Northwoods Habitat

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Would rape still survive a frost? I found this bag in with the seed I had planned on planting back in July.



Not sure if it is really possible but would like to get something that attracts for the fall and possibly gun season.

I can swing by the local co-op and pick up red clover and winter peas to go along with the winter wheat and rye. The mix of those items from the co-op is what went in the main food plot last fall.

 

[wiscwhip]

We had good success with Rangi, the leaves were some of the fullest of any of the rape varieties we tried on our sand. Below is a clip from the Penn State Ag Extension Office. Keep in mind that they are referring to full season crops, you will be planting around Sept 5th and if you're anywhere up in the National Forest area of Oconto Co. you have threat of frost anytime after Sept 11th. 6 frost free days. Not trying to discourage, just keep in mind that your mileage may vary. It could be a late fall?


Growth slows or ceases at maturity and yields plateau until leaves senesce and die. Varieties differ in when this occurs, however, ‘Rangi’ rape retains its leaves longer than most varieties.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Whip - Don't see any link or clip from Penn State Ag Extension. ^^^^ Is it just my 'puter ??

 

[wiscwhip]

Whip - Don't see any link or clip from Penn State Ag Extension. ^^^^ Is it just my 'puter ??

No link, it's just the note at the bottom about the Rangi holding it's leaves longer than other types of rape.

 

[sandbur]

I tried to snap a few pictures of the trees but with the grass so high, you can't see them from a distance.

The 3,000 white pine that I planted the spring of 2014 are coming along great.

The majority of 9,500 red pines and spruce this year seem to be coming along. I think I mentioned previously that I thought the state nursery really sent me about 10,000 red pines. We sorted them by size before planting - large, medium, and small. The good majority of the large and medium are doing great. The small ones (probably ones that most people would just toss) died after the first two weeks of planting because we didn't get any rain. Since then, we have been getting consistent enough rainfall to keep everything green.

In addition, I haven't taken the nursery's recommendation to mow the grass around the trees. I'm sure it stunts the growth a little since they aren't getting full sunlight but I think the shade and moisture the grass provides and holds in help get the trees through the dry Augusts. My buddy follows their instructions to a "T" and has about a 40 to 50% survival rate. So far, I figure we are in the 70 to 80% survival rate with our trees.

I like some shade around my spruces on light soil, but not heavy grass competition. Soem of the annual weeds work fine, and even a light amount of grasses.

 

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I like some shade around my spruces on light soil, but not heavy grass competition. Soem of the annual weeds work fine, and even a light amount of grasses.

The majority of the spruce weren't planted out in the middle of the field. They were planted along the existing poplar slashings to start building some additional bedding areas so the grass competition wasn't as bad the open field. However, in one area we planted them, ferns grew out of no where in that area. Probably only a 100 or so are affected, haven't checked on those but assume they aren't going to make it with that kind of cover over them.

 

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Here is how the property lays out at this point. The red outline is the boundry of the red pines that we planted this year. The green outline is the white pines we planted last year. Solid yellow lines are the rows of spruce (3 rows). The redish circle is where the chestnuts are. The yellow boxes are the apples. The wild apples are on west side and others are on east side. Pink box is 24 crabapple trees I picked up from the NWTF. Purple is the existing food plots. Blue is two of the three ponds and the little creek (not sure I can call it that since it isn't much wider than 6 inches but doesn't freeze over in winter). The black is the existing logging road that was on the property.



Looking at adding another food plot around the crab apples trees and once I get the screen planted along road, adding a narrow plot to the north of the white pines.

 

[huntall]

Sounds like you have it going in the right direction from the start!
I pretty much had a 3 yr plan after purchasing my last property.
I concentrated on getting trees established first and then cover and then plots.
It actually turned into about 4 or 5 yrs, but I'm finally at the point that is upkeep and such like weed control around trees or pruning.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks Whip - post #49. Got it.

 

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Didn't get a chance to put in my plots like I planned with all the family in town and my oldest daughter's teacher assigning monarch caterpillar hunting. While searching the milkweed for caterpillars, I was able to check on the pines we planted in the spring. Most look like they are coming along nicely.



Hard to see with the grasses growing with them but could rows of the pines. Very few dead ones except the really small ones that we planted thinking it would be a bonus if they made it.

 

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Got to spend some time Saturday doing a little work.

Picked up the seeder from my buddy that added the paint.


Expanded the small food plot on my property more to the north. Tilled with the tractor, disk seeded in peas, wheat and rye and dragged. Followed up with clover.

 

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In addition, put in 34 Chinese chestnuts trees. Still not sure if they can survive a northern WI winter but always willing to try. Here are just a few of the chestnuts that I received last fall and planted this spring. Ranged in height from about 6" to 3 feet.

 

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If your chinese chestnuts survive a winter there, please report back.

I will keep you posted. The dunstans that I planted in the spring of 2014 made it thru last winter despite the cold and little snow cover. Not sure what is worse for them yet - the extreme cold or to be buried in snow.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

What's to lose ?? If some of them survive, you may have lucked into some cold-hardy genetics for the Chinese chestnuts. Out of 34 trees, if 10 or 12 make it .......... you're still to the good.

 

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Good day at the golf course today. Daughter and I spent a 1/2 hour and picked up a bunch of pin acorns.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I have a 40 ft. pin oak in my yard. They definitely dump the acorns each year. Squirrels built a big nest right in it. Lots of future trees in that bowl !!!

 

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Anyone able to tell me what type of tree this is? Leaves look like maple but have never seen a maple with berries.

 

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If anyone was curious - got the answer off another site. It is a Viburnum acerifolium. http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=VIAC

 

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Steve got me my revised habitat plan last week. The plan calls for shrubs for browse and cover. Steve recommended dogwoods and ninebark. Anything else that I should be looking into?

 

[bueller]

Hazelnuts grow great naturally here. They provide good cover and between the nuts in the late summer and the catkins in the winter, they have some browse value. Not really sure if they browse the shrub itself.

I've planted some false indigos that are growing well also. No browse value but excellent cover. I don't mind because there is no need to protect them.