Top of "The Hill" land tour

[chummer]

Sorry to see the snapped trees. I think your clearance crabapple looks like a good one. Is your land clearing to plant fruit trees or food plot ??

Both. I am hoping for room for 15-20 trees. 20 hazzelnut and 200 dogwoods and ninebark around the outside give or take. I am going to plant WI winter greens in June for giggles and clover chicory next spring. It's only about .5 acre and I am leaving some shrubs and hawthorns so space is limited. If I run out of room I will plant the remaining apples around my existing plot or grow them in root trapper bags for my new land next spring.

 

[chummer]

With the snow finally gone the forester has started marking trees. He is about half done, it looks like they will be taking about 800-1000 trees. He had what he thought was good news but I wanted to post it here. North of the ravine where we are planning the santuary and a 5-7 acre almost clear cut is full of vernal pools. They very in size from the size of a car to the size of a bus and are 1-2' deep. I am assuming they will go dry in a month or so. It seems like a good place to plant some shrubs that prefer it wet. Anyone have these on their property and have you done anything with them?
We have no shortage of water in the area but it will be nice if the santuary has water during our 2 month riffle season.

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[wiscwhip]

Did the forester mention anything about preserving the habitat around that area? Many endangered species(including some really cool salamander species) call vernal pools and the surrounding upland habitat their homes and depend on the pools as breeding areas. Kind of a double-edge sword for those that have such areas on their property. You find something on the list living there and you may get money to help restore or keep it in it's natural state, however that would also severely limit what you could do on those areas of your property. I am betting that these areas would qualify for Wetland Reserve Program funds. In WI these areas are referred to as ephemeral ponds. Pretty cool habitat type to have on your property chummer! As far as the shrub plantings, ROD, button bush, native highbush cranberry, silky dogwood, spicebush and elderberry are all great on the edges of those wet areas

 

[chummer]

Did the forester mention anything about preserving the habitat around that area? Many endangered species(including some really cool salamander species) call vernal pools and the surrounding upland habitat their homes and depend on the pools as breeding areas. Kind of a double-edge sword for those that have such areas on their property. You find something on the list living there and you may get money to help restore or keep it in it's natural state, however that would also severely limit what you could do on those areas of your property. I am betting that these areas would qualify for Wetland Reserve Program funds. In WI these areas are referred to as ephemeral ponds. Pretty cool habitat type to have on your property chummer! As far as the shrub plantings, ROD, button bush, native highbush cranberry, silky dogwood, spicebush and elderberry are all great on the edges of those wet areas

Yes he is going to protect them. He was all geeked out about them and said he would not mark anything that would harm them. He is morphing the clear cut around and through them with out harming them. He thinks it is going to be pretty slick when he is done. Little islands of trees and pools scattered in the clear cut.

 

[wiscwhip]

That sounds like the exact reaction I would have expected! LOL! ;) All gung-ho and ready to save the world! It's really not a bad thing though, I would want them somewhat preserved if at all possible, as those areas are actually pretty cool pieces of habitat.:cool:

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I don't have any at my camp ( pools ), but a place I hunted for years has them. I can tell you, even without any clear cuts or plots near them, there were always deer very near to them. In the summer and fall when water levels were low in the pools, they still held water and the deer knew it. I can only imagine what your place with cut timber and plots near them will be like. If they were my pools on my ground - I'd be very happy to have them !!:)

 

[SD51555]

I just learned something today. Interesting.

 

[chummer]

Finally got to play in the dirt. Finished clearing the last part of my orchard/food plot the area ended up being larger than I though. This now gives me about 3 acres of a orchard/plot. It is broken up, I left some shrubs and hawthorns that weren't in the way. I have also been planting shrubs around the outside and in pockets through out it. My problem is it can be seen from the road so I am trying to screen any lines of site from the road. I planted my SLN order, 20 hazel nuts, 5 apples, and 1 apricot. 20 apples coming this week from cummins and I still have my MDC order buried in the garden. Not sure when I will get to that.

These are the before pic





And after a few hours cutting and in the backhoe.

