Take a walk with me through the prairie

[Native Hunter]

This is a great thread that identifies many of the working components and high value of a native prairie. Discussing the forbs that grow from the seed bank, in particular, is excellent as many people are unaware that sometimes using what is in your seedbank is actually more valuable to wildlife than food plots, fruit tree plantings, etc. It's also interesting to see different perspectives from different states. We manage about 500 acres of 'prairie' and grasslands up in Indiana on the property I manage. Our biggest problems are low diversity, likely due to heavy native grass seeding rates, and woody plant competition - esp. nonnative plants such as Autumn Olive.

For those who have the problem of low diversity/grass dominated prairies, I have found late fall, deep tillage to be very effective. We have a 9' offset disk we pull behind a 110HP MFWD tractor as deep as it will go, making 2-4 passes depending upon soil conditions. We disk strips throughout the fields on rotation (hitting roughly 1/3rd of the field, per year). Another option we haven't used much but have experimented with is mowing & applying a grass specific herbicide during the summer growing season. So far, heavy tillage has proven effective for us but if you don't have the necessary equipment, strip mowing and spraying may prove more efficient; some research I've seen shows that lighter tillage may not disturb the grass enough to really cause much benefit. Where we find a limited seed bank of native forbs, we are also going to start interseeding following our disking/spraying treatments.

We also do extensive prescribed fire, trying to burn 100-200 acres per year, based upon site conditions. This has rarely killed the nonnative 'brush' species, but when applied liberally in combination with herbicide, we've had good results. We also don't fight all woody species, such as sumac, dogwood, elderberry, blackberry, etc., as these have high value for many of our target species.

Excellent information and thanks for your input. I have several more plants to cover, and hope you continue to enjoy the thread.

 

[blueKYstream]

I've enjoyed reading and seeing the pictures! It's helped me to start trying to identify native browse on my place. I noticed a lot of common ragweed in fall planted plots that are currently fallow. I didn't see any browsing in the spots I sampled to look. I'm sure it won't be long before I see some of the others you've discussed. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you have coming down the pipe!

 

[SWIFFY]

Love this thread Native! Im waiting for you to say something good about Water Hemp... but im not holding my breath. I was about to complain about all the giant thistle that is going to see in the yard... and like you say, I try to look at how happy all those pretty little Goldfinches are gorging on thistle seed. Maybe thats the ONE positive.

 

[Native Hunter]

Love this thread Native! Im waiting for you to say something good about Water Hemp... but im not holding my breath. I was about to complain about all the giant thistle that is going to see in the yard... and like you say, I try to look at how happy all those pretty little Goldfinches are gorging on thistle seed. Maybe thats the ONE positive.

I don't have waterhemp, but I've heard other people say that they have seen it browsed - even though it can be toxic to livestock if they eat too much of it. The browsing would be more likely when young and tender. I understand that ducks love to eat the seeds, and that is true of many other birds.

 

[H20fwler]

I've enjoyed reading and seeing the pictures! It's helped me to start trying to identify native browse on my place. I noticed a lot of common ragweed in fall planted plots that are currently fallow. I didn't see any browsing in the spots I sampled to look. I'm sure it won't be long before I see some of the others you've discussed. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you have coming down the pipe!

Same here! I got all excited the other day when I saw I had a bunch of giant ragweed growing around the orchard and edge of woods.

 

[Native Hunter]

I was taught growing up that there was a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. However, it wasn’t until later in life that it became very apparent there are so many things that are better than a pot of gold. Properly managing the land to benefit both wildlife and humans provides us with a feeling that gold cannot buy.

Let’s take a look today at three short plants that grow in the prairie.

The first plant is Venus Looking Glass. It’s the purple flower in the picture below.

Facts about Venus Looking Glass:

• This is a good native plant, and I would rate as a medium preference as a deer browse.
  
  
• For a short plant, it holds it’s place well in the prairie.
  
  
• Seed are too small to benefit birds.
  
  
• Adds a lot of beauty and is not aggressive.
  
  The next plant is Low Hop Clover (Trifolium campestre). It’s the little yellow flowered plant. You may have seen this plant in your lawn. There are other Hop Clovers, but for our purposes we can consider them the same, because most of them have about the same wildlife value.

Facts about this plant:

• Deer will graze this plant and rabbits absolutely love it.
  
  
• A similar plant is Black Medic. The two plants look a lot alike. Deer will graze Black Medic as well, but it does have some toxic properties.
  
  
• I would rate it as a desirable prairie plant, but it will not be very prevalent in a mature prairie. However, it will be more prevalent than red or white clover, and at places you will see quite a bit of it.

The next plant is Pasture Rose. Pic Below:

This plant is not very prevalent in my prairie. However it is a desirable plant. Facts about Pasture Rose:

• This is a native plant and not the same plant as multiflora rose.
  
