How to start?

[wisconsinteacher]

I'm looking at adding 3 plots to my land. They would be .75-1 acre in size. My property consists of 13 year old aspen that is 15-20 feet tall. Do I...(A) hire a guy with a track-hoe and have him remove and pile everything up, (B) go in a and cut and pile the trees myself and burn them this winter and then next spring have a dozer come in and remove stumps and flatten soil, (C) have a dozer come in and push everything over into a windrow and pile at the end of the plot.

This food plot thing sure is stressful!!!! lol

 

[yoderjac]

I would go the track hoe option vs dozer. A hoe can push over trees uprooting them. It can then pick up and shake the soil off the root ball which helps retain your top soil. A dozer operator who really knows what he is doing can do a good job, but most are construction oriented. You will often end up with a nice level field of subsoil with all the debris and topsoil piles up on the edges.

However, the place to start is a plan. You may have already done that. A plan will answer questions like. What is your objective, QDM? Improving hunting? Do you have the scale to accomplish you objective. Are food plots what you need? Where should they be located based on deer and huntability, sun, soil, terrain... What other habitat manipulation should be done to achieve you objective? Which should occur first?

I found we have several different soil types on our property, some are much better for food plots than others.

Best of luck,

Jack

 

[Tree Spud]

Aspen gonna be a challenge. Their root system can spread to 60' diameter of the tree and suckers can sprout up along the root system. Once you cut the tree down and exposure area to sunlight, and even remove the stump, you may get a any whole new regeneration of growth.

You may need to clear year 1 and then let the regen come in year 2 and spray with a woody herbicide when the new sprouts are 12-15" with leaves in late summer.

 

[Telemark]

B. Cut and spray trees and pile it up to burn next year. Then you can decide if the stumps really bother you. Personally, I like structure in food plots, and I think deer do too.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Aspen suckers are deer candy. Cut them, leave the stumps, let them sucker and sprout, plant clover and winter rye in between the stumps. Mow it once a year. Cheap tasty deer plot for cheap.

 

[rocksnstumps]

How thick are the popple in there now? Been on plenty of former paper company land grouse hunting where 10-15 yr regen is extremely tough to even walk thru. 1000(s) of stems an acre. That's where you let the dog run in there while you try to walk an edge. That type of situation would be tough to plant much if just cutting and leaving all the stumps. Agree would want to mechanically clear some patches. Cut some other areas near by to just grow back as browse if you want. Many of those areas in northern WI that grow popple are a soil mix of sandy and stoney with a lot of small rocks. The clover and rye mixes a yr or two from now are probably your best bet to start with later on. You will want to get things level enough to allow mowing without scalping the ground in spots or dinging rocks everywhere.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Are the trees too large to grind up with a forestry mulcher? Aspen rots down pretty quickly and those machines can chew through stuff pretty quickly. That would give you a nice smooth plot without potentially pushing all of your best topsoil off the plot.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

What are the machines called that chop the trees up in the ditch? They look like they can grind a good size tree.

 

[ruskbucks]

I agree with Ben. A forstery muncher is the way to go. I got a demo from work and used it to clear a 3 acre plot.it was mostly 10 -15 ft tall tag alders with some smaller aspen. It cut thru them just like mowing your grass. I planted that fall. The following year most of the roots/wood was gone. After you mow them down if you put the head on the ground and back drag it will turn the trees into wood chips.

 

[yoderjac]

What are the machines called that chop the trees up in the ditch? They look like they can grind a good size tree.

As Ben mentioned, forestry mowers are devices that can be put on the front of a skid loader. They grind wood into chips. They are great for clearing small diameter trees. They will work on large diameter trees once they are down, but they are pretty slow. A lot of larger trees could take quite a while. Next, you need to figure out how to collect and what to do with the chips. In many applications they are just left as mulch on the soil which works great. You probably don't want to do that in a food plot area as the decomposing wood will tie up a lot of N for a while. I'm not saying it can't be done with a forestry mower. Wish I had one.

Maybe posting a picture of your situation might help. Depending on the size and density of the trees, it could be a good or fair tool for your project.

Someone earlier in the thread had an interesting idea. I always find it is best to bend nature a little at a time. They suggested creating what MSU deer lab calls "Mineral Stumps". This all goes back to my earlier post about planning and objectives. This is just an idea to consider. What if you simply cut down the trees and removed them. The next year you would have a "food plot" of mineral stumps. This could be a great attractant. At some point, those multi-stemmed stumps are going to become less attractive as they grow up. If you cut the stumps fairly low, this might be a good fit for renting a forestry mower. Another option might be to spray them with herbicide after they leaf out in the second year. This would not require they be cut low. You could create a fire break around the field and then conduct a controlled burn. This would generate a lot of native deer food with native forbs and such along with native grasses and such. Even sprouting aspen would be attractive when young. After a couple years of this, you could conduct another controlled burn followed by clearing for a plot. Each of these steps would produce deer food and be attractive for hunting as well as being good for your soil. At this point, the stumps would have rotted enough that a fairly small mini-excavator could remove the stumps and shake off the top soil. Alternatively, a forestry mower could get rid of the above ground parts. Throw and mow techniques are much better for soil health than tillage. So, the stumps could just rot in place slowly below ground.

