A few habitat pics I thought you might enjoy

[Lot2Learn]

Wow, NH, that's awesome looking land and pretty equipment!

Keep us posted!

 

[Native Hunter]

Wow, NH, that's awesome looking land and pretty equipment!

Keep us posted!

Thanks! We both have lots of fields to maintain on our farms, so we can't get by without having some pretty decent mowing equipment.

 

[Native Hunter]

This is the first time I've ever had fruit set on the paw paws I planted. Tree has been in the ground about 6 years and is about 7 feet tall. Several pods like the one in the pic below. Got a long way to go.



This is apples on a full sized Milam set about 8 years ago. I was standing on the top of my truck tail gate when I took this pic. Tree is loaded and so is the other full sized trees set nearby.





ACB in bloom:

 

[Freeborn]

NH, nice picks. How often are mowing your NWSG? I'm thinking I should mow mine even though my mid term contract does not require it. My oldest grass is 4 years old and im thinking I should mow it to get better seed/soil germination so the grass fills in. Do you typically mow in the spring or fall?

 

[Native Hunter]

NH, nice picks. How often are mowing your NWSG? I'm thinking I should mow mine even though my mid term contract does not require it. My oldest grass is 4 years old and im thinking I should mow it to get better seed/soil germination so the grass fills in. Do you typically mow in the spring or fall?

I always mow in the spring so that we will have good cover by hunting season in the fall. Early May is the best time because lots of weeds and undesirables have already been growing for a long time, but the native grasses are just beginning to start. You stun the other stuff and let in the sunlight for the grass just as it wants to start growing.

Maintaining native grasses is hard on my place, because of blackberry wanting to take the fields. I'm in CREP and only required to mow 1/3 every year, but in some places you really need to mow more because of the blackberry. You are lucky to go 4 years and not have any maintenance issues. If I waited that long to mow, the BB would be rank in some areas.

Burning every 3 or 4 years is the best option, but impractical for me. I have so many fence rows with trees that it would take a bunch of fire stop lanes and that would be too much work. My plans after this year are to mow it once in the spring from now on. In the areas where I have done that, I have the best stands of grass.

It's really too much work on my place, but the beauty of it in the fall really makes it worth the effort.

 

[Freeborn]

I'm impressed how well your mower cuts. Are you using a brush mower or a flail mower? I just got my tractor last year and will be adding a mower in the next year. I'm leaning towards a flail mower.

When you mow makes allot of sense with weeds and other cool season grasses, I would probably mow about a month later than you. Prairie grass does look great in the fall and is good deer cover for those open areas.

 

[Native Hunter]

I'm using brush mowers. But in that last picture I just posted - that is a place I actually mowed with a DR Walk Behind mower. It had been mowed all summer about every 3 week, because that is the path into my storage building.

 

[Freeborn]

My land is in CRP and primarily for pheasant habitat. I can't mow until after they are done nesting which is in July. I do enjoy the roosters but the timing for mowing is poor. How does CREP work?

How long have you had your NWSG planted? I have 2 more years before my mid term mowing requirement and I am planning to interested some additional grass types into my mixes.

 

[Native Hunter]

My land is in CRP and primarily for pheasant habitat. I can't mow until after they are done nesting which is in July. I do enjoy the roosters but the timing for mowing is poor. How does CREP work?

How long have you had your NWSG planted? I have 2 more years before my mid term mowing requirement and I am planning to interested some additional grass types into my mixes.

With CREP you get an amount per acre per year for as long as you are in the contract. I'm in 15 years and this is the beginning of year 6. That's how long the grasses have been planted. I'm actually doing mid term a little early buy my F&W guy wanted to go ahead and do it. I'm required to mow 1/3 each year. I can't mow after May 15 until sometime in the fall - I forgot what that date is.

If I had it to do all over I would have went heavier on Switch. It's the king if the goal is deer management.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Nice place Native !! 500 Norways is a job for sure. Pay-off will be big. I just fertilized our camp Norways this past weekend that have been planted the last 2, 3, 4, and 5 years along a road for screening. The oldest of those are about 9 ft. tall now ( sunny spot ) and they range down to about 3 ft. tall.

The ACB and the apples look real good. Tell Dad WTG on the coyote !!