  
• It is uncommon in my area.
  
  
• It is browsed by deer despite the prickles.
  
  
• The rose hips it produces are eaten by many animals and birds.
  
  
• Even if unmowed, this small shrubby plant will not likely get over 2 feet tall on my land. However, it can get 3 feet tall in some places.
  
  
• There is a climbing rose that is similar to this plant that can go pretty high into trees. I usually see it occasionally in fence rows.
  

That’s about it for today. I’m tired of walking, and I see the pond up ahead. Let’s go see if we can catch a few fish for dinner tonight……………….

 

[Bill]

Never saw pokeweed browsed but never looked close. I’ll have to do that.

 

[Native Hunter]

Never saw pokeweed browsed but never looked close. I’ll have to do that.

I’ve never seen it touched at the farm but 11 miles away they browse it in the fence row around my yard.

just realized I already said that above. Old age setting in.

 

[BobinCt]

Great posts Native. It’s very educational and beneficial to all deer hunters and habitat managers. Learning weeds and browse is not so easy IMO because there are so many that look alike so it takes time to get good at it. I’m far from that but learning.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Never saw pokeweed browsed but never looked close. I’ll have to do that.

Neither have I

Its very abundant in east texas and listed as "preferred" in Texas parks and wildlife publications

I will add my deer to the mailing list

bill

 

[Bassattackr]

Awesome thread, thanks for sharing!

Earlier you mentioned..
- Virginia Wild Rye (barely hanging on at a few low shady spots)

I'm having trouble finding any type of NWSG that will survive in a few shady areas I have on a field edge along a road. Any thoughts on what might get 3' or so tall to help screen the field edge?

 

[Native Hunter]

Awesome thread, thanks for sharing!

Earlier you mentioned..
- Virginia Wild Rye (barely hanging on at a few low shady spots)

I'm having trouble finding any type of NWSG that will survive in a few shady areas I have on a field edge along a road. Any thoughts on what might get 3' or so tall to help screen the field edge?

Virginia Wild Rye will get around 4 feet tall, and Canadian Wild Rye will get taller than that. Most NWSGs and other plants struggle near tree roots. Canadian Goldenrod might be a decent choice for you. It gets tall enough and it starts growing in the spring earlier than most NWSGs. The wild ryes start earlier too. They are cool season rather than warm season grasses. Their growth pattern is a lot like tall fescue except not as aggressive.

I would recommend a shotgun approach - mix some different tall NWSGs, wild rye and tall forbs and see if anything sticks. Sometimes the ground will dictate what grows there the best. If you find anything that takes over, plant some more of it.

 

[H20fwler]

I wish I could get crimson clover to grow good here, I just love the look of it. It starts out thin for me then is just gone.
Really enjoying the walk along!

I was out walking our pasture yesterday and was noticing all kinds of "new" things to me because of this thread...Thank you.

 

[scott44]

Steve, Do you or have you ever fertilized your prairie? I started one a couple years ago and it's filled in pretty good but I don't have the height here I have on my other NWSG's.

New plantng on the right just fallow onthe left.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Crop field returned to prairie on a WMA in S.E. Mn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Native Hunter]

Steve, Do you or have you ever fertilized your prairie? I started one a couple years ago and it's filled in pretty good but I don't have the height here I have on my other NWSG's.

New plantng on the right just fallow onthe left.

That's looking good Scott.

I haven't fertilized any NWSG fields, but I can tell that they grow taller and thicker in the more fertile areas. The field that used to be a tobacco patch has the best NWSGs - except that maybe some areas that were let go fallow for a while are about as good. I think those areas gradually built up fertility over the years by not having anything taken off of them.

 

[Native Hunter]

Crop field returned to prairie on a WMA in S.E. Mn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is looking good. I love the diversity.

 

[Native Hunter]

Let’s begin walking again.

Today we will look at three different plants:

• Blackeyed Susan
• Sneeze Weed
• Turk’s Cap Lily

Facts about Blackeyed Susan:

• There are actually two other plants that are easy to confuse with this plant. They are Browneyed Susan and a coneflower known as Rudbeckia fulgida. For all practical purposes we can consider them the same in terms of wildlife benefit. You can Google pictures of the other two plants and see how that they look similar.
• Although not widely known as a browse plant for deer, I have seen Blackeyed Susan browsed well in the spring some years. There have been places that the browsing was significant.
• Good pollinator plant and visited by a wide range of insects.
  Pictures:

Facts about Sneeze Weed:

• There are two different species of this plant that grows on my property. One has a smaller head than the other but both are the same in terms of wildlife value.
• These plants are toxic. There has been cases of cattle being poisoned by them, and I have never seen one browsed by deer.
• I see very few of these so it isn’t an issue on my property. However, I would never plant them, and if I ever saw a colony of them forming I would likely spray them.

