ghilliehunter
5 year old buck +
Jbird, when I was in the Marine Corps we would repel off towers and walls. I did it because I had to not because I wanted to. Your daughter has guts!
j-bird
Moderator
I think I could do it......not saying I wouldn't be apprehensive about it, but mind over matter. It just amazes me how she gets a little nervous 20 feet of the ground in a stand with a harness on....and now she is leaning out roughly 1200 feet above the ground. I figure her next "thrill" will be jumping out of a plane. Again, something i think I could do, but to be honest that may make me pee my pants just a bit!
trampledbyturtles
5 year old buck +
Yikes, that would have my knees quivering. Not a fan of heights
j-bird
Moderator
Heights in general I am fine with, but roughly 1,200 feet.....that's a different story. Funny thing is she would get a little nervous in a stand last year.....15 feet off the ground. Go figure.
I would not be able to work there as I would have a sign up that listed how many days without an accident....and I would walk up and wipe it clean and put up a "1"....and then turn to the group and go, "Who's next?".
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
MG gonna look a little funny hanging from a basket on the patio, maybe ??? !!!
j-bird
Moderator
Well I went out to check on my plot in the south bottom and it was as bad as I had expected. I show we had 2.5+ inches of rain last week and nearly 3 inches the week before so the creek flooded and put my entire bottom field (including my plot) under about a foot and a half or so of water! You can see below the pic on the left is where I still have water standing in my plot (I was hoping to be able to spray and fertilize - I would need a swamp buggy). The pic on the right is where I was able to get a good reference point of how high the water had gotten. The silt on the plants is roughly as tall as my knee.....I a hair over 6 feet tall.
I was checking my plot and fruit trees in this same bottom to see what damage was done as well. My older apples seem to have more apples than last year, which doesn't take much as they just started fruiting recently. However I was shocker to see that my newly planted dolgo's have fruit on them! I will have to get with Turkey Creek and see if this is normal or not. All three trees had fruit on them.
I also checked on the few grafts that took on my older crab apple and it seems the grafts that took are still alive but have died back some. I am nto sure if that is normal or not, but will post in other threads and find out.
Seeing the apples on the Dolgo's made me curious so I went and checked on my chestnut crabs as well. No apples on them and I found where the jap beetles have taken a liking to one of them as well. Not sure there is much I can do for it.
I also just for the hell of it went to check on a little project I did last year where I trued to kill a lot of the natural weeds and introduce some switch grass into the mix. I wasn't sure how it would work since I didn't work the soil and it wasn't drilled. I didn't want it to take over I just wanted it for some diversity in that area. It turns out some of it took and I was pretty pleased about that. Folks claim that switchgrass can become invasive, but I have not seen that personally and thus why I had to intervene a bit.
I was checking my plot and fruit trees in this same bottom to see what damage was done as well. My older apples seem to have more apples than last year, which doesn't take much as they just started fruiting recently. However I was shocker to see that my newly planted dolgo's have fruit on them! I will have to get with Turkey Creek and see if this is normal or not. All three trees had fruit on them.
I also checked on the few grafts that took on my older crab apple and it seems the grafts that took are still alive but have died back some. I am nto sure if that is normal or not, but will post in other threads and find out.
Seeing the apples on the Dolgo's made me curious so I went and checked on my chestnut crabs as well. No apples on them and I found where the jap beetles have taken a liking to one of them as well. Not sure there is much I can do for it.
I also just for the hell of it went to check on a little project I did last year where I trued to kill a lot of the natural weeds and introduce some switch grass into the mix. I wasn't sure how it would work since I didn't work the soil and it wasn't drilled. I didn't want it to take over I just wanted it for some diversity in that area. It turns out some of it took and I was pretty pleased about that. Folks claim that switchgrass can become invasive, but I have not seen that personally and thus why I had to intervene a bit.
j-bird
Moderator
I needed some pots with soil in them and I just saw those, just hanging around. I am just curious if the cuttings will take by just sticking them in the soil or not. I will transplant everything to their final home in early fall. With all the other odd stuff I do....having grass in hanging baskets won't surprise too many folks that know me!
