Improvements to my new land

[Natty Bumppo]

Hey guys....you might recall my MIL gifted my wife and I a small chunk of land last winter. I posted a few threads about the land, getting some lime down by hand, and a first shot at a small food plot.

http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/realizing-a-dream.2341/

http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/my-first-pathetic-attempt-at-a-food-plot.1693/

The 21 acres borders my 7, and I have been hunting all of her land (about 150 acres) exclusively since 2001. There is no ag whatsoever for tens of miles, and no hard mast. The ink on the deed wasn't even dry yet and I was out on the land starting work that I've wanted to do since buying the house in 2001. Thought I would post and update on my progress.

The first thing I did back in late spring was plant about 100 trees....75 from the MDC (mostly red oak and hickory) and about 25 from Oikos (all oak hybrids). I am not caging or protecting them. Just wanted to get them in the ground. Some pics....

Then in late May my brother and I spread about a ton and a half of lime on a plot I have been working on for a few years (with my MIL's permission, of course)

 

[Natty Bumppo]

The next project was to release and salvage as many wild apples on the land that could. This has been an ongoing job for the past 4 or 5 years or so. My MIL allowed me some mild releasing but nothing too aggressive. Once the land was mine I went aggressive! Besides releasing about 20 wild apples, I also salvaged 5 or 6 apples that were literally buried under detritous from the 2008 ice storm we had here in the Northeast. They were alive but completely horizontal. I uncovered them and in some cases had to use ropes and anchors to get them upright. All of the apples I worked on have not seen direct light in 20 years or so.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

My main focus all summer was the creation of two food plots, one hour glass shaped and one boomerang shaped. The first pic shows the location of the two plots (photoshopped in) and then pics taken in these plots with he aspect numbered for each shot. I have a lot of work still to do. I am not quite done with the logging, brush removal, and stump clearing. I expect next summer to take care of that and be ready to plant at least rye and buckwheat while I continue to make improvements to the soil. Soil tests reveal a pH of 4.8.

#3 before and after...

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Of course all of that logging generated a lot of firewood...about 7 cords. Some I would drag out in log length with my ATV and buck up and stack in the woods to dry for a year. The smaller stuff I would either buck up and haul out to stack near my house or load small logs onto my trailer for the trip back to my house.

Besides all of that, I did some trail maintenance, small TSI efforts, and laying down of spruce and fir logs over some wet and swamps areas on my trails (is that called courdoroy?). And had a lot of beer this summer.

Hoping to get some rye in the hour-glass shaped plot today and hope for some rain. Hope you enjoyed the update. Nothing that exciting, but it's a start.

 

[wiscwhip]

Nice work Natty! Looking good!

 

[SD51555]

That's a heck of a good start! I don't know much about hybrid oaks, but are any of those a white variety? We didn't have a ton of open space on our land, but I managed to squeeze in a dozen well spaced bur oaks. Also, can you post your soil test?

 

[wiscwhip]

Bebb's is a white-bur hybrid and Ashworth in an "improved" bur selection from northern New York.

 

[chummer]

Looking good. Those apples will take off next year.

 

[MA VT Flatlander]

Natty I have lot's of oak seedlings growing in my woods mostly red's and white oak. If you want you can dig some up. not sure how they would transplant.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

That's a heck of a good start! I don't know much about hybrid oaks, but are any of those a white variety? We didn't have a ton of open space on our land, but I managed to squeeze in a dozen well spaced bur oaks. Also, can you post your soil test?

Thanks for the kind words guys. SD1555, here are my soil tests...these are for the hour-glass shaped plot.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Thanks everybody. MA VT Flatlander, thanks for that offer. I may take you up sometime. The MDC trees are so inexpensive (less than a dollar a pop) that even with shipping it's a cheap way to get trees in the ground.

Got my Farmall back into my small hour-glass shaped plot yesterday for the first time ever (after much trail work thus summer) and disced it up and got some rye planted. That was fun. Now just hoping for rain.

 

[wiscwhip]

Natty, I would work on getting that ph above 5.5 ASAP. You don't have excessive amounts of Al in your soil, but whatever amount of that is soluble aluminum(Al+++) will cause rooting issues with most plants(other than acid lovers like blueberries) with a ph of 5.5 or lower. It can also severely limit uptake of phosphorus to your plants. Thankfully, your Al levels aren't way out of the norm and the easy fix is to get your ph above 5.5 through the use of lime(use dolomitic lime as your test suggests to help increase Mg levels as well) and all of those concerns go away.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Awesome Natty. I know from experience the amount of work you did.


Do you have a brush hog yet?

Are your wild apples full size or crab sized?

Thanks NH Mtns. I do have a brush hog...an old beat up 4 footer. My wild apples are all bigger than crab size. I'd say on average about 3 inches in diameter, maybe 4? I don't know a lot about wild apples, but it seems like I have every color imaginable on the land I hunt...greens, yellows, reds, and some that are kind of a yellowish-red.

A decent wild apple year. Not the best I've seen, but a pretty good crop down here should make for some good late October sits.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Natty, I would work on getting that ph above 5.5 ASAP. You don't have excessive amounts of Al in your soil, but whatever amount of that is soluble aluminum(Al+++) will cause rooting issues with most plants(other than acid lovers like blueberries) with a ph of 5.5 or lower. It can also severely limit uptake of phosphorus to your plants. Thankfully, your Al levels aren't way out of the norm and the easy fix is to get your ph above 5.5 through the use of lime(use dolomitic lime as your test suggests to help increase Mg levels as well) and all of those concerns go away.

Thanks wiscwhip. Much appreciated. I have much to learn!

I was going to do another test next spring and then, yes, put down at least 1500 more pounds of lime.

 

[SD51555]

I wonder if u shouldn't do a blend of calcitic and dolomitic lime? If he just went with dolomite, he could overshoot his Ca:Mg ratio in his base saturation test. To bring his Ca up to 1000 ppm, that would raise his Mg to about 380, if the dolomite is 2/1 ca:mg.

I could be overthinking it.


Sent from my mobile land management office.

 

[MoLandOwner]

Perfect spot for Water Treatment Lime if you ask me. High in Cal, low in Mag. 6 ton per acre this year and same next. But I don't think he could go wrong with any lime as the 4.8 PH is going to be the hardest thing to overcome.

 

[wiscwhip]

You may be correct long-term SD. I don't think a one time application of 1500 lbs of dolomite will push that beyond the optimum cal/mag ratio for any extended period of time, if at all. He should be retesting after that application before applying more lime either way, so at that point an adjustment could be made to a calcitic limestone product. The other thing that would need to be considered is the mineralogy of his soil. If he has any sand, as in sandy loam, loamy sand, etc. he will be fine with the dolomite, it may even help to slow down an excessively draining soil a tiny bit. If he is in a heavier clay type, like clay loam or loamy clay, he will likely want to stay away from the Mg due to it's tendency to tighten soil structure, which would be bad on an already tight clay-based soil.

 

[Bill]

Wow that's a lot of friggin work done right there!

Looks good


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[tooln]

You've been busy for sure. Looks good so far. I really like that trailer you have for the wheeler.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

It feels good to get some work done on land that's yours, eh Natty ?? Things are looking good so far, that's for sure !! Love to see firewood ranked up drying like that. Kind of makes winter tolerable with a cozy fire in the woodstove !! ( And knowing you have all those BTU's of heat that the utilities can't charge you for !! ) Lime will definitely make a difference for you too. It's great for plots and getting trees established. Keep us posted. ------ That hourglass plot is real cool for the " narrow " spot deer will probably cross at !! Good job.