 

[Native Hunter]

Last year I started going through my 10 year old tree planting and whacking sweet gums that had come up and were competing with my oaks and other trees that were planted. The rows are closing in so much now I can't get the big tractor and 10 foot hog trough any more. So yesterday I got out the old Super H with the 6 foot hog and made what will be the last trip through most of the row. Basically I was just whacking any big remaining sweet gums. Thought I would share a few pics.

PS: This tractor was my grandfather's. We use it a little every year to keep it running well. My dad is 80 and he said that hog was bought when he was a small child. It was the perfect tool for yesterday. After the mowing I took the pole saw and took down the gums in the rows.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Very cool machinery, Native !! Equipment must have been maintained well to still be " ready to roll ". What kinds of oaks do you have planted ?? They look real healthy.

I see you have great taste in saws !!

 

[Native Hunter]

Very cool machinery, Native !! Equipment must have been maintained well to still be " ready to roll ". What kinds of oaks do you have planted ?? They look real healthy.

I see you have great taste in saws !!

That saw is a life saver. I use it un-extended to whack the gums and don't have to get my hands down in the briers and poison ivy. Also if a tall gum might fall on a good tree, you can take it out in short pieces and just let them fall straight down.

I planted a diverse mixture of oaks in both the white and red families. I had previously identified 8 different oak species, and kept noticing that I had some type of white oak in the mix that leafed out late. After a little research and looking at the leaves, I've decided that it's Overcup, so now I know of 9 types. Hopefully the diversity of so many species will be good. These have been planted about 10 years. The only thing that has outgrown the oaks are the yellow poplars. I'm thinning a few of the poplars now if they are close to an oak and might eventually shade it out.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Great to see your place in a different form! Nice rigs! Must be nice to have the OL coyote killer on staff too :)

 

[Native Hunter]

Here are the oaks I have been able to identify. Some of these white oak varieties were mixed in with regular white oaks , which I think is fine. And there were some I specifically asked for:

Northern Red Oak
Cherrybark Oak
Pin Oak
White Oak
Chinkapin Oak (they were mixed in with the regular white oaks, and I'm glad)
Bur Oak
Overcup Oak (I didn't ask for these, but there were some in the mix)
Swamp White Oak
Sawtooth (I only have about 10 of these. I wasn't going to plant any, but got some mixed in with some chestnut seedlings.)

The other trees I have in the main planting are:

Yellow Poplar
Green Ash
White Pine
Norway Spruce (a few added last year and several this year)
Bald Cypress

The fruit and nut section on the east side contain the following. I will continue to maintain these after I cannot enter the other section.

American Cranberry
Arrowwood Viburnum
Hazel
Witch Hazel
Elderberry
Paw Paw
3-4 different varieties of cherry
Chinese Chestnut
Dunstan Chestnut
Persimmon (a few of these are also in the main planting, but will eventually be shaded out there. The ones here will be fine.)
Red Osier
Wild Plum
Chickasaw Plum
Cane Valley Plum
3-4 different varieties of crabs
8-9 different varieties of apples
5-6 different varieties of pears
Probably some things in this part of the planting I have left out. Hard to remember all of the things I have planted here.

 

[Native Hunter]

First fruit of the year in about another week. We need to go from red to black.

 

[SD51555]

Are those mulberries already?

 

[Native Hunter]

Are those mulberries already?

Yes, these are weeping mulberry and they are always weeks ahead of our native mulberry. They are small but have a very sweet taste. On our natives and my Illinois Everbearing the fruit is still very green but coming along well.

PS: I had a mulberry to come up near the Illinois Everbearing, and I believe it to be a seedling from IE. I saw it about 3 years ago and just let it grow. This year it has a crop of mulberries, but I can already tell that they won't be as large as IE. Will be interesting to compare the taste.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

That's a great selection of plants you've got there, Native. If an animal shows up at your place and goes away hungry, it's his own fault !! Seems you have stuff for every season.

Last sentence in your post #161............ you know they say the memory is the first thing to go !!:D:p

 

[Native Hunter]

That's a great selection of plants you've got there, Native. If an animal shows up at your place and goes away hungry, it's his own fault !! Seems you have stuff for every season.

Last sentence in your post #161............ you know they say the memory is the first thing to go !!:D:p

LOL, see I was right - I did forget - I left out mulberry!