SWIFFY
5 year old buck +
Ya this is almost scary... in my part of MN weve been getting basically a few inches weekly for months now. It can ease up a bit anytime....
I noticed someone flipped the "ON" switch for the mosquitoes this past week too! Blah!
j-bird
Moderator
Well I was back at it this weekend. Things here finally dried out. Ag corn is going crazy in my area. It is already starting to tassel and silk! As for my plot corn it's fine, but needed to be sprayed so I hit the plots on Saturday morning to kill the weeds. May have been a little late to do it as on Sunday I had some brown spots on the corn..... You can see the ag corn in the back. Hopefully next weekend I can get a dose of Urea on my plot.
The garden pea/bean trial is going OK.....I am concerned in that it appears that the deer have not taken any interest in them thus far.
I also took a pic of the area where I nuked the clover due to weeds with gly earlier in the year as well. As long as you get the rain....the clover (as long as it is well established) will bounce back.
I also sprayed all my orchard trees with Sevin to address the jap beetle issue. I waited until the evening to do that as it has been very hot here and I didn't want to cook my trees. I sprayed my daughters "garden" the day before as the beetles had taken to the sunflowers, beans and peas. I sprayed those on Saturday and I checked Sunday and no beetles! I mixed the Sevin at 2 oz of the concentrate I purchased per gallon of water like it stated. My apples seem to be progressing as well.....I did also take a look at the graft "die back" issue and it appears to be fire blight as the ends had the "hook" that seems to be a tell-tale sign. Thankfully the tree the scion came from doesn't show signs of it. I will clip off the dead and see what happens.
The garden pea/bean trial is going OK.....I am concerned in that it appears that the deer have not taken any interest in them thus far.
I also took a pic of the area where I nuked the clover due to weeds with gly earlier in the year as well. As long as you get the rain....the clover (as long as it is well established) will bounce back.
I also sprayed all my orchard trees with Sevin to address the jap beetle issue. I waited until the evening to do that as it has been very hot here and I didn't want to cook my trees. I sprayed my daughters "garden" the day before as the beetles had taken to the sunflowers, beans and peas. I sprayed those on Saturday and I checked Sunday and no beetles! I mixed the Sevin at 2 oz of the concentrate I purchased per gallon of water like it stated. My apples seem to be progressing as well.....I did also take a look at the graft "die back" issue and it appears to be fire blight as the ends had the "hook" that seems to be a tell-tale sign. Thankfully the tree the scion came from doesn't show signs of it. I will clip off the dead and see what happens.
j-bird
Moderator
Well I was out Sunday putting Urea on my corn plot sand took some pics along the way.
Below are my North and Southwest corn plots. Both are pretty small, and I applied a 40 lb bag of urea to each to give them a little kick. I need a little rain...which figures. We had too much in the spring and now it's starting to get a little too dry! The plots have some grass in them as I was only able to get conventional corn this year. The deer won't care as long as it produces a grain. Most of it is knee to waist high. I just opened the bag and walked down each row with the urea.
Since I was in the area I checked on my garden bean trial as well. Not looking so hot. I expected much more form the beans to be honest and my little experiment is a flop. I think I'm going ot have to plant a much larger area next year and see if that helps. I figured I would have beans sprouting out the top of the cages like crazy or see where they had been nipped back.....no sign of either!
I do have one of my chestnuts that looks like it's going to produce a few chestnuts this year for me.
And this is my best sawtooth that I grew from an acorn - planted a few years ago (spring of 2017). I had to go back and look and see when I planted these.....these threads are just as useful to me as well!!!
