Who's working in the woods this weekend?

[Knehrke]

I shouldn't have complained last weekend. I tempted fate, and lo-and-behold fate hit back. At least the wind isn't 50 mph this weekend...it's 25 mph NE straight off L. Ontario. With 3" of rain forecast between now and Tuesday. And most of the next 24 hours to be of the freezing variety.

We can't get a break in upstate New York this year. The to-do list has become so compressed that at this point there's no way everything is getting done. OK, rant over.

 

[mikmaze]

did some road management,today, cut about 20 cedar trees that had come down across the roads from this winters late heavy snows. then hoppe don the tractor and disced under my standing corn from last year.

 

[ksgobbler]

Went out and slayed some trees I have been meaning to slay. Also fished a dead raccoon out of the pond. I wonder what happened to him. It’s 38 and raining so I did it as long as I could take.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I was at camp Friday & Saturday along with 3 other members. 85 Friday for a high ( !! ), then it got to 75 degrees Saturday before it plunged to 45 and high winds within 2 hours. I planted the 4 new apples & crabs, and we all dropped 3 BIG pitch pines & got them cut up. This was to make room for 2 of the 4 Chinese chestnuts we'll be planting in 2 or 3 weeks. The other 2 have open spots ready to go.

I also cut down a bunch of white pines that were smothering a huge white oak. Thought I'd give the old man oak some breathing room and access to more nutrients. It's right around 4 ft. dia. at the base. I can only imagine how old it is.

 

[bjseiler]

How long will “trees on the porch” survive that way? I have a couple packs of Norway spruce that have now sat two weeks because of the weather.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

^^^^^^ Did you post this on the wrong thread ?? There's another thread talking about keeping trees and seedlings healthy because of weather conditions / can't plant them yet.

 

[KDdid]

Caught a break in the rain this afternoon, and sorted through the acorns in the yard beneath a Red Oak that dad and I planted in the 70’s. Found about 30 starting to sprout, so I grabbed them, and started sticking them into some white clover that I planted as a nursery for trees. Some might make it, who knows, all it cost me was a half hour, and minimal labor. I was going stir crazy in the house, so if none of them make it, it was still time well spent. I have a dozen or so young saplings adjacent to this spot that were planted the same way over the last few years.


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[Bowsnbucks]

Work detail at camp this coming weekend. Next year's firewood to be cut, 4 Chinese chestnuts to be planted / caged, 50 each - Norway spruce and balsam fir to be planted, 25 ROD to go in, several Washington hawthorns to be planted / caged, JD tractor and 2 lawn tractors to be serviced, cabin cleaned. Probably 20 of the 25 members will show up - others may have to work. Good food, beverages, and ever-present ball-busting this weekend.

 

[H20fwler]

We got about all of our spring trees planted in the shrub strips this past weekend, worked on thickening up our road screen conifer plantings and a plot of chicory/ladino/birdsfoot trefoil put in. Just waiting on the MG to show up and that should be the bulk of our spring work.

 

[ksgobbler]

Working 3 days on 1 off so today is my weekend. Did some spraying on a rare light wind spring day

 

[Knehrke]

I'm really glad that I decided to go light with planting this spring. Last weekend was one of the few where the weather permitted outdoor work, and my wife and I took advantage by planting and caging half a dozen trees from Cummins and a dozen Siberian peashrub that I'd overwintered in RM pots. Tuesday I played hooky from work and finished trimming the smaller apple trees, cleaning out the cages, and applying 12-12-12 to everything in a 5' tube or cage...mostly hardwood/nut trees. I also fired up the Kunz Acrease just to make sure it's good to go. Follow up plans for this weekend fell through when I got floored with a 24 hour virus yesterday. I'm still achy and not even close to thinking about working outside.

 

[Someday isle]

Yuck. No fun being sick.

