The grape vine sap I figured will draw some attention.....I figure the sap should have at least a little sweet taste to it.

 

[j-bird]

Spent most of Saturday mowing plots and access paths. Sprayed the plots for grass last weekend with cleth and this mowing should be the last needed, hopefully for the year.

I did check on my SW bow plot......clover seems to be coming in OK - not great but ok. This plot is getting visited by a doe and her twins so hopefully she will lead mr big to me sometime this year.

Did get a "feel good" moment while mowing as well. This may seem trivial to some of you but bobwhite quail are in fairly serious decline here in IN.....mostly due to habitat loss. I have seen them on my place before, but it's real few and far between. Today I saw 2 different groups of of female birds with several chicks each. I'm sure there is some term for that, but it was pretty exciting to see "indicator species" on my place as they tend to be a sign of habitat health. I do what I do for the deer, but when critters like this benefit, well it makes me smile. It's also pretty hard to get a pic of them while on the tractor! They really seemed to like the mowed path between my switchgrass buffers and the soybean fields.

 

[pointer]

Very nice surprise with the quail!! We had a covey on our place 2 years ago, but haven't seen them since. I'm hoping to help both them and the ruffed grouse this winter by cutting some trees.

 

[j-bird]

Very nice surprise with the quail!! We had a covey on our place 2 years ago, but haven't seen them since. I'm hoping to help both them and the ruffed grouse this winter by cutting some trees.

Quail around here are fading fast. Production farming, development and the like have removed so much "quail" habitat it isn't funny. The grouse in the state have dropped so low in population they actually closed the season. I have NEVER actually seen a grouse in the wild. This is one area where I feel our DNR does a poor job "managing" their properties. They seem to do more "watching" than "managing" in my opinion, too worried about managing the public perception vs managing for the actual wildlife needs. Grouse, quail and other game birds require some fairly specific habitat types, yet or DNR just lets the trees grow....because the uneducated think that cutting ANY tree is a bad thing!

 

[pointer]

Habitat projects on public grounds is quite a conundrum. In a "past life" I did a bit of that for my job. It's quite the juggling act of public opinion, basis in science, and the realities of funding. I feel like you, that there are things that could be done to improve the habitat for quail and grouse on both state and federal lands. I know of some projects on both ownerships geared towards those species, which is great, but I'd like to see more. Like food plots, I don't want good to be the enemy of perfect.

Then we have things in this state like SB 420 which I don't think passed out of committee. This would have required 10% of all state forest to be one contiguous block of "old forest area". Not a good thing for quail or grouse! I'm hooked up with a few guys that are involved with the Ruffed Grouse Society who help keep me abreast on some of these things. It's amazing how little of this stuff is known by "sportsmen" in this state. I think part of the reason, and I'm quite guilty of it, is that we just pay attention to the piece of dirt we hunt every year.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

^^^^^^ Diversity - I believe - is not just about habitat. I think it also should include " critter " diversity. Every animal - large or small - has a place and a reason for being there in nature. If our habitat work benefits many species, the whole ecosystem is better off.

 

[j-bird]

I pulled these from the In DNR report from 2015 (I have a pdf if anyone would like to see the full nearly 60 page report - it should be on the DNR website if you dig deep enough). I don't have to say a word as to how well the DNR is doing regarding upland game bird management in our state.

 

[pointer]

Land use changes or lack thereof are a larger reason for those graphs, IMO, as anything the DNR does.

 

[j-bird]

Well for all the rain I have had this summer.....August here has been....well, August.......which tends to be fairly dry. The water hole I put in this spring is still holding water, but it's getting low..... I have seen EHD deaths reported in a neighboring county, but so far no sign of it on my place......fingers crossed it stays that way!

I did pull the card from my cam that is sitting on one of my hanging vines and had it's first visitor..... Nothing to write home about, but with it seeing at least some interest it's a start.

The acorns seem to be doing OK - but my chestnuts seem to maybe getting a little dry.......I may have to water this week if mother nature doesn't help me out. It wasn't so bad earlier in Aug without much rain as it was cooler, but this last week the temp has increased as well as the humidity. I had considered transplanting my MG earlier in the month, but I am glad I have waited as I can water them much more easily on the back deck......looks like they won't get moved until maybe Labor day weekend.

 

[j-bird]

Had to play "water boy" tonight. Rainfall in August here has been tough to come by and I noticed over the weekend my chestnuts looked a little dry. So this evening I hooked up the sprayer to use as a water truck.

As you can see the leaves had started to curl.

So I gave them a drink by giving them between 15 to 20 gallons of water each. I took the tip off the gun and set the trigger and while the pump pumper away it gave me a chance to wander around a bit. I normally just remove the strainer to fill a bucket, but I didn;t get that far this time.

The chestnut burs, though few, seem to be growing nicely thus far........

While I was watering and had time to wander I took a pic of the chicory in my perennial clover......because sometime in October it will be all gone. For some reason mother nature flips a switch and the deer seem to specifically seek it out. I also took a pic of my sawtooths (I mean catscratch oaks) in my germination cages that are just about knee high (just below the knee to be specific).

 

[j-bird]

Not sure how accurate this is or how well it will apply to those outside of farm country.....but I really like the info I am getting from a website called Farmlogs.com https://farmlogs.com I made a comment about Aug being dry and my chestnuts needing a drink, so I decided to see if that was really the case or just a perception of mine. This web site allows me to see when my last rainfall was and how much as well as the trend for the year as well. Obviously this is meant for production farmers, but I find it interesting from a plotters perspective because sometimes we have a different perception vs reality of the weather from year to year.

Entire property: I can track which crops are in which fields - which over time I tend to forget....

Specific field: You can get a general idea of what is going on......

Rainfall detail: The list will record every recorded rain event for the year (I just cut it off).