Recent content by Tickrancher

After a recent edge feathering project we collected an extra locust scion that is available for pick-up.

I am hoping to find Potomac, Shenandoah, Susquahanna, or Wabash, pawpaw scions. Disease resistant apple varieties and several of the Claypool and Lehman persimmons are available to trade.

If you are determined to grow dogwood from seed, below is information from an old MDC publication that might help. Shrub Species Grown at the George O. White Nursery___________________ Dogwood (Cornus spp.) We grow five species of dogwood, including flowering (C. florida), roughleaf (C...

They hold their leaves well though they shrivel some. This photo is from early February. Side branches have been cut off to collect seed and some stalks have been previously cut for the mulch pile. This is only one plant. A layer four or five plants deep might work for a screen if the deer...

I'm coming at this from the other direction. A cup plant at the house grew 8 feet tall and 3 feet wide in two years. The seeds have been collected and now I am looking for the best use at the farm. Is it as a screen or as a native perennial food plot?

Has anyone tried growing Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum) for either deer browse or used as a screen? Illinoiswildflowers.info states that "Large herbivores, especially cattle, may eat the eat leaves of Cup Plant, especially those of immature plants". Does that include deer? At the University...

I had one in my suburban St. Louis MO yard 20 years ago. Apples ripened around the first of August. Pick them early or they will split wide open. Texture was softer than I like but he tart flavor should have made a good pie. We all got a good laugh when the first apple pie slice was pulled from...

Northern Spy will get larger than most varieties on similar rootstock. I had one growing on M7 at my last house and it grew much larger than nearby Melrose and Newtown Pippin. It grows large because it doesn't waste any energy on fruit. In my desperation for apples I tied down a lower branch to...

I'm learning too. The American plum is very tough, at least in Ralls County Missouri. It is unclear to me if this is because of an inherent disease resistace or because my soil and climate are ideal for plums. Occasionally you see a tree that has some gummy sap oozing from the trunk but the...

i The Tick Ranch is loaded with wild plums that ripen in mid-summer. Grafting Waneta, Ozark Premier and Alderman scions should both extend the season another month and provide some take home fruit. So far, so good. Five out of six grafts took. I haven't seen this idea mentioned on any deer...

Yep, we need more information. Is the property in Wisconsin or Florida?

Jack, how tall were your pawpaws when you transplanted? I have been doing something very similar to what you described and have had the same results. When I moved my trees some were two years old and three foot tall and they showed no ability to handle the sun. Would height make a difference? Do...

The nanny berry came with the farm and it is established. Its a viburnum and they hit them all hard in NE Missouri. There is a big area of it on an east facing hill. Deer are in it all the time and they hit it hard. Because there is so much and because it is so thick it stands up to the...

After years of failed efforts to grow pawpaws in full sun the Tickranch now has a tent city. These photo were taken in July. It was very dry this year so not a lot of new growth. The shaded trees look better than those in full sun but it is too early to say if the effort has been worth the...

I have been planting chinkapin oaks at the Tickranch. They are highly preferred, right at the top of the list. Okay, so tied with swamp white oak. The advantage for the chinkapins is that they will start making acorns at a younger age. Also turkeys like the small size of the acorn. If we are...