 

[Native Hunter]

That's a great looking spot for an orchard and plots. Be sure and post some pictures when you get everything finished.

 

[chummer]

This is a giant apple tree I half way released a couple years ago. It never had an apple on it before that. The first year it had hundreds of golf ball sized apples. Last year it had a few in a bad apple year. Now it is completely released, I can't way to see what it does. The pic doesn't do it justice. It has two giants trunks and is all of 35' tall. The apples hold until November, a real gem of a tree.



I planted the hazelnuts up tight against the pines. Still full sun, I am hoping they thicken up the appearance of the wide open pines. The pines are only 50 yards thick but the deer hold up on the back side or go around. 12 years I have never seen a deer walk though those pines. On the right side is a wet area I planted willows. I am trying to get them to walk between the willows and the pines.

 

[chummer]

Hazelnuts


Finally, to disprove the belief that no matter how bad a crab apple taste the deer will still eat it. This tree is in my front yard. I purposely didn't cage it to see what would happen. It went untouched until late winter and as you can see they ate the tree and left the apples. I just planted 8 more larger ones. Hopefully the grouse will eat them or they will work as pollinators.



This is where my phone died, so I will have more pics next week.

 

[chummer]

I was very pleased with how my trees wintered. All but one look great and the buds are starting to swell. The pears handled their second winter much better and all appear to have survived. I have hope again I may be able to grow fruit trees. This winter was colder than last so painting the trunks seems to be a tree saver and will be a must going forward.

 

[chummer]

Forester plan is done as far as plots go. I have four different plots marked from 1-1.5 acres each. They will be dozed by the loggers once they are done cutting. I am looking at ideas for planting in these plots. These are all deep woods plots. I will have atv access only. Lime is going to be a big problem. It will have to be bag only. Ph is typically around 5 here. There is no ag or plots within miles that I am aware of so they don't have to be spectacular. The deer also leave for the winter so I am looking at spring to fall for attraction. Has anyone just kept a plot in cereal grains year after year?

 

[SD51555]

Are the dozers coming across someone else's property? Couldn't you use their trail?

 

[chummer]

I have a 200 yard right of way through the woods to my property. They will be using the dozer to grade the logging trails when they are done. I will have to bring what ever equipment I use there by truck so probably just a an atv unless I can build some kind of shed at some point.

 

[SD51555]

Gotcha. If you're going to go the bag route like we did, I'd highly recommend you find out your buffer pH so you can get your application right. High vs low buffer could mean the difference between 10 bags/acre vs 50 to move a 5 pH.

 

[bat man]

This is a giant apple tree I half way released a couple years ago. It never had an apple on it before that. The first year it had hundreds of golf ball sized apples. Last year it had a few in a bad apple year. Now it is completely released, I can't way to see what it does.

Wish I would have taken pics of an apple tree I released 70 yards from the cabin. After 4 years I finally knew what it was and cut the trees around it. Bet it dropped 500 apples the size of your fist that first year.

 

[chummer]

Not enough hours to work for my one man operation. I got my twenty apples planted, watered, fabriced, and mulched but I was not able to cage them. I also got 25 dogwoods in but still 75 to go. They will have to wait two more weeks. I added 3 apples to my deep woods plot. The rest went in my newly cleared plot.



The chestnut crabs were the nicest trees. I gave them the best locations.



Liberty were the smallest but still had massive root systems. These are the caliber of trees I usually get.


Another chestnut, center of the plot.

 

[chummer]

This is the widest part of the new plot. In two weeks I am going to chisel plow the area seed it with oats, drag it and plant clover.



This is what the new plot is up against. I am trying to divide it up into 3-4 plots within the 3 acres. I am trying to thickin it up because it stops about 30 yards from the road and is wide open when the leaves are off the trees.

 

[sandbur]

That's the good thing about concrete wire. You can cut it and bring it to the hole in advance. Then pop it over the tree. I rarely stake mine.

I think Chummer's trees will be ok. Things are greening up there. The deer may prune them a little but, the trees will survive.

I had a few circles of concrete wire blow over, so I have added a short piece of conduit to hold them in place.