My little slice of Heaven

[Troubles Trees]

Gah, it posted the pictures out of order, this pear goes further down with the other one.

My first foodplot kind of failed, I don’t know what Sun hemp looks like, but the Buckwheat is in there. Hindsight I should have waited till the Goldenrod was a foot tall before I sprayed and spread the seed. Always learning.
Questioning if I should throw down the clover seed now in case my fall planting fails, at least it will have a foothold and some growth by hunting season and heading into winter.


Top is Chinquapin Oak, 2nd one I’m not sure but the one leaf is half the size of the tree :) the bottom one is a Red Oak that put on a lot of height last year so I think I’m in the clear. For me Oaks don’t grow well in tubes, well, they grow great but it seems like something gets in there and eats all the leaves. When I pull the tubes they really take off which seems the opposite of anything else I tube.






These 2 pears I mentioned in the last post have roughly 16 inches of growth since they went into the ground this spring, I planted 6 total, the other 4 have 6-8” of growth. I’ll have to extend the cages so deer don’t eat my progress.



I planted 4 Dunstan Chestnut from Walmart the 2 I caged, weedmatted and mulched died back the first winter and never woke up this year. This is the taller of the 2 survivors, the other one has a lot more foliage but half as tall, they are alive but nothing worth bragging about lol

Chinese Chestnuts are finally showing some strong vigor for the first time. These are 5 years old.

I bought 4 annual clovers for my foodplot and surrounding trails.

 

[b116757]

I bought the Wildlife Group 10 tree AU Buck Chestnut seedling package this year and have been very impressed with their growth so much so that I will likely order a couple more of that package next fall. If your wanting some vigorous growing chestnuts those might be the ticket. I also ordered their 20 seedling chestnut package and they have done fine but the AU Buck package looked as though it was started in an air pruning pot system of some kind and has grown like crazy. I wish now I would of snapped a photo of the roots of the two different tree packages when they arrived.

 

[Troubles Trees]

I bought the Wildlife Group 10 tree AU Buck Chestnut seedling package this year

I will definitely keep that in mind for next year. I’m glad you posted it here so I can find it easier when it comes time to order so thank you for that B!

 

[Troubles Trees]

I forgot to add the MG, I planted this last year from Maple River Farms off Bill’s advice. I’m stoked it survived the first winter and it definitely grew more rhizomes. I planted it 18” apart in 2 staggered rows, as you can see it has more than doubled what I planted. I tried to hand remove some of the weeds but kept pulling some of the smaller MG so I left it alone.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Chinese Chestnuts are finally showing some strong vigor for the first time. These are 5 years old.

If it's any comfort, our Chinese chestnuts took a few years to get rolling - and they're in prime locations. Ours are also caged.

 

[Troubles Trees]

Imazapyr was the ticket to kill my Knotweed headache, this is one saga I am happy to put behind me.

My dog always photobombs me, just adding fertilizer :D A great dog really, he sticks right with me and never wanders off, but when I stop to pull weeds he tramples whatever I’m weeding lol he’s a trip!
Anyway, the little bit of clover I threw out last year on my wheeler trails seems more abundant than the seed I threw out so there’s another win!

 

[Troubles Trees]

The first nuts on the Allegheny Chinquapins, I think these have been in the ground 5 years this summer. Obviously it will be awhile before they will actually feed my wildlife but I’ll take the wins when they come.

 

[williams111]

The first nuts on the Allegheny Chinquapins, I think these have been in the ground 5 years this summer. Obviously it will be awhile before they will actually feed my wildlife but I’ll take the wins when they come.
View attachment 44420

I need to get some of these in the ground, I tried some seed and had zero success. I will be ordering some from the NY DOC this winter, I think that's where you said you got these?
I am seeing my first catkins on chestnuts, apples and a few persimmons this year. Its not much, but it certainly is exciting seeing the first ones!

 

[Native Hunter]

The first nuts on the Allegheny Chinquapins, I think these have been in the ground 5 years this summer. Obviously it will be awhile before they will actually feed my wildlife but I’ll take the wins when they come.
View attachment 44420

Congratulations, you are going to love growing those.

 

[Troubles Trees]

I need to get some of these in the ground, I tried some seed and had zero success. I will be ordering some from the NY DOC this winter, I think that's where you said you got these?
I am seeing my first catkins on chestnuts, apples and a few persimmons this year. Its not much, but it certainly is exciting seeing the first ones!

I actually bought these through a different State (DEC type) sale. Our DEC offered Copper Chinquapins this year that had the same Latin name and description for plant size and habitat but I am not sure why they changed it from Alleghany Chinquapin. Maybe they found a hardier version?

 

[williams111]

I actually bought these through a different State (DEC type) sale. Our DEC offered Copper Chinquapins this year that had the same Latin name and description for plant size and habitat but I am not sure why they changed it from Alleghany Chinquapin. Maybe they found a hardier version?

