Brassica plot update and trail cam pics

[phil@thesidehill]

I ran up to the sidehill at lunch today to get some pics of the brassica plantings progress. I planted on July 7th, and we had 5" of rain over the next 7 days or so. here is the seed being sown! It was so humid that day!






[font size="4"]So at 15 days later this is what it looks like. More rain in the forecast for tomorrow.[/font]














[font size="4"]a couple of the visitors recently.[/font]














[font size="4"]the missing brow buck is coming along nicely and so far is the only real regular that i can easily Identify.[/font]




[font size="4"]and he had a little interaction with a fawn. this buck is bedding close by from what i can tell....only day time visits and most of them have been in the mid morning.[/font]

 

[buckvelvet]

That looks great dude!

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Looks great Phil! I like that nice cover along your plot! Next yr I want to do some native grasses around my plots.

 

[OkieKubota]

Looking good Phil! Is it early for brassica in PA? We plant mid August here in Ok...

 

[scott44]

Nice looking plot! Looks like your water hole is getting used.

 

[Deer Kar]

I like the lay out!!

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Looking good Phil! Is it early for brassica in PA? We plant mid August here in Ok...

I think most would say its an early planting date. I would say all in all its about one week earlier than the earliest "recommended" planting date of mid july for my area (most places in the north). I wanted to experiment a little this year. Most years the first 2 weeks of july have more precip than the last two and august can be bone dry as well. So i thought I would take advantage of precipitation with an earlier planting date. I also wanted to get more tonnage out of the plot since it is a small plot, about 1/3 of an arce total with about 8000 sq ft in the brassica mix. I am slightly concerned about bolting on the PTT's but we shall see. Typically we can see our first frosts in mid september (last year we had 6 frosts in September). As long as we don't have a real indian summer I should be fine.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Looks great Phil! I like that nice cover along your plot! Next yr I want to do some native grasses around my plots.

Thanks, that is mainly all 5ft tall golden rod bordering the plot. it stays upright until the snow/wind bring it down. I have started transplanting pines, spruce, and some shrubs a little ways back off the plot to provide a little more security cover once the golden rod is knocked down. It usually takes several wet heavy snows to lay it completely flat though. Most years it isn't flat until december.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Nice looking plot! Looks like your water hole is getting used.

the water hole is getting some use....not nearly as much as i would have thought...since putting the liner in. the slope of the land made it difficult to get the liner completely covered close to the water level. From what i can tell when i walk along the edges there are a few places where the stiffness of the liner material prevents it from laying flush to the ground and flexes a little bit under weight, so i think that freaks the deer out a little bit. I am sure with time it will settle in, and the deer will become accustomed to it. The jury is still out on whether it stays, goes, or i do a little more work on it tighten it up a bit.

 

[OkieKubota]

Cut a plastic barrel in half and bury each half rim deep with a stick put in it so the critters that fall in can get out and throw a couple handfuls of dirt in it for flavoring...

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Cut a plastic barrel in half and bury each half rim deep with a stick put in it so the critters that fall in can get out and throw a couple handfuls of dirt in it for flavoring...

that idea was on the table for a while, but its on hold until/IF this waterhole proves to be completely useless.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

here a couple of "frame of reference" pics

the strips that say small cereal are currently crimson clover and weeds and will be planted to a small cereal grain/legume mix end of next month.




here is a panoramic pic from my tree stand back in early april. this gives a better overall view of what is going on.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/norwoodsman/habitat 2014/panoramicmarkupv2_zps49e80f7b.jpg

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Looks great Phil! I like that nice cover along your plot! Next yr I want to do some native grasses around my plots.

This is the buck is shot last year in this same plot, it was all brassica and it was a much smaller plot, but you can see how the golden rod looks as of Nov 9th last year. still standing and providing good cover all around the plot.