What would be the best thing to plant on my trails

[wiscwhip]

LaCrosse Forage and Turf will custom blend seed mixes to whatever mix that you ask them to. Again, not cheap, but they have great turf grass seed and you get what you pay for.

 

[BJE80]

Sod forming grasses "fill in" completely without spaces, clump forming grasses do just what the name says...they form clumps. Clumps will have spaces between them...especially in less than ideal conditions. There are plenty of grass mixes available (again...not cheap) consisting of both clump and sod forming grasses. The sod forming grasses "fill in" around the clumps

I have a few sections of trail that I seeded to a perennial rye grass and blue grass mix, they get maybe 4-6 hours of filtered sunlight a day. After a couple years they are looking pretty good...but...I don't run my atv on them more than a couple times a year.

So just simple rye grass is a probably my best option if I'm hearing you right.

 

[BJE80]

LaCrosse Forage and Turf will custom blend seed mixes to whatever mix that you ask them to. Again, not cheap, but they have great turf grass seed and you get what you pay for.

Maybe I should consider the blend instead of just rye.

 

[BJE80]

How will aslike hold up when compared to the rye grass or fescue? I guess I'm getting away from deer feeding on trails is bad now.

 

[BJE80]

Last year I started to put crushed sandstone on my trails. The largest size was about 2.5". It cost me $5.25 a yard, I was billed for 90 yards but got to know the driver a little so the loads were larger than the 17 they hauled/billed them at. I more than likely got about 100 yards. The $472.50 was well worth it to me. Going to do more this summer.

I'll look into gravel whe the time comes. Get a quote. I don't have a tractor like you to spread so that would add to the cost.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

How will aslike hold up when compared to the rye grass or fescue? I guess I'm getting away from deer feeding on trails is bad now.

Alsike clover is one of the largest ingredients in road ditch seed for the county and highway depts. It is a weed that the deer will eat and you can't kill it very easy. Drive on it, mow it, spray it and it will keep coming back!

 

[tooln]

I'll look into gravel whe the time comes. Get a quote. I don't have a tractor like you to spread so that would add to the cost.

Last year I didn't have the tractor. I used a rental.

 

[BJE80]

Last year I didn't have the tractor. I used a rental.

One thing I noticed right away is your ruts don't have any water in them. Mine will hold water year round even during the hot summer even if we don't get rain for awhile. I bet it would take a lot more gravel for me to keep from it pushing into the soil.

 

[ChrisE]

With property in the heavy soils of Taylor County, we had very similar trails to what you are facing. Ditching and crowning will make a tremendous difference, but what you can get to grow will depend on how much sunlight the trails receive. We made a corduroy road to provide access into a food plot (running E-W), and clover blend grows great there with just a little dirt over the logs. It stays wet right alongside year around, but get's decent sunlight. A different road segment (N-S) receives only filtered sun, and clover won't grow in spite of much better soil conditions. Shade tolerant turf grass grows enough to keep the surface from being just dirt, but getting it built up and crowned allows light equipment travel without rutting even when damp. The main access trail to enter the property has to cross a lower area near the road, so we did gravel that section. Otherwise forget about even walking in come spring time.

 

[BJE80]

With property in the heavy soils of Taylor County, we had very similar trails to what you are facing. Ditching and crowning will make a tremendous difference, but what you can get to grow will depend on how much sunlight the trails receive. We made a corduroy road to provide access into a food plot (running E-W), and clover blend grows great there with just a little dirt over the logs. It stays wet right alongside year around, but get's decent sunlight. A different road segment (N-S) receives only filtered sun, and clover won't grow in spite of much better soil conditions. Shade tolerant turf grass grows enough to keep the surface from being just dirt, but getting it built up and crowned allows light equipment travel without rutting even when damp. The main access trail to enter the property has to cross a lower area near the road, so we did gravel that section. Otherwise forget about even walking in come spring time.

Well as you can see I don't think those trails get that much sunlight due to the trees. I need something that will grow in low light. Not sure if aslike is it or not.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

I'd strongly suggest doing what tooln and someone else recommended. Dump rock and be done with it. Otherwise, it's going to be a constant fight for you and you'll never be happy. That's been my experience in those situations, anyway.

P.S. Remember why you are doing this. Unless I missed it, it's so you can get your EQ back there to do food plot work. When the time is right, one often can't wait until the road dries out good to use it. There is a tremendous advantage in having good access to plot locations...I've yet to put down rock and personally be disappointed. More importantly, when I've had it done for long term clients, I've never had them regret the move.

