There is a half acre of thorns/bryars that I would like to eliminate for a potential plot next year. I'm trying to figure out the best approach instead of just diving into it. Here was my thinking: Hire a guy for a half day with a Terex Forestry Mulcher to clean it out . I would then rake up the mulch. Next take a soil sample and apply the recommended lime . In the early Spring , once the snow melted and ground is soft enough, I would go in with my ATV and Tuffline Disk and disk it numerous times to chop up the roots that are underground. Or I wait a bit later in the Spring until I see the bryars/thickets shooting up, cuz they will come up again I think even tho I had machinery in there, then spray them with Gly, wait 10 days and disk. I know I prob don't need the Gly if I'm disking but it's just a bit more to kill them. Or am I better off waiting until the Spring when the thickets are actively growing and having the Terex Forestry Mulcher come in then. Need advice eliminating this stuff, not what to grow. Thought and ideas would be great.
Clearing bryars/thorns for future plot
- Thread starter BobinCt
- Start date
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
You would be surprised, even with gly applications, some stuff might continue to pop up. The seed bank is likely huge in that area. You also might find that you have some woody species in there that require a stronger "brush killer" like Tordon or Garlon. You could get it out now, that might be a better choice than waiting till spring, at least then you have the mature stuff gone and are only fighting the "newest" growth.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Is it too big for a bushhog? Briars should be fine but depending on what has the thorns, you may need the forestry mower. Regardless of how you remove it, I might be temped to simply not worry about it. Just another approach to think about. Most new growth is an attractive food source to deer. Any time I convert land to a food plot, I like to spend a few years focused on soil improvement. That may or may not be the case for you depending on soil, but I find it useful in my area. Crops like Winter Rye, Crimson Clover, Buckwheat, Ground Hog Radish, and such are great soil improvers and don't really require much tillage. I've learned that clean monoculture food plots don't really buy you much for deer. As long as you've got something the like in the plot, they will use it. Often I've seen them eating more weeds than crop. Eliminating or minimizing tillage reduces water loss and slows the consumption of beneficial OM and preserves the soil tilth.
These are all annuals. You'll be bushhogging with the Crimson and Camo throw and mow method or doing very light tillage depending on your soil conditions. Either way, the conditions you will create by planting annually (or even establishing perennial clover and keeping it mowed), don't favor thorns and briars. What new growth from them that isn't nipped off by deer will get mowed or tilled. The roots will eventually run out of energy and rot in the soil providing more OM.
Just another approach to consider...
Thanks,
Jack
These are all annuals. You'll be bushhogging with the Crimson and Camo throw and mow method or doing very light tillage depending on your soil conditions. Either way, the conditions you will create by planting annually (or even establishing perennial clover and keeping it mowed), don't favor thorns and briars. What new growth from them that isn't nipped off by deer will get mowed or tilled. The roots will eventually run out of energy and rot in the soil providing more OM.
Just another approach to consider...
Thanks,
Jack
Boll Weevil
5 year old buck +
Might be able to disk a firebreak around the perimeter and burn it this winter and get your lime down immediately thereafter. If it's dormant or dead, dry and brittle, fire will clean it up right quick and the ash added will be beneficial to the soil.
alldaysit
5 year old buck +
From my experience, don't take every square inch of space. Leave a good buffer on the outside. It gives the deer a spot to stop upon entrance to the area and scan the field. Plus, they typically spend time browsing the area as well from that buffer.
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By the way, the brush is multiflora rose that I'm targeting or trying to eradicate. I just read up on it and it said that I can apply round up during dormant season , which is now, after it is cut. I never realized Gly was effective during dormant season. I always thought things had to be actively growing. Anyone ever fight Multiflora Rose?
Got the Forestry Mulcher coming tomorrow. After tomorrow, I'm sure I'll have to rake up all the mulch that is left behind. Following that, I'll take a soil sample and apply lime. Then come Spring, I'll be spraying it. Hopefully after a year, I can get a clean field and PH up. Going with no disking.
If it's just brush and briars, you may be as well off leaving the mulch. It's extra organic material, will hold in moisture, and you'd be surprised how fast it will rot. I cleared a field of multifloral rose and autumn olive a couple years back. I scalped the biggest stuff with a dozer, brush hogged the rest, then sprayed what sprouted back. A year later, there was no mulch left. Two years, and the heavy stuff I pushed up with the dozer is almost gone.
I put an add on CL for it. I already know that CL can be full of surprises. I specifically wrote Forestry Mulcher , but I got a lot of responses from people with the large rotary deck mowers. This stuff was so thick that I definitely needed the Forestry Mulcher and there were more large rocks than I expected as stuff got cleared. Thank God I waited for the Skid Steer Forestry . I had prices as high as $1500 from people with big rotary deck mowers which would have been a nightmare . I ended up hiring a guy with the Forestry Mulcher and he was very good and had the perfect machine for the job. Chopped thru it like butter. He gave me a price of $175 an hour and 4 hour minimum. I knew it wasn't going to take 4 hours but I was happy paying $700.
chummer
5 year old buck +
I have put a couple plots where briars existed. I just mowed them and planted. Every time you mow they come back less. I am down to only having them on the edges now. The deer also helped to set them back by eating the new growth after mowing. After 4 years I don't have any left in the plot.