Below are my North and Southwest corn plots. Both are pretty small, and I applied a 40 lb bag of urea to each to give them a little kick. I need a little rain...which figures. We had too much in the spring and now it's starting to get a little too dry! The plots have some grass in them as I was only able to get conventional corn this year. The deer won't care as long as it produces a grain. Most of it is knee to waist high. I just opened the bag and walked down each row with the urea.
Since I was in the area I checked on my garden bean trial as well. Not looking so hot. I expected much more form the beans to be honest and my little experiment is a flop. I think I'm going ot have to plant a much larger area next year and see if that helps. I figured I would have beans sprouting out the top of the cages like crazy or see where they had been nipped back.....no sign of either!
I do have one of my chestnuts that looks like it's going to produce a few chestnuts this year for me.
And this is my best sawtooth that I grew from an acorn - planted a few years ago (spring of 2017). I had to go back and look and see when I planted these.....these threads are just as useful to me as well!!!
j-bird
Moderator
Well things started to get a little on the dry side around here and then we got 1 1/2" of rain late in the week and saturday!
I decided it was time to do something with my MG cuttings as well.....So I potted about 30 cuttings or so and then planted another 2 dozen or so into some weed barrier fabric as well just to see how they will do. The potted ones wil get watered when needed....the others.....maybe not so much.
I also went up to check on things and to plant a few remaining MG cutting. I typically plant RR corn, but this year could only get conventional.....never again! I think the corn will be fine, but I like to toss brassica into them and this year it looks like I could run a small push mower down each row! I will say the urea application last weekend seemed to give the corn a kick in the pants as well.....so did the grass, but oh well.
I was also doing some digging inside and found all the kids hunters eds cards.....I thought it was sort of a neat pic all of them together..... Hunters ed here is more about hunting safety and the like, so I encourage all the kids to take the course once they are old enough (normally around 10). Some may never hunt, but this allows them to and the safety portion is good for them as well.
I decided it was time to do something with my MG cuttings as well.....So I potted about 30 cuttings or so and then planted another 2 dozen or so into some weed barrier fabric as well just to see how they will do. The potted ones wil get watered when needed....the others.....maybe not so much.
I also went up to check on things and to plant a few remaining MG cutting. I typically plant RR corn, but this year could only get conventional.....never again! I think the corn will be fine, but I like to toss brassica into them and this year it looks like I could run a small push mower down each row! I will say the urea application last weekend seemed to give the corn a kick in the pants as well.....so did the grass, but oh well.
I was also doing some digging inside and found all the kids hunters eds cards.....I thought it was sort of a neat pic all of them together..... Hunters ed here is more about hunting safety and the like, so I encourage all the kids to take the course once they are old enough (normally around 10). Some may never hunt, but this allows them to and the safety portion is good for them as well.
j-bird
Moderator
Well I didn't get a whole lot of habitat work done, but I got some trails mowed, checked on a few things and got my cams back out.
Nothing much on the cams, we got a doe with twins and a younger doe with a single running around. Which is fine, but I would like to find something with some antlers.
I did get up to the north triangle plot (I was staying away because of a nested turkey).... and it isn't doing too bad. I obviously need to cut a few trees to get some more sunlight in a few spots.
The kids got "bored" and I guess the natural impulse to go shoot something. I had to smile as my oldest was helping the youngest..... Apparently we were under attach from an army of plastic bottles and aluminum cans!!!! 22 is a great way to work back up to the bigger stuff for deer season. I figure these two may head to the woods here in a month or some after some bushy-tails as well.......just not around the house!
Also got to see/experiment with something I had never seen before. The boy bought some surplus ammo for the 303 and turns out it doesn't use gun powder, but instead something called cordite. It looks like fine dried spaghetti. Learn something new all the time!
Nothing much on the cams, we got a doe with twins and a younger doe with a single running around. Which is fine, but I would like to find something with some antlers.
I did get up to the north triangle plot (I was staying away because of a nested turkey).... and it isn't doing too bad. I obviously need to cut a few trees to get some more sunlight in a few spots.