 

[ChrisE]

How much traffic will these trails see after you have the dozer work done? If it's more than a few times a year, then get gravel down and be done with the fight. Otherwise, something will certainly grow based on the amount of existing vegetation. Establishing clover will certainly be more challenging than grasses, and requires more maintenance. Staying off of it when wet will be important after shaping, or you will be back to ruts again and then start over.

 

[BJE80]

I'd strongly suggest doing what tooln and someone else recommended. Dump rock and be done with it. Otherwise, it's going to be a constant fight for you and you'll never be happy. That's been my experience in those situations, anyway.

P.S. Remember why you are doing this. Unless I missed it, it's so you can get your EQ back there to do food plot work. When the time is right, one often can't wait until the road dries out good to use it. There is a tremendous advantage in having good access to plot locations...I've yet to put down rock and personally be disappointed. More importantly, when I've had it done for long term clients, I've never had them regret the move.

I think you're going to be screwed trying to get anything to grow thick enough to protect the trails if a good amount of sunlight isn't available. If that's the case...Steve and the others recommending rock are correct.

Ugh. I both hate and love you guys. You are probably right. If nothing will grow decent enough in that light it will be a major problem. And yes once I get this all done I think it will only be used for off season access and work.

 

[BJE80]

How much traffic will these trails see after you have the dozer work done? If it's more than a few times a year, then get gravel down and be done with the fight. Otherwise, something will certainly grow based on the amount of existing vegetation. Establishing clover will certainly be more challenging than grasses, and requires more maintenance. Staying off of it when wet will be important after shaping, or you will be back to ruts again and then start over.

Well I always have stuff I want to do in the woods. Getting fireword. Food plots. Stand work. Apple trees. Etc Etc. Many of those things tend to be in the spring before the heat, bugs and leaves arrive which of course is the wettest time of year. These trails were in pretty good shape and ditched in many spots when I bought the place 4 years ago. As you can see I've been doing a lot of work. :(

 

[BJE80]

Get an atv on tracks

I've thought about that too. Fix the roads and planting something and then just get tracks for the Mule (our UTV)

 

[BJE80]

http://www.sidebysidestuff.com/camo...nnelid=FROOG&gclid=CPmn9YGtlsMCFZU0aQodgWwAIg

I can do a lot of gravel for $5000 however. :eek:

 

[BJE80]

For us, With the wetter areas and a long way down to descent footing, the road needed to "float" on top of the soil. If we loaded it with rock and such it would get "pushed down" and would have had to add to it every x amount of years. The guy that helped us with the design had built some ridiculous amount or roadways across some of the nastiest soils imaginable. I still remember losing the wager about the support this "miracle" fabric could provide. His $100 if he lost to my shoveling out the tracks of his D9 Dozer after the days work was complete. That was a lot of shoveling and hard work :D

Where do you get this fabric. Got a link? I googled it but didn't come up with a source. You are telling me no gravel and just bury the fabric and then crown and plant the trail?

 

[Steve Bartylla]

It will only do so much, but a liner with rock on top would really help in those conditions. From the pics and description, it doesn't look like you are dealing with a bog. Still, wet clay does suck rock into oblivion over time. I know it's easy spending other's $, but I'd line it through any of the wet spots (the entire length, if the entire length gets rutted up) then rock it, if it was my property AND I wasn't planning on selling any time soon.

One lesson I've been taught an embarrassingly high number of times is "if you're going to do it, do it right or don't bother." Cutting corners, trying to save a little money and/or doing things half way almost never end well for me in these (and many other) types of projects. In the end, I almost always just wasted effort and $$$$ not doing it "right" the first time.

I always leave getting the fabric up to who ever is hauling rock for me...It's just a 1/4ish" thick black fabric that I use. I use in on wet spots and on really steep grades, just to keep the rock in place. I'm afraid I don't have a name or link. I just tell them I want "this, this and that" section lined. I've yet to run into a hauler that didn't know what I meant and didn't either have some on hand or a connection to get it.

P.S. Another thing you can do is get to know the township guy. They often have a supply of "ditch dirt" laying around. If you get to be friends with the guy, they either may give you a steal of a deal or give it to you for free (I got it free a couple times, including spreading it for me). I'd still rock over top of it, but it does wonders for building up a crown.

 

[BJE80]

Thanks. Perhaps fabric with rock would help out with the rock getting pushed into the ground. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Steve Bartylla]

FYI, the fabric I'm talking about ISN'T the stuff shown in the video. I'm talking just a cheap road bed liner. That geo fabric looks a lot better, but the cheap stuff works fine for the applications I'm referring to. (when I'm talking cheap, I don't know how it lines up in price....I mean, "cheap" in regards to, lay the stuff I use over a swamp and you're going to the bottom of that swamp the first time you drive over it)