Badgerfowl's habitat projects

[badgerfowl]

Stopped at our place on saturday. It was wet as is typical this time of year.

The road to our slough is somewhere in here.



Here's looking the other way, same spot, but towards the field to the south.



Some of the earlier hinge cutting and storm help.

 

[badgerfowl]

Plenty of bulbs remain. Some look like they were recently tasted.

 

[badgerfowl]

Clover is looking good. Lots of activity, tracks, poop, in there.



Wolf chew toy.



This is from sunday. Water down about 4" from saturday.



Pine trees and spruce trees (2013) ready to take the place of the HP screen in 10 years maybe.

 

[badgerfowl]

To the right of the driveway in the last pic.



More pines (2013). MP45 from Itasca. Some are over waist high. Threw some fertilizer at them last two years.

 

[scott44]

Good pics! Looks a little wet kind of like here in MI.

 

[bueller]

Those pines should really start taking off now! When does your place usually start drying out in the spring?

 

[badgerfowl]

When the rain stops. It can be wet into summer in the low spots if the rain keeps up.

I'll fertilize the pines again. They're big compared to the non fert ones.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I was thinking the very same thing as Bueller - the pines and spruce should start to take off now. I find they usually don't do much the first 2 or 3 years - then- boom. I put some 10-10-10 down around all my spruce starting in 2nd year, and it seems to get them popping. We have a BATCH of white pine and pitch pine seedlings naturally and once they get to 20" to 2 ft. - they jump big-time each year then. Fertilizer will def. help.

 

[OakSeeds]

A study at Kansas State University found that competition (especially grass, but weeds and other plants) stunted/reduced the growth of hardwood trees by over 65%. You might do your nice-looking smaller pine trees a big favor by eliminating grass (5-foot dia.) around each tree. Good luck.

 

[badgerfowl]

I used generic oust around them the first year. I like the grass/weeds to help protect them from drying sun, wind, etc though too. With our sandy soil, we can get really dry in the summer in a hurry. It's a tradeoff for sure.

 

[badgerfowl]

I was thinking the very same thing as Bueller - the pines and spruce should start to take off now. I find they usually don't do much the first 2 or 3 years - then- boom. I put some 10-10-10 down around all my spruce starting in 2nd year, and it seems to get them popping. We have a BATCH of white pine and pitch pine seedlings naturally and once they get to 20" to 2 ft. - they jump big-time each year then. Fertilizer will def. help.

10-10-10 is what I've been using. Whatever I can get quick at menards basically. One bag a year is all I need.

 

[badgerfowl]

A few more water shots. Standing in the NE corner of the field looking into the woods. Ladder stand in there if you can see it is under water.



Rotated 90 degrees from same spot. Hinge cuts from January along the field edge.



HP cuttings from 2011.



Almost stuck getting out of the field.

 

[badgerfowl]

Crab's from St. Lawrence Nurseries arrived on friday so I planted them yesterday. 1 each of All-winter hangover, Winter wildlife crab, trailman apple crab, and a violi's hanging crab.

Packaged well.



Was in a hurry so didn't take too many pics.

This one has a terrible shape. Will either try to get the stronger branch into a central leader or straighten it and see if the smaller leaders take the lead.



Did a quick temporary cage until I have more time to do it right.





Ran into problems as I got closer to the field edge. Running out of room for all these.

 

[bueller]

Didn't know you had digging a pond on your agenda this weekend? ;)

 

[badgerfowl]

I left it open. I should expand it and see what happens. Not the first time I've hit water while digging. :) it's worse when it happens on higher ground.

 

[bueller]

Badgerfowl, would you happen to know which tree in the area is full of red buds already? I found a pretty good sized tree (~10" diameter) on my place that I hadn't noticed before. The bark was smoother than the black oaks of that size but the color was similar.

 

[CrazyEd]

Badgerfowl, would you happen to know which tree in the area is full of red buds already? I found a pretty good sized tree (~10" diameter) on my place that I hadn't noticed before. The bark was smoother than the black oaks of that size but the color was similar.

maple?

 

[wiscwhip]

That was my guess as well, many of the maples here in LaCrosse have had large red buds for a couple weeks already. Some trees lost a bunch with the last snow we had, ground underneath was covered with them.

 

[bueller]

Maple would be cool. This would be the only one I know of on either of our properties. I'll grab a leaf off it in a couple weeks.

 

[badgerfowl]

Yea I would say maple, they're usually one of the first out of the gate. I hinged a bunch this winter. We've got plenty of them. Some of my apples were at green tip or just past and the others were silver tip at most. Everything should get going with this coming warm up.