I saw that too and was assuming they were the same thing? That's the only place I've seen affordable Allegheny Chinquapin seedlings.

 

[Troubles Trees]

I saw that too and was assuming they were the same thing? That's the only place I've seen affordable Allegheny Chinquapin seedlings.

I will look for the reciept to see where I bought them so I can clarify that one bud. These were $100 for 80 seedlings if memory serves.

 

[williams111]

I will look for the reciept to see where I bought them so I can clarify that one bud. These were $100 for 80 seedlings if memory serves.

I just read back through this thread and you already told me where you got them, I should've read back through it before I asked...
Thanks!

 

[Troubles Trees]

Congratulations, you are going to love growing those.

I am always jealous of the progress you have made and the diverse food sources you can produce my friend! Someday I will eat a Persimmon even if I have to vacation down south to get one :)

 

[Troubles Trees]

I got my soil samples back, I got the S3C test at Midwest Labs as recommended (I think by SD). They had limited options for what you’re planting but I came pretty close for the most part. I will probably have to post this on another thread for more views/opinions.

The Food plot sample was taken where my 1 acre food plot is going and I have a bunch of fruit and nut trees planted.

The Woods is just a sample taken in my wooded area I am slowly cutting down and planting some pines for thermal cover and everything else will drop a nut or fruit.

To me this reads like another language other than PH since I don’t know what the numbers should be for CEC etc, it looks like it is recommending 5 Tons of ECCE Lime (I will have to Google which Lime that is) per acre? 5 Tons/acre if I recall the conversion correctly at 1 ton=2,000 pounds so 10,000 pounds/acre.

 

[Troubles Trees]

I planted my fall food plot yesterday, a brassica mix, added some PTT, clover and chicory for my fall food plot. My first fall planting and it went as smoothly as things usually do for me.

The plan was to spread the seed, spray then mow down the field the next day. I spread the seed, sprayed and got it roughly 25% mowed, and since I am a hack/redneck using my backup riding lawnmower to mow waist high Sunn Hemp, Buckwheat as well as goldenrod and brambles that survived the spring Gly spraying, something disengaged the drive on the mower so my daughter and I towed it back to the house with the wheeler. No time to look at fixing it as dark was approaching so I mounted the sprayer on the wheeler, filled it with Gly and then (of course) couldn't find the cord to hook it to the battery, 45 minutes of digging and I found it. By now the sun has set and I am spraying under the lights of the wheeler, I got it sprayed, tank rinsed and system flushed by 9 pm :) I would think the taller goldenrod would inhibit the Gly getting to the short grasses underneath but it is what it is at this point, it is planted and I will learn from my miscues and get better as I go. I need a small tractor to do what I am trying to do, just not there yet.

My soil analysis says I need 5 tons/acre of Lime, I couldn't get my hands on a buggy to spread it so in my typical half assed fashion I bought enough Plot Start to see if I can bring the PH up at least some for this fall. I am not expecting much this year but we will see. The directions says to spray it before the seed germinates so I plan on spraying that tomorrow. I bought 100 pounds of Urea to boost growth at some point in September.

Someday I hope to read back in this thread and laugh at all my screw ups :)

 

[Troubles Trees]

38” of growth on this Danville Kieffer Pear from Blue Hill I planted this spring :O

The 2 other pears from BH next to this one gained 16 & 18 inches which is great for my soil. The other 3 pears from BH I planted in a lower area gained 12” each.



Seeing AC nuts make me smile :D

 

[Troubles Trees]

Threw out 50# of WR this morning, have 50# of Urea to throw out tomorrow before it’s supposed to rain. Wish I got the buckwheat and SunnHemp mowed before the mower broke but whatever lol had some missed spots with the sprayer so visually… my grandfather would be disappointed but it’s for deer and it’s green and growing so I’m happy.

I think this is Durana Clover (?) that I didn’t plant, I saw the red tops in a few spots when I was spreading the fall plot seed last month (August 4th).



Most of the brassicas are 4-6 inch, I’m impressed for my soils. This freak stands out like a dick at a Church picnic


Putting up the Tactacam cams later today. Getting them set up, registered and plans set up/paid was super easy. One more treestand to trim and I’m ready for the bow opener!

 

[Troubles Trees]

The MG doubled in stem count and about 25% of it was over my head. Next spring I’ll give it some Lime and fertilizer for the first time to push more growth.


The food plot has some good bulbs considering my soil needs amendments.

 

[Troubles Trees]

The NY DEC posted their seedling sale yesterday! It’s not on their website and for some reason copying the email PDF file won’t transfer here so you get a screenshot lol
They do offer the “Copper” Chinquapin again this year which is why I’m posting it here. The description and Latin name is word for word the same as their Allegheny Chinquapins.