phil@thesidehill
5 year old buck +
A good friend of mine purchased a little chunk of land about a year and half ago....he asked me to take the lead on improving habitat for deer hunting and wildlife in general. We spent the first fall, just hunting and observing without having done any improvements. We just wanted to get a feel for the place first. Then that winter we noticed that the deer pretty much moved out....no real quality food sources. We carved out a 1/4 acre food plot from a semi open area in the woods this spring/summer. we did get lime down on most of this area in the first summer, and then again this spring, and then again when we planted rye/clover in september. We got a decent stand. we also limed and seeded clover in some various other openings. Based on trail camera pics and hunting observations so far this season we have more deer using the property this fall than previously...they responded to new food sources. My friend has started looking into fruit trees...particularly crabs. I have very little experience with them and neither does he.
This property is in NE PA, USDA hardiness zone 5b, Wellsboro Channery Silt Loam soil. It is a "big woods" property and there is no real agriculture for several miles in any direction...a few small grass hayfields at about a mile away, but no row crops or anything like that. Looking at the aerials i dont detect any food plots in the neighborhood either. The property has a mix of mature timber, and thicker regrowth from a selective harvest completed by the previous owner about a decade ago. Cover seems sufficient for the time being, but food seems to be the lowest hole in the bucket...especially during the fall/winter (hunting season). This is also big time bear country...as of last week we have more uniquely identifiable bears than we do bucks....but they arent as frequently captured on camera as the deer are.
We would like to add some crab apple plantings to the margin of the existing food plot, and we have another opening that we plan on expanding this winter/spring for an additional plot, and/or fruit trees. Obviously, we would like to have some crabs that would be dropping from October-December....and we would like to start to see fruit sooner rather than later.
What are our options for getting some crabs going? Seedlings, seed, grafting, etc....we basically have no existing knowledge base to draw from here. What kind of light requirements do we need to acheive....the place is pretty much all woods so we have clear openings or expand existing small openings. what varieties should we be concentrating on for our hardiness zone, soil type, desired drop timing, time from planting to seeing fruit, protection from bear, deer, rodents? In summary, what would some of your Fruit Tree Guru's do in this situation?
I was also wondering if anybody has some links to good reference material on the subject....i would like to start building a solid knowledge base on the subject.
This property is in NE PA, USDA hardiness zone 5b, Wellsboro Channery Silt Loam soil. It is a "big woods" property and there is no real agriculture for several miles in any direction...a few small grass hayfields at about a mile away, but no row crops or anything like that. Looking at the aerials i dont detect any food plots in the neighborhood either. The property has a mix of mature timber, and thicker regrowth from a selective harvest completed by the previous owner about a decade ago. Cover seems sufficient for the time being, but food seems to be the lowest hole in the bucket...especially during the fall/winter (hunting season). This is also big time bear country...as of last week we have more uniquely identifiable bears than we do bucks....but they arent as frequently captured on camera as the deer are.
We would like to add some crab apple plantings to the margin of the existing food plot, and we have another opening that we plan on expanding this winter/spring for an additional plot, and/or fruit trees. Obviously, we would like to have some crabs that would be dropping from October-December....and we would like to start to see fruit sooner rather than later.
What are our options for getting some crabs going? Seedlings, seed, grafting, etc....we basically have no existing knowledge base to draw from here. What kind of light requirements do we need to acheive....the place is pretty much all woods so we have clear openings or expand existing small openings. what varieties should we be concentrating on for our hardiness zone, soil type, desired drop timing, time from planting to seeing fruit, protection from bear, deer, rodents? In summary, what would some of your Fruit Tree Guru's do in this situation?
I was also wondering if anybody has some links to good reference material on the subject....i would like to start building a solid knowledge base on the subject.