Far north coastal foodplot for red deer

[Telemark]

I am looking for advice/tips on an especially challenging foodplot.

The location is the West coast of Norway. It's a similar climate an latitude to Sitka, Alaska. The site is wilderness, without access for machines. It was logged a long time ago and has various grasses, Heather's, and small trees growing. The soil can tend to be a bit acidic so I will lime as much as I can. But I will have to carry in everything by hand.

I have access to rye and a foodplot blend, and possibly oats. The blend has white clover, red clover, Timothy, rye grass, marro-stem kale, oats, oilseed rape, and Kentucky bluegrass.

My objectives are to feed and attract red deer from September to December and feed deer as far into Spring as possible.

As far as clearing the area, I can use a scythe or possibly a trimmer. I could spray gly but the water would be from a creek and the sprayer would be a 2 liter hand sprayer.

What I need advice on is when to plant, spray, etc. And how/what I should plant in order to achieve my objectives given the challenging circumstances. And what is a reasonable area to start with? I can probably spend two full days and a couple after oons on it. Would it be worth it to haul in and spread a bag of fertilizer?

 

[4wanderingeyes]

If this is a property that you are going to hunt for more then 1 year, I would get lime on it now, plant winter rye, and white clover now, and 4 bags of 19-19-19 per acre. Dont have high expectations this year, let the lime, and fertilizer do its magic for next year, and the winter rye will help you out with pulling nutrients from deep, and the clover will help next year with nitrogen credits.

 

[Telemark]

Ok thanks for the advice. I have limited time to work on it this year, but I can use granulated lime which will work faster. Then I can spread normal lime when I find time over the winter months.

What about sowing times?

 

[Tree Spud]

If this is a property that you are going to hunt for more then 1 year, I would get lime on it now, plant winter rye, and white clover now, and 4 bags of 19-19-19 per acre. Dont have high expectations this year, let the lime, and fertilizer do its magic for next year, and the winter rye will help you out with pulling nutrients from deep, and the clover will help next year with nitrogen credits.

^^^^ what 4W said ... try and throw in a light mix, ~2 lbs/acre of PTT or a forage radish to see how they grow and if the deer will respond.

 

[PatinPA]

I am looking for advice/tips on an especially challenging foodplot.

The location is the West coast of Norway. It's a similar climate an latitude to Sitka, Alaska. The site is wilderness, without access for machines. It was logged a long time ago and has various grasses, Heather's, and small trees growing. The soil can tend to be a bit acidic so I will lime as much as I can. But I will have to carry in everything by hand.

I have access to rye and a foodplot blend, and possibly oats. The blend has white clover, red clover, Timothy, rye grass, marro-stem kale, oats, oilseed rape, and Kentucky bluegrass.

My objectives are to feed and attract red deer from September to December and feed deer as far into Spring as possible.

As far as clearing the area, I can use a scythe or possibly a trimmer. I could spray gly but the water would be from a creek and the sprayer would be a 2 liter hand sprayer.

What I need advice on is when to plant, spray, etc. And how/what I should plant in order to achieve my objectives given the challenging circumstances. And what is a reasonable area to start with? I can probably spend two full days and a couple after oons on it. Would it be worth it to haul in and spread a bag of fertilizer?

That's really interesting. Would love to see how this turns out in a different climate and country. Get a blade attachment for your trimmer if you're doing it by hand. You'll eat up a lot of string if there are small trees in what you're clearing. You can mow through it pretty quick with a blade.

Not sure how big you want to go. I cleared an area of small black birch and briars. It took me about 8 hours total (over multiple days) to clear it by hand. I had a lot of brush piles to remove though too. I thought it was 1/8 acre but then I measured it and it turned out to be 1/20 acre. My back feels like it was 5 acres.

 

[Telemark]

^^^^ what 4W said ... try and throw in a light mix, ~2 lbs/acre of PTT or a forage radish to see how they grow and if the deer will respond.

I don't have access to those seeds now. Possibly next year.

 

[Telemark]

That's really interesting. Would love to see how this turns out in a different climate and country. Get a blade attachment for your trimmer if you're doing it by hand. You'll eat up a lot of string if there are small trees in what you're clearing. You can mow through it pretty quick with a blade.

Not sure how big you want to go. I cleared an area of small black birch and briars. It took me about 8 hours total (over multiple days) to clear it by hand. I had a lot of brush piles to remove though too. I thought it was 1/8 acre but then I measured it and it turned out to be 1/20 acre. My back feels like it was 5 acres.

Was it a good result? Would it be better to spray gly than to trim? I think I have access to a blade attachment if that is the best option. There are small birch, pine, spruce, and rowan trees.

 

[Bassattackr]

Wow, this is an interesting one.. 90" of annual rainfall.



Your winters don't appear to be as cold as I would think, maybe lows in the 20 deg F (-7 deg C)? If so, that's good, doesn't appear most of what you have will winter kill up there.

Typically, we plant cereal grains around 6 weeks before the first frost. My typical first frost is mid October so I usually plant around Sept 1. I would think your frost date would come earlier so you may have to move up quite a bit (?).

As far as lime goes, you certainly could dump some on when you plant, if acidic is an educated guess, ..but I'd probably do a soil test fairly quickly to keep from wasting money down the road for larger applications.

Given your site and tools - I would spray 2 weeks before planting. Then come in and 1) burn the thatch and 2) broadcast the seed on the bare ground. A lot less tools then broadcasting and trying to pack in a mower or weedeater, and better opportunity for seed to soil contact.

Good luck!

 

[PatinPA]

Was it a good result? Would it be better to spray gly than to trim? I think I have access to a blade attachment if that is the best option. There are small birch, pine, spruce, and rowan trees.

yes it works well. I planned to spray after I trimmed it and probable spot spray when I seed it . Here is the before and after. The before was in late spring so it wasn't as grown up as it was when I trimmed it. It was small birch, up to 1/2" and green briar.

I used a blade like this


If your trees are bigger then you might want to go with one that is closer to a sawblade.