There are lots of ways to skin a cat and it doesn't have to happen all at once. It will all depend on your objectives and long-term plan.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I just called on a rental of a mulcher. $1200 for the weekend. This would allow me to use it to make the trails into the plots and then clear them out. I would get 4 hours per 1 acre with the mulcher. My buddy says I can do it with a saw and skidster for less, but I fear the big piles and mess.

A lot to think about. Thanks for all the great ideas, please keep them coming!!

 

[wisconsinteacher]

Aspen suckers are deer candy. Cut them, leave the stumps, let them sucker and sprout, plant clover and winter rye in between the stumps. Mow it once a year. Cheap tasty deer plot for cheap.

Would you then just pile the cut trees on the edge? What if I mulched the aspen would it then regenerate? I could have that plus add in some winter rye to fill in the gaps?

 

[ruskbucks]

Aspen doesn't shoot stump sprouts like maples/ birch. When they are cut they will shoot up sprouts everywhere off the roots in a circumference as high as the mother tree. I believe I read that they don't handle being cut again after they resprout. The deer do love to browse them. Some areas 70 percent of a deer's summer diet is aspen leaves. The other nice thing with aspen is the rot fast. The $1200 for the muncher will be way worth it compared to cutting and using a skidsteer. It took me about 5 hrs to clear the 3 acres, but it wasn't solid trees. Mostly thick pockets here and there.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

Aspen doesn't shoot stump sprouts like maples/ birch. When they are cut they will shoot up sprouts everywhere off the roots in a circumference as high as the mother tree. I believe I read that they don't handle being cut again after they resprout. The deer do love to browse them. Some areas 70 percent of a deer's summer diet is aspen leaves. The other nice thing with aspen is the rot fast. The $1200 for the muncher will be way worth it compared to cutting and using a skidsteer. It took me about 5 hrs to clear the 3 acres, but it wasn't solid trees. Mostly thick pockets here and there.

So did you have issues with new aspen growth? Did you have planting issues due to the roots still in the ground. Some of the locals I'm talking to are saying I need to remove the root systems to work the soil enough to plant the plot. Couldn't I just "no till" the plot after mulching and clearning up the bitter pieces on the ground?

Again thanks for the help guys. I really appreciate it.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

Here is a picture of what I am dealing with.

 

[yoderjac]

Here is a picture of what I am dealing with.

A forestry mower will handle that very nicely!

 

[ruskbucks]

So did you have issues with new aspen growth? Did you have planting issues due to the roots still in the ground. Some of the locals I'm talking to are saying I need to remove the root systems to work the soil enough to plant the plot. Couldn't I just "no till" the plot after mulching and clearning up the bitter pieces on the ground?

Again thanks for the help guys. I really appreciate it.

They might be right. I was talked into plowing my plot after the mulching. Farmer friend suggested it to turn over some of the thick grass. I have a 6 year clear cut right on the south edge of my plot. I have a few volunteer aspen pop up in the plot, but I disc my plot and they are never a problem. Now the aspen in the clear cut are so thick you can't hardly walk thru them. I'm not sure if they will come in strong thru a no till plot, but I think the would.

 

[yoderjac]

They might be right. I was talked into plowing my plot after the mulching. Farmer friend suggested it to turn over some of the thick grass. I have a 6 year clear cut right on the south edge of my plot. I have a few volunteer aspen pop up in the plot, but I disc my plot and they are never a problem. Now the aspen in the clear cut are so thick you can't hardly walk thru them. I'm not sure if they will come in strong thru a no till plot, but I think the would.

I would not see aspen sprouts as an issue at all in a T&M type plot. They are an attractive food source and when the plot is mowed they will be knocked back. The root systems may push more for a few years, but as they are mowed, the root system will be exhausted of energy. While you are probably right, they will come through strong at first, I see them as a benefit and they will diminish over time and the plot is replanted.

If the plot is put into perennial clover, it would need to be mowed as needed to keep them under control.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[b116757]

Since your property is poplar slashing anyway I would be very tempted to divide it into pie wedges or blocks and clear one of them every so many years rotating around the property letting it just come back as poplar deer do love young poplar slashings you could work in a small plot into each pie wedge for added verity. Or maybe a central plot with each pie wedge ending at the plot in the center of the property. Spent many a day hunting poplar slashings as a youth tough to walk thru harder to shoot thru but deer love them.

 

[Triple C]

Based on the size of plots u r wanting to put in and the size of trees/brush you are wanting to clear, a forestry mulcher would make short work of that. We run a heavy duty hi-flow cutter on a Cat 323 track loader. Looks like a park when finished. Head has carbide teeth on bottom of flywheel and mulches downed trees to small chips. A few before n after pics of similar size trees of pine n sweet gum.