My Central Ky Habitat Addiction

[CentralKyHunter]

Well, after months of preparation the day finally arrived. Been planting trees for almost 10 hours and I have 5000 in the ground !!! White oak, red Oak, black oak and about 700 mixed pecan, Walnut, Persimon . I am beyond exhausted and do not want to see another tree for a good while.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Lots of worm activity in the soil!!



And as an added bonus for me, had enough trees to convert some current crop land to trees !!!

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Spent two years fighting a bad tent worm infestation and I have never seen a bloom on this tree. Now they are predicting two nights back in the upper 20s this week. At least I finally got to see it bloom!!

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Got to give props to the electric backpack sprayer that I bought. Knocked out a ton of work in just a couple of hours with no pumping . Tree of Heaven has all been sprayed!!!!



A few random pics I snapped while doing a walk through.





White Oak Site:

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Have had a pretty good week with my habitat and future Tree Farm goals.

Had my inspection of my tree planting sites and the forester said it was one of the better quality plantings he had seen in almost 30 yrs. I was pretty happy about that bc I had put a lot of work into it.

Secondly, I bought 25 acres of timber ground a few miles up the road for the purpose of trying to put a timber management plan in place and get it designated as a tree farm in conjunction with my farm.
Well the consultant , who is a recently retired regional forestry manager, That I hired recommended a harvest now stating he thought it had been 80-100 yrs since it had been harvested and there was a lot of canopy damage from our ice storm about 8 yrs ago.

This past week he came through with an inventory of over 80,000 board ft of selectively harvestable timber including a lot of white oak and the highest offer well exceeded my purchase price!!! I was pretty fans excited about this and the opportunities that it will help me to pursue in hopefully purchasing more property.

Don't have any great pics of the property but took these while walking a few weeks ago.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Lance,

That is a great move on the 25 acres. You have the touch.

Thanks for sharing with us.

Thanks, but looking back on my post I TOTALLY MISSED sharing the lesson learned here for me!!

Here are a few valuable lessons I took from that venture.

1: I have been looking @ this property for over a year and felt it was over priced. I took the time to have a local timber buyer down there and he made me a cash offer which came out to 60% of the purchase price so I decided to move forward.

2: After purchasing I decided to hire the timber consultant who came highly recommended by my Forestry Dept montor. My reasons for doing this were varied and included:
- Before getting started I told the consultant my long term plans to make sure they were fulfilled. I not only wanted valuable trees removed but I also wanted the non valuable trees removed that would hender the growth of future timber trees. Basically I wanted the loggers to do a Timber Stand Improvement while they are logging.
-I wanted to know what trees were being removed before signing a contract. This consultant came in and marked every tree that he recommended for removal and presented me with an inventory list!!
- I wanted competitive bidding!!! As mentioned my initial offer was for 60% of the property purchase price, after bids were taken I was presented with his bid sheet and we discussed what options each bidder wanted!! I ended up choosing the highest bid but had to accept a 30 month contract. This wasn't my ideal choice b/c it will slow up other things I want to do with the property but I was very well compensated!! This bid actually came in @ 125% of the purchase price after I paid my consultant fee!!!

3: Working with this consultant has taught me a TON about how to go in and identify timber species and the things that make timber valuable!!!
My brother and I are looking a property that is 180 acres of woods and I met the consultant there yesterday and was shocked @ my ability to ID tree species and characteristics that I could not have done just a few months ago!!

I guess the lesson here is to explore all options and utilize resources that are available! This consultant cost me 10% of my timber sale but made me 225% over my initial offer after he was paid!!

He also handles all contracts, drove 3 hours to pick up my check and hand delivered it and will handle all followup during and after harvest!!

My inventory being sold:

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Had a busy but awesome day yesterday cleaning up around the new farm cabin. My mom joined us for the evening and we took the boys fishing and roasted dogs and marshmello's over a camp fire,

Good Day:


Good Night:


Preparing this morning for a big family cookout I have put together. Smoking a couple chickens, cooking about 10 pounds of fish, and for myself I have six dozen chicken wings !!!

Good Morning:

 

[CentralKyHunter]

My latest update is short. I have been extremely tied up mowing tree plantings, expanding my berry patch , working in greenhouse and other farm maintenance that I haven't done a lot of habitat improvements . I do have 10 Dunstans to plant and a couple acres of NWSG's / Wildflower mixes to sow that needs to be done !!!!!

Blackberry patch expansion , have 100 planted and about 20 more spaces to fill:


Got good ground cover and irrigation put in the high tunnel:


Added a water tank to catch water for my trees, plants, and greenhouse as needed:


And my favorite part, the young'uns out enjoying the farm!!

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Last but not least, my new favorite addition to not only help with hauling and planting but also for the family to get around!!

