Comments on another hair-brained idea

[yoderjac]

I have them from time to time and few of them pass muster. Help me convince myself this is not a reasonable idea or that it is...

So, I have a tiny microplot in a riparian buffer that is primarily white oak. I planted a tiny microplot in it. The area is remote so it is not properly limed. I've planted perennial clover. It grows, but not great. Then when leaves fall and cover it, if I don't remove the leaves (which I don't want to do during the season), it kills the clover.

The purpose of the plot is not to feed or really attract deer. Deer generally move through this buffer in transition. When there are acorns, they will linger and suck them up. The purpose of the plot is to simply get deer to slow down for a few bites as they move through and position them for an archery shot. It is probably less than 0.10 acres.

The current situation is not worth the effort. I'm now contemplating alternatives. I live in the suburbs and here where hunting is limited to archery and deer numbers are high, I've seen deer targeting azaleas. They are an acid loving shrub that seems to be shade tolerant. It is easy to start them from cuttings.

So, here is the hair-brained idea. Would it make sense to start and plant azaleas under the oaks in this area. I would use some fencing to protect them for a season or so until they are well established. I presume once established that deer would not browse them beyond survival when I remove the fence.

So, what do you think....?

Jack

 

[Jameson]

Would azaleas really be any better than whatever is just going to grow natural? And if they are, then with such a small planting are they just going to get wiped out?

The purpose of the plot is to simply get deer to slow down for a few bites as they move through and position them for an archery shot.

Maybe grow a few shrub crabapple near a stand and uncage one a year prior to hunting season. Hinge-cut them if they get too tall.

 

[yoderjac]

Would azaleas really be any better than whatever is just going to grow natural? And if they are, then with such a small planting are they just going to get wiped out?



Maybe grow a few shrub crabapple near a stand and uncage one a year prior to hunting season. Hinge-cut them if they get too tall.

Do you think they will produce in heavy shade? Or, are you suggesting using them as browse? There is basically nothing growing there naturally because of the leaves. If I remove the leaves, the native seed bank produces Japanese stilt grass.

As for such a small planting getting wiped out. That is a question I have about azaleas. Generally once woody plants get established in my area, they don't get wiped out. Deer will browse them but not so much that the root system can't regenerate them next year. I'm not certain this will hold for azaleas but that is one of my questions.

 

[Jameson]

just for browse, but if it is that shady you may have to look at non-food deer-stoppers; scrapes, ponds, etc..

 

[yoderjac]

Water is abundant on my place so water isn't a real stopper. I could create a scrape with human urine, but deer urine is now prohibited in my state. I am considering other methods as well. One thing I would like to do is reduce access to the area. That is one reason why I'm looking for some perennial.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tap]

I have some landscape azalea around my home (in shade) and deer do browse it to death, but they really don't hit it unless there is snow on the ground. Then they are also pounding the white pine, rhododendron, hemlock, and mountain laurel.

I think I'd try the mock scrape route. If it's an area where deer are traveling, they WILL come to check out an overhanging branch above a scrape. And once they start using it, you won't need to do much of anything to it except to make sure the branch doesn't get torn down. The deer, both bucks and does will do the rest.
I toured Neal Dougherty's farm several years ago and he had places that there was nothing to hang a branch from in the exact spot he wanted deer to stop for a shot. So he stretched a wire or rope between two adjacent trees and then he hung the licking branch from the wire in the exact spot he wanted bucks to stop for a shot.

I think a scrape would be more of a magnet than azalea.

 

[loshonhora]

hostas.

 

[yoderjac]

I thought about hostas. I'm sure they would be an attractant, but because they are herbaceous, I thought deer might wipe them out. I would think that because azaleas have a woody base that they would stand browse pressure. But they are worth consideration...

 

[chickenlittle]

I have a few spots I have planted strawberry bush in cages. I intended them to be browsed through the cage. After 3 summers, they are just alive, not vigorous.

I think planting a bunch of apple seeds would make a nice browse hedge. You could do the same thing with seedlings or rootstocks. Plant a row or bunches and fence for a year or 2, cut off top growth in late winter. Basically make a stoolbed that you maintain for young growth.

Someone mentioned mountain maple a while ago as supporting a lot of browsing. Not easy to find a source to buy.

Sumacs? Elderberry?

 

[yoderjac]

Great thoughts!