Recent content by Ben.MN/WI

My cabin yard apple trees get cardboard mulch around them from any boxes we use up there. Most of the cardboard lasts about a year, but random weeds will fill in the cracks between boxes. It does make a difference though as those trees grow at about twice the rate of trees growing without the...

How's the rabbit, hare and grouse population looking near your brush pile project? That looks like an awesome spot to bag a few tasty critters later in the fall.

I take a bucket or two of walnuts and dump them in a general location that I'd like some walnuts. The squirrels will find the pile of walnuts in no time and plant them for me. I'm sure they eat a bunch of them as well, but you will be surprised how quickly they are all moved. Then you need...

Also, your plumber should be able to add a shutoff valve so you can easily blow the water out of your plumbing lines easily if you want to winterize the cabin. Having a drain right below the water heater is a good idea as well so you can don't have to have a stupid garden hose going through...

I'd recommend going with a septic system with a drain field - that will improve the value of the property and also decrease annual pumping costs. My cabin has a holding tank since the water table was too high for a standard drain field, and it gets irritating to pump it at least once per year...

I'd probably skip the buckwheat if possible as that will get zapped in the first frost. As for the rest of the seeds, I like the idea of trying a wide variety to see what works best. I generally stick with winter rye and brassicas for overseeding into beans, but I'll occasionally add some...

I think you should fill a few doe tags this fall!

That's great that he bagged a bear - good to thin them out. Did he have a lot of them coming into the bait site?

I have another B118 apple tree that is leaning. This one still seems to be anchored firmly, unlike the first two that had some type of root damage and had to be pulled upright and tied to a fencepost. I don't really have the ambition to add a bunch of dirt around the base of the tree in an...

I would steer clear of a growth inhibitor on my apple trees - I want them to grow fast! In the past week I've removed close to a dozen large apple tree cages and placed smaller cages on the trunks. Lots of them had stump sprouts, but the deer will browse those sprouts down to nothing in no time.

A few thick pockets in a wooded valley like that could be a magnet for deer to bed in during the rut when bucks are chasing does. Thick, nasty pockets will hold more deer than wide open closed canopy areas. I had my woods logged 4 years ago and one creek bottom section is exceptionally thick...

I pull off those large tree cages once the trees are taller than the deer can browse so the deer can reach all the fruit that drops. I then put a 4' tall welded wire fence around the trunk to prevent bucks from rubbing the trees. The deer will eat any sprouts that grow through the trunk guard...

I'm not a fan of B118 rootstock - they seem to have trunks that are a little more spindly than normal and the roots seem to be weaker and give out more often than other varieties.

It is a lot easier to work on land projects when the property is less than 30 minutes from home. Driving many hours to get to a property makes it pretty difficult to do too much work, especially if you are married with kids. I'd cast a wide net within a reasonable driving distance from home...

I've never used that herbicide, but a quick search showed it is a pre/post mix for areas like RR tracks and other areas where no growth is desired. It seems likely that could cause a problem for new seedlings.