Pictures:

This is the smaller version:

Fact’s about Turk’s Cap Lilly:

• This is a very unusual plant to see in my area. I only saw two of these while walking the prairie. I spotted another one driving down the road the other day on a steep bank. Other than those, I don’t recall ever seeing another one.
• They are native to a large part of the eastern US – from New Hampshire all the way down into Georgia and Alabama. The like damp, sunny spots.
• All lilies are very palatable to deer and rabbits.
• They are great pollinator plants and a favorite of hummingbirds.

Pictures:

That’s about it for today guys. We have made it up to one of my food plots, and I’m going to just set and watch the bees work the red clover for a while. We will walk again soon.

 

[Native Hunter]

Time to walk again and today we will look at three plants:

• Poison Ivy
  
  
• Everlasting Sweet Pea
  
  
• Deptford Pink

Pic of Poison Ivy (but see notes below about variability of appearance):

Facts about Poison Ivy:

• Many humans have severe allergic reactions to poison ivy, but most animals are immune to the poison. I have read that other than primates that hamsters are the only other animals known to have allergic reactions.
  
  
• Deer and rabbits will readily eat all parts of the plant. It isn’t uncommon to see it browsed at any time of the year.
  
  
• The appearance of the plant can be highly variable. It can assume the form of a low shrub or it can be a long woody vine that can climb high in trees.
  
  
• In my prairie I generally see it around the edges but seldom out in the middle of the fields.

Pic of Everlasting Sweet Pea

Facts about Everlasting Sweet Pea:

• This is a perennial vine, but there are several similar wild peas that can be annual or perennial. The wildlife value of them are similar.
  
  
• The seeds are poisonous, but the foliage is browsed by deer and rabbits. I would rate it as a medium preference browse.
  
  
• This plant can be very competitive and take a lot of ground up in some areas. In my fields, that hasn’t been the case. I only see it scattered here and there.

Pic of Deptford Pink

Facts about Deptford Pink:

• This is a small and beautiful wildflower that insects will use, but I have never seen it browsed by deer.
  
  
• I only see it occasionally, and it isn’t very competitive in my fields.

That’s it for today guys. We have made it up to my buckwheat patch. It was so dry that I thought it wasn’t going to come up, but a few rains did the trick. I’m going to go check for browsing and we will walk again soon.

 

[Native Hunter]

Let’s begin our journey again. Today we will look at the following plants – two really great ones and one that can be invasive

• Chicory
• Jewelweed
• Sericea Lespedeza

Pictures of Chicory:

Facts about Chicory:

• The chicory we plant in food plots is the same plant as wild chicory, but more than likely you are planting an improved variety of one of the “forage varieties.”
• The main difference between wild chicory and forage chicory is that forage varieties have been bred for larger leaf size, and more palatability of the stems and leaves. The better varieties have less tannins, which is one of the factors that increases the palatability.
• Deer will eat wild chicory, but it isn’t quite as palatable as forage chicory. Wild chicory in NWSG fields is desirable but don’t expect it to be grazed quite as hard as forage chicory.
• I really like chicory in both food plots and NWSG fields. Forage chicory in food plots is one of the most versatile and desirable deer plants available.
• The cattle industry is beginning to get very interested in chicory and realizes its positive attributes as a forage plant. It is now believed by many that chicory can induce a direct and broad antiparasitic activity against various GI parasites in different livestock species. If that is the case, deer could also be beneficiaries of this action. I’m not a scientist, but I know that the health and quality of my deer have vastly improved since I introduced chicory to their diets several years ago.

Pictures of Jewelweed

Facts about Jewelweed:

• Jewelweed is a native annual that is a highly desirable deer browse. It will be browsed by even the most picky deer.
• There are two types – yellow flower and orange flower. My place has the orange flower as shown above in the pictures. Both are the same in terms of wildlife value.
• It will be found on low ground – especially along ditches and streams. It prefers full sun but does fine in partial shade.
• If you have jewelweed present, you can promote it by killing other plants that compete with it. Gly spraying of other plants before JW germinates will make it flourish.

Picture of Sericea Lespedeza:

Facts about Sericea Lespedeza:

• This is an introduced species. Even though it will be browsed when young and tender, it is not a desirable plant due to it having invasive tendencies.
• Birds eat the seed and that is the main way it can spread.
• It is not as invasive on my farm as some locations I have known. The tall NWSGs make it hard for the SL to take over.
• Gly and 24D will generally not kill it.
• Don’t confuse SL with some of the desirable native lespedezas. If you have any doubt, get a county agent or Fish & Wildlife guy to look at it. We have native lespedezas that are very beneficial to several different species of wildlife, and these should be promoted in the prairie rather than killed.

I need to run home and do a few jobs before dark, so that ends our walk today. Looks like my friend Fred is out in the road again. He hates it when I stop and pitch him over in the ditch, but it’s just tough love – better than getting run over.