I’ve been finishing up my new plot and hauling firewood all week. I’ve kind of kept putting off loosening the straps in my ladder stands so that’s my priority this weekend. Hopefully my son can make it out tomorrow with me and we can get that done.

 

[H20fwler]

I'm really glad that I decided to go light with planting this spring. Last weekend was one of the few where the weather permitted outdoor work, and my wife and I took advantage by planting and caging half a dozen trees from Cummins and a dozen Siberian peashrub that I'd overwintered in RM pots. Tuesday I played hooky from work and finished trimming the smaller apple trees, cleaning out the cages, and applying 12-12-12 to everything in a 5' tube or cage...mostly hardwood/nut trees. I also fired up the Kunz Acrease just to make sure it's good to go. Follow up plans for this weekend fell through when I got floored with a 24 hour virus yesterday. I'm still achy and not even close to thinking about working outside.

Tell me about the peashrubs, are they for in the yard or for a wildlife plantings?

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Update from the prairie, formerly the tundra.
Weather finally broke a week ago an its been an all out blitzkreg since
Set a short trapline on sun to check all week.
Only three critters to show which is suprising, but none the less three fewer nest robbers.
Bodies feeling it but the three new orchards are up an all 26 apples are in the ground with all the necessary protection. 6 a day was about all I could muster after work. Found some spots with frost yet down around 15 in.
Started training limbs in the old orchards along with fertilizing.

Making one last big push today before work breaks loose in the coming days.
Spray dormant oil, last night looked lik the last night around freezing.
Finish training limbs
Prune oaks an clean tubes
Hang bird houses in the orchards.
An possibly site prep for the hybrid willows coming soon if time allows.

Just glad to have the first planting step done,
Can shift focus to the thermal/windbreaks
Then the hand plants from the district
Followed by the hybrid willow screen
Then the MG plantings

One step at a time!

 

[Knehrke]

Tell me about the peashrubs, are they for in the yard or for a wildlife plantings?

They're for the land. Siberian Pea Shrub is a cold-hardy, nitrogen-fixing large shrub that produces a lentil size pea. It is tolerant of infertile soils, wind, and deer. I got seeds from Akiva Silver at Twisted Tree Farm in Ithaca and started them under the lights last year. They were in 1 gal RM, but unlike the DCO, I didn't want to keep them another year...I simply ran out of time last fall. I have no idea how they'll stack up, but I'll report back in coming years.

 

[H20fwler]

I'm going to have to try some of those at my smaller place, I like the sound of them. ^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Someday isle]

It’s not the weekend but lately my schedule has supported getting out during the week. While I didn’t do any work today in terms of real labor I did get out and finally get to loosening up the straps on all of my stands (five ladders). It’s one of those things I’ve been meaning to do but just haven’t taken the time to do it. I also put out two new but cheap cameras. I bought a couple wild game innovations 14 lights out models on clearance. My other cameras are all cheap wild game cameras too. A couple are really not working well so these will fill in for those. I’d like to have nicer cameras but I also just can’t make myself spend a bunch for them. The wildgame innovations seem to work well enough, although the two that are acting funny on me are only two years old too. I get lots of pictures of nothing but I also get plenty of pictures of deer too. We’ll see. I’ll leave them alone for a month and see how they do.

My cereal rye is starting to get too big and the deer don’t seem to be using it much anymore. In another ten days or two weeks I’ll mow most of it and see if it releases the clover a little more. I also plan on planting some buckwheat in a few spots the weekend of May the 12th.

 

[scott44]

The soil tamps have risen here the last couple days with 75-80 deg days, looks like maybe I'll try to get some spring/summer plots in this next little bit. Rain thurs/fri so it'll be this weekend at the earliest if it's not too wet.

 

[Someday isle]

Thanks for the soil temp map!

 

[scott44]

Thanks for the soil temp map!

Someone else posted this awhile ago and I just bookmarked it and use it now and again.

http://dtn.agfax.com/index.cfm?show=1&mapID=20