Sustainable Winter Browse - Zone 4

[H20fwler]

Where do you buy ROD to plant an area of an acre or so? How many plantings do you do, how close together? How big of plantings did you plant?

We got our initial pencil size sticks from the state, put in close to a thousand. We planted them about four feet apart.
Once they were established some just did the cuttings from what we had to thicken up where needed…still working on that.

 

[H20fwler]

In my experience, hinge cutting doesn't create bedding, not even on a smaller scale. It just creates a mess that deer don't want to walk through. It's also damaging to the timber value long term.

IMO - You're better off doing TSI (cutting the non desireables cleanly and let them fall), most of the time they still sprout unless it kills the tree (Like ERC for example). Still providing an explosion of browse and bedding. If TSI wouldn't open up the canopy enough, a logger is what is needed.

Discing up fallow sections of open areas / pasture are also great ways to get sunlight to the seedbed and will provide great herbaceous browse.

On our place I will hinge cut along the edge of the woods to “feather “ the edge. That is habitat everything seems to like.

For bedding in the woods if I leave whole tops off bigger trees I cut for fire wood, deer will bed in and close to them.

 

[H20fwler]

Agree hazelnuts seem slow growers, even after weed mats and cages. They get browsed on my place if not protected and tend to send up more suckers when chomped and of course no nut production when that happens. Been trying different hybrids. The ones purchased from a source in my state seem better growers compared to a couple from northeast but still trying for holy grail of good growth and bigger size and quantity of nuts. Mostly disappointing so far. Big effort in upper midwest for these so maybe just keep trying.

The number 1 shrub on my land that keeps expanding even with deer browse when young is prickly ash. Even though native it acts more like an invasive so cannot reccomend it tho.

Plums are slow on my land also. Plum thickets after 15+ yrs of growing.....ah, no. See note above about prickly ash and it overruns and crowds out basically everything unless controlled.

Hazelnuts are my favorite shrub, for me here they are almost bullet proof.
I wouldn’t consider them a big deer food though, deer will browse them a little here if planted out in the open. Planted along the edge of woods they won’t browse them at all except the nuts in fall.

I don’t plant them for deer, them also eating the nuts is just a bonus. I plant them for everything else that lives on the farm.
For me in my loamy clay soil they grow great and fast, they don’t get big maybe 7’-10’ and are spindly looking but sucker and spread great.
I think they are a good benefit to wildlife in fall and early winter…another link in the food chain.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Hazelnuts are my favorite shrub, for me here they are almost bullet proof.

I wish we could plant hazelnuts at camp, for extra diversity, but the bears would destroy them. We have to choose our plants with bears in mind. There are a number of varieties that I'd love to have at camp, but bears are the limiting factor. I hope we've out-planted the bears with apple & crab trees. I know we'll lose a few.

 

[willy]

Where do you buy ROD to plant an area of an acre or so? How many plantings do you do, how close together? How big of plantings did you plant?

IA state nursery had some yet last week

 

[4wanderingeyes]

IA state nursery had some yet last week

Awesome, thanks!