What is your favorite?

[Troubles Trees]

I’m going to attempt to start my first food plot next year, it’s only about 3/4 of an acre but it’s a start.
I’m curious what you guys would pick to plant around the edge (30-40’ deep between the plot and hardwoods) of the plot. I’m new to all this but I would imagine it should be browsable and tall enough to create a sense of security but not so tall it shades the plot.
Feel free to throw out other ideas if they aren’t on this list. Maybe a ring of switch and something like dogwood behind it?

 

[Booner21]

3/4 of an acre I would probably skip the transition and put it all in food.


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[Troubles Trees]

3/4 of an acre I would probably skip the transition and put it all in food.


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There are too many stumps, rock piles and in general stuff to go more than that. I don’t have a tractor or a dozer or I would go bigger, this will all be done by hand.

 

[BobinCt]

What little piece of advice is if you plant these shrubs, you should put a mulch /weed barrier down and must be caged or you will prob be wasting your time. Spend the extra $$ and cage them up .

 

[Bill]

That list looks good. I like plums.
I wouldn’t plant a locust, willow or red cedar. Just out of personal preference.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Advice would be to try and get some variety and see what performs well on your site and soils. After that you can focus on what grows well and plant more of the same. Case in point. After disappointing very slow growth over 15 yrs I will not waste my time and limited good areas to plant plums even if you paid me to do so. Yep exact opposite of Bill's preference above but I know the results for my land.

So ask for what people like but dont just focus on one or two types at the start.

 

[Telemark]

Red osier dogwood
Staghorn sumac
Ninebark
Silky dogwood or Grey dogwood

 

[Troubles Trees]

Advice would be to try and get some variety and see what performs well on your site and soils. After that you can focus on what grows well and plant more of the same. Case in point. After disappointing very slow growth over 15 yrs I will not waste my time and limited good areas to plant plums even if you paid me to do so. Yep exact opposite of Bill's preference above but I know the results for my land.

So ask for what people like but dont just focus on one or two types at the start.

This list is our NYS DEC seedling sale and almost everything on the list is Native to NY. Everything that has a bird or a bee symbol next to it is native and the 3 non-natives I probably wouldn’t plant like bristly locust. I don’t know the differences between European Highbush Cranberry and Highbush Cranberry they offered last year that is native. I planted 50 of the non-European last year and they grew well.

Here is the link to the DEC seedling sale.

https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/treenurserybrochure.pdf

 

[TjdUSAF]

I did the same as you are thinking.... didn’t cage the Dogwood, cranberry, arrow wood, etc.... they’re all gone! Gone....


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[PatinPA]

What are the best shrubs to grow in very poor soil? I have about 1-2" of topsoil and then it's basically nothing but rocks. When I plant trees I dig through the top soil then I have to just move rocks out of the way to the depth of the hole. I bring a 5 gallon bucket of potting soil to fill back in around the roots. Most trees are still alive but I can't really tell if they've even grown an inch in a couple of years.

Also learned the hard way that everything must be caged or tubed.

I ordered some plums for this coming spring. Do you think they'll even have a chance to grow here?

 

[BobinCt]

Not sure if the plums will grow. I guess you gotta plant and see. Just plant a few so if they don’t grow , your not out too much $ and time. I would def add soil to the hole and prob a 3 ft diameter of soil and make sure you add a few inches below where you plant it. That would be my plan.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Yaupon holly,chickasaw plums,waxmyrtle

east texas favorites......probably wont find them up north......much like a Sasquatch(a southern thang)

bill

 

[Bowsnbucks]

This list is our NYS DEC seedling sale and almost everything on the list is Native to NY. Everything that has a bird or a bee symbol next to it is native and the 3 non-natives I probably wouldn’t plant like bristly locust. I don’t know the differences between European Highbush Cranberry and Highbush Cranberry they offered last year that is native. I planted 50 of the non-European last year and they grew well.

