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Future Plot..maybe?

4K views 21 replies 10 participants last post by  fall gobbler 
#1 ·
I bought this property a year and half ago. It has an old abandoned gas line running down it. The line runs north south and is either covered in trees or had 5-6 foot high MF rose growing on it as the main floral.
Last summer I took my brush cutter to the MF and created clear path down about 200 yds or so. It grew back up in some assorted forbs and grasses. Seems the local deer and turkeys appreciated it according to the cams.
Due to other more pressing projects I’m only able to mow it again this year. I’d like to do something more with it next year so my question would be, What would you do? Clover, some sort of mix, etc.
I’m open to suggestions. The only thing I won’t do is spray it.
Here is the view 1st picture is looking south 2nd one is looking north
 

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#8 ·
troutbert, The machine is a DR field and brush mower.

I was planning on cutting back most of the over hanging branches except for the closest one on the left in the 2nd pic. It’s a very active licking branch that they use all year. There also a small seasonal pond between the 2 more open spots.
The surrounding area is mainly wooded consisting of your typical oak and maple upland habitat. There are agricultural fields to the west about 1/2 mile.
If it ever dries out this summer I’ll try to get it disked or rototilled this season and get the soil tested although I know for a fact the ph is low.

Thanks for the ideas so far.
Mike
 
#11 ·
The Imperial Whitetail Clover is a good call, It does better than most plants with less than ideal sun exposure. Without spraying the grasses will become a problem in fairly short order. Whitetail Institute has a perennial mix called Extreme which is supposed to do well on soils with lower PH. Look up their web site and check it out, I haven't used it yet but would not be afraid to try it
 
#12 ·
Thanks One Horn, I’ll look into it.

I don’t want to spray for a couple of reasons.
1 My apiary is only a hundred yards away
2 I’m not a fan of chemicals I personally feel they do more harm than good in the long run. That being said I’m also not opposed to spot spraying MF or bush honeysuckle when needed
 
#14 ·
Well I hadn’t really did anything with this plot except mow it in the spring until August. Then I went thru and cut a bunch of overhanging branches and some small trees to bring in more sunlight. Around Labor day I planted some rye using the throw and mow method. The deer started hammering the rye as it sprouted.
The leaves have started covering up the rye, so yesterday I was blowing off the yard after the weekend wind storm and decided to run back and clean off the plot. Does anyone else do this on their plots.
Hopefully the pictures show up in order, some are bit blurry. It’s tough taking pictures when running the blower.#1 how it looked in early Oct., #2 before I started, #3 halfway done, #4 finished for now. The leaves were wet so I may redo it when they dry out again. #5 shows how much the wet leaves pushed down the rye.
Mike
 

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#16 ·
A man after my own heart, I've been known to do some questionable things to my plots also. As O said, good call with the rye. Now around the end of May broadcast buckwheat into the rye ( about 70 lbs/ac.) then mow the rye. That should give you a nice summer plot. You could also add some clover, but if you do decrease the buckwheat by half.
 
#17 ·
Well I decided to leave the rye go until it matured. I mowed it last weekend and will plant buckwheat this weekend before the forecasted rain.
I also decided to take advantage of the super dry conditions to address a storm water issue. I had hand dug a 100yd ditch this spring to try to direct the water away from the main plot. So this week I had my neighbor take his little backhoe and clean out the old seasonal pond/mud hole(it was full of muck)and redo my ditch. Hopefully this will help dry the main plot and also create a smal reliable watering hole. The 1st 2 pics are from the spring and the last 2 after tractor work.
 

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#19 ·
I took advantage of the 1st real rain in few weeks and decided to throw and mow the gas line plot. The little pond and drainage ditch are working as planned so far, in fact it never dried out so the deer and turkeys were using the heck out of it the last week or so. The buckwheat planting was so so due to a family of trash pandas who took a liking to the seed. So this time I tried covering the rye in the bare spots with some old hay I had for my chickens. The rest of it was mowed over and should be fine. I’ll look at in a couple of days.
Soil Geological phenomenon Tree Grass Plant
Natural environment Grass Tree Soil Woodland
Natural environment Grass Tree Forest Wilderness
 
#20 ·
As it seems anything and everything is about politics or corona lately I decided to venture out into the rain storm this morning and look at the plot and pull some cards. Pond was full and the ditches were working. The rye has come up rather well and the local herd has been hitting it hard on their way to a couple of white oaks that are dropping acorns.
Although I was soaked by the time I got home. It was a nice morning to get out and let the rain wash away a bit of stress.
Hope everyone’s plots are doing well and you’re ready for hunting seaso.
 

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