The kids got "bored" and I guess the natural impulse to go shoot something. I had to smile as my oldest was helping the youngest..... Apparently we were under attach from an army of plastic bottles and aluminum cans!!!! 22 is a great way to work back up to the bigger stuff for deer season. I figure these two may head to the woods here in a month or some after some bushy-tails as well.......just not around the house!
Also got to see/experiment with something I had never seen before. The boy bought some surplus ammo for the 303 and turns out it doesn't use gun powder, but instead something called cordite. It looks like fine dried spaghetti. Learn something new all the time!
j-bird
Moderator
Yep - I didn't think so either.....but it's "special" spaghetti! I had to play with it some just for grins. A single pieces burns like a wick, a couple pieces you can more fire. A bundle of it wrapped even loosely (it was like a cordite/paper towel doobie) - actually tried to launch itself. I was impressed! Funny the things that I find to entertain myself!
j-bird
Moderator
Not sure how many other folks have issues with grondhogs/whistle pigs in getting under their buildings, but I have a barn that seems to draw them like a magnet. We evicted another one the other day. Their holes under buildings and holes in the ag fields can lead to costly repairs.
j-bird
Moderator
So I have been trying to save a few chestnut trees I have. I bought 2 container trees earlier this year and they had gotten out of hand on me thru a dry spell, so I am trying to salvage them. I use my 55 gallon 3 point sprayer tank as a water truck. The area these are planted the soil can struggle to hold moisture. So I have been giving them a drink. You can see I still have some signs of life, but I am ashamed that they got as bad as they did.
Another salvage project is a tree the deer destroyed last year. IN earlier posts I show how this tree had two little green buds on it and that was it. The tree was once a 6 foot or taller tree but the damage was so bad I had to cut it back to about 6 to 8 inches and only those 2 little green buds. It's doing well from where it came from, but I have essentially 2 branches fighting to be the central leader. I figure I will remove one over winter once dormant. Its about 3 feet tall now.
Other than that i got a block out to get some buck survey pics and broadcast some turnips and sprayed. The deer tend to not eat the turnips, but they are cheap insurance. I broadcast and then sprayed the grasses so it was sort of a "throw and spray" concept. The corn in my bottom plot isn't going to produce much. The flood this spring just simply set it back too far. I will leave it be for the cover aspect and will broadcast some winter wheat in a month or so for additional food as well.
The "garden" trial also didn't do as I had hoped. I simply broadcast the other seeds of those as well and we will move on. I think next year if I do that, I need to actually plant a garden and I think things will be better. I also will NOT use conventional corn again. The grasses I think have stunted the corn to some extent. RR only for me from now on. Corn is a pain enough as it is....non RR - just frustrating.
Another salvage project is a tree the deer destroyed last year. IN earlier posts I show how this tree had two little green buds on it and that was it. The tree was once a 6 foot or taller tree but the damage was so bad I had to cut it back to about 6 to 8 inches and only those 2 little green buds. It's doing well from where it came from, but I have essentially 2 branches fighting to be the central leader. I figure I will remove one over winter once dormant. Its about 3 feet tall now.
Other than that i got a block out to get some buck survey pics and broadcast some turnips and sprayed. The deer tend to not eat the turnips, but they are cheap insurance. I broadcast and then sprayed the grasses so it was sort of a "throw and spray" concept. The corn in my bottom plot isn't going to produce much. The flood this spring just simply set it back too far. I will leave it be for the cover aspect and will broadcast some winter wheat in a month or so for additional food as well.
The "garden" trial also didn't do as I had hoped. I simply broadcast the other seeds of those as well and we will move on. I think next year if I do that, I need to actually plant a garden and I think things will be better. I also will NOT use conventional corn again. The grasses I think have stunted the corn to some extent. RR only for me from now on. Corn is a pain enough as it is....non RR - just frustrating.
