Planting edges

[nchunter1989]

Need some advice guys-

Some may have seen my photos from the farm where I bushogged some new edges to my main food plot In the weekend work thread.

Some of the areas are covered in thick material & vines the bush hog wouldn't chop. I'm going out tomorrow to spray gly through those areas & drop some more trees. Going to be broadcasting some buckwheat & peas in a few weeks, but also want to get something out around the edges.

More of a grass/cover crop/weed suppressant & not necessarily food. Ryegrass? Or try some cereal rye since there's not as much exposed soil area? I know cereal rye will not seed out & possibly burn through our summer.

Maybe a sorghum/millet mix? Or just spray what's there, maybe try to drag through that after burn down & see what regens ?


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[yoderjac]

A picture would help. Generally we want "soft edges". So, if you have a field adjoining mature hardwoods or pines, we want to feather the edge. Those thick vines and stuff may have been just the ticket. There are several ways to get soft edges. One is to plant shrubs. You can use things like sorghum, but you need to deal with planting these annuals every year and they only provide feathering when they are standing. NOTE: I would avoid using ryegrass for anything. It is not high on the preferred list by deer and can be invasive if you don't know what you are doing.

An alternative to planting shrubs if you have a large enough bushhog is natural regeneration. You bushhog your buffer and then let it regenerate. You let it grow until it is almost too big for your bushog to handle. You then bushhog it and let it regenerate again.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[nchunter1989]

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[nchunter1989]

Not exactly the area I'm referring but should be able to get the gist of what I'm talking about.


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[H20fwler]

It's tough to answer really not knowing your area, for a "soft edge" here we run tall native grasses like switch/bluestem/indian grass mix and mow it every few years to kill off the volunteer trees creeping out.
Works good as transition area/buffer strip between food plots and heavier cover and deer like to bed in it, takes 3-4 years to get established well. I don't know if something like that would grow in your area though?

 

[Ed Brodt]

We have used the Sorghum, Millet mix for a couple of years now. Worked really well. We use it as a soft edge to block a neighbors pasture. In late summer we bush hog and leave the soft edge and also a big standing winding S of the sorghum/millet through the field, then plant brassicas around the standing stuff. Separates the field into sections almost like separate food plots. Since doing this the deer usage has noticeably increased in this field.

 

[nchunter1989]

Some of the area I'm wanting to edge. I found a couple bags of last years rye in barn, mixed it with a little buckwheat I had left over & broadcast it. Came back over with the atv. We'll see what happens I guess


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