Being that you're in N.Y. - and my camp is 50 minutes to 1 hour south of N.Y. border ............. I can tell you what has worked for our camp. Washington hawthorn doesn't get so tall that it'll be a shade problem for your food plot. After 22 years at our camp, ours are only about 15 to 18 ft. tall now. They put out red berries about 3/8" dia. that grouse & turkeys love. Deer like them for security. They seed themselves by dropping berries, so you'll get more free seedlings for future thickening or transplanting to other locations - or sell them!! Great nesting cover for all kinds of insect-eating birds too.

American high bush cranberry ( actually a viburnum with edible red berries ) is another good grower that won't get too tall, so it won't be a shade problem.

Witch hazel is a good choice for the closest planting next to your hardwood trees. They tolerate shade from the hardwood trees ( they're a natural understory tree/shrub ), they grow to about 12 to 18 ft. tall, and have a "drooping" kind of growth pattern after they get a bit of size to them. The flowers, which bloom in October & November, look like greenish-yellow "spiders" on the twig tips. The seeds are eaten by various birds including grouse. Bucks love to rub on them around our mountains.

If I were planting a "buffer zone" between a food plot and mature hardwoods, I'd plant the witch hazel next to the hardwood forest, then leave a little gap & plant the Washington hawthorns next ( they need plenty of sunlight ), and then the high bush cranberry next to the actual food plot. This set-up allows the most sunlight to get to your food plot while placing the most shade-tolerant plants ( the witch hazel ) closest to the mature hardwood trees in the forest. These are what I'd plant - in this alignment - if I were in a situation like you describe. I have a forester in my family - so I get good info easily!!

 

[H20fwler]

I sure like the price of everything on the list.

For me very good shrub growers that don't get to tall are; Highbush cranberry/ROD/Hazelnut.

 

[g squared 23]

I like hazelnut solely because they can form nuts the 2nd year. Had a few in 24” very newly established seedlings. Don’t have long term experience with them however.


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[Bassattackr]

Personally I would go plum and/or native grass. I would definitely not go Cedar due to the amounts of water they pull from the soil. They'll be robbing your plot. They could work well when small but in only a few years they get too tall and lack lower cover.

 

[j-bird]

You need to look at the soil conditions you have and then research these plants. Some will like drier soil while some will like wetter soil. Also consider and sunlight issues or concerns as well. Looking at native plants is very smart on your part as well. Like was mentioned you may have to cage everything to give it a fighting chance. Also look for any shrubs that will provide an additional food source of some sort to compliment your food plot. I variety of different things would be best. Also look for sources of seed from native plants in your area as well.... you may even want to string up some bird wires (sting some wire for birds to rest on- they will deposit native seeds for you) as a secondary source as well.

 

[Troubles Trees]

Sorry, I haven't been online much lately, thank you for the input everyone, it truly holds a lot of value to me!!!
I went out this weekend and roughly measured the area for the plot and it is roughly 200 feet wide by 320 feet long which is roughly 80,000 square feet = 1.46 acres. I guess I am not very good at eyeballing how big an acre is (not surprised lol) but makes me happy that the food plot will be almost double what I initially expected. I really should have measured first then threw out the question here, but scrolling through the DEC seedling sale and starting a list of want-to-order, I wanted to take a step back and get some opinions here first. If I ordered everything I wanted I couldn't protect it all at once which would be counter productive in the end, so I will have to do this in stages and spread it out over a couple years. Shopping is easy in December, planting and protecting (and watering all summer) everything all at once in April is a lot harder.
These are all great opinions and I really appreciate the input so thank you for that. I try to visualize where and how I want to plant and what I want it to look like before I even order. This is easy to do with trees because I know what an apple or pear tree will look like in 20 years. Most of the things on the list, although native, I don't know what it looks like at full growth or what benefit it will be in the end. You guys are awesome!

 

[ruskbucks]

I like wild plum, hazelnut, rod, and Highbury cranberry for what you are doing. All these will provide cover and also food for not only deer but a lot of other animals and birds. The plums and hazelnut will be the tallest maybe keep them farther back with the other shorter stuff right along the plot.