I have been wanting a SxS for a few years but was torn between a 4 seater that everyone could fit in but has a humongous chassis or a 2 person with normal wheelbase and a bed . It seemed like nothing fit exactly what I wanted til Honda came out with this. It's a normal bench seat in front with a utility dump bed. When needed two sets pop up out off the bed and give a ton of room for two back passengers. This thing is perfect!!








Bed sides act as a door while seats are up.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Finally got a chance to get out turkey hunting. Invited a buddy to go and helped call him one in:



Finally got my water wagon going. Have the option to pump out of my gutter tank and also working on getting my spring cistern usable again. Figured you guys would like this set up.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

I did manage to get an area sprayed to plant my NWSG's / Wildflowers in and rode around the farm with the family.

Looks like the blackberries are gonna be good this year after a bad year in 2015!





And my pear trees from 2014 are loaded but I guess I will remove a few this week. Isn't that the recommendation on these young trees?

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Pretty good day @ the farm with the help of my hunting buddy Mike,
Managed to get some of my tree plantings mowed:



Finally found some stakes I liked and got all the rows marked in the rest of my plantings. I have got to get those mowed this week!!
Stakes are 3 ft fiberglass with reflectors





Got all the food plots sprayed and will get them sewn in NWSG / Wildflowers and the others in red clover / alfalfa.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Had a good afternoon @ the farm. Finally got all my site prep completed for my NWSG / Wildflower planting around my cabin site. Seed sown & culi-packed in time for the rain on Wednesday!!

Area Planted:


Most diverse looking seed mix I have ever sown.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Ended a pretty good week of habitat work with my brother and hunting buddy Mike showing up to throw in a little assistance!!!

I love having a little motivational help but love the company more!!! This was a beautiful site for me!!


In addition to getting my NWSG/Wildflower mix around the cabin site, getting most of my tree planting sites mowed, today we finally got my 10 Dunstans in the ground and got about 3 acres of what was annual plots put in Red Clover & Alfalfa.



Oak plantation on the ridge over looking the shooting house and clover / alfalfa plot:



Another plot site:

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Gotta get cages on this weekend!!!






Next project..... Gonna try to get 20 hazelnuts & 15 pears around the NWSG plot @ the cabin and 20 more pears along a thicker area I let stay grower up for bedding and small game!!! Gonna try to get holes augered this weekend.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Got all my holes drilled for my next planting site. Gonna plant 30 pear trees up this row in an area that lays next to one of my oak plantations and below a Foodplot with clover / alfalfa bordered with Dunstan Chestnuts. It's about a 4 acre area I leave " grown up" in blackberries & "weeds" for small game nesting and bedding/cover for all animals.













And my next project after I get my pears planted and caged:
Transition this pasture lot to habitat. I just sold the last group of feeder steers I'm going to feed. On to wildlife!!!!

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Thanks for the input on my next project to start planning guys...,

In the mean time it's on to finish all the ones I have going.

Got 20 Hazelnuts and 2 lonely Mulberry's finally planted along the NWSG site





And got 20 young Pears in the ground in an area laying between my hardwood tree plantations and right below one of our bigger food plots.

This on butts right up to the food plot, Dunstans in the background....



All these run down the hill, will be 30 when completed ....



Got the caged ready to go on Friday after I get fabric around them.

All these pears are Bartletts that I started, any input on other varieties to mix in with them?? I left a few holes open.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Been out of town for 7 days!!! Been about to kill me not getting on the farm to check on everything. Drove 11 hours home today and made it down this evening and things were looking good. Had a few small rains so food plots continue to green up , with temps in the upper 90's I was afraid they may have gotten cooked!!

Will be getting the water wagon hooked up in morning to water all my tree plantings.

Did manage to get the latest tree plantings caged before I left. 35 Pears & 20 Hazelnuts .



The old Pears @ the cabin site look great.


Enjoyed an awesome sunset with my wife and kiddo's as we rounded out the quick trip:



Lastly, came home to the next project. 5 Air Layering Pots inspired by you guys!!
Hi ho , hi ho, it's off to clone I go!!!



Few questions I am needing guidance on:

1: NWSG is coming up good I think. What am I Looking for?? Do I need to mow eventually to knock weeds back??

2: I have found watering trees with weed fabric to be a little challenging , a lot of water runs off. Thought I would make a PVC attachment to poke under the fabric for a more direct water application . My " water wagon" is rigged do I can drive the 4-wheeler and not get off. Any ideas you guys do??

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Finally got patio & sidewalks on the farm cabin, really happy about this!!





My first attemp @ Alfalfa & Red Clover is doing decent. Planted late and didn't even get to disk it in due to a quick rain. Plot is in a small field that lays between two nice oak ridges . It's a hot area during the rut!! Notice Shooting house in middle right.

 

[CentralKyHunter]

Pics from my first Air Layering attempt:

Plum:





Apple :