The Brushpile

I finally determined that a coyote was chewing holes in the hose! Since "The Brushpile" is between two rivers and the hose was turned off at night the coyote was simply satisfying a need to chew. 25-30 hoses had been damaged and spliced at this point.


 
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One night the coyote chewed my wife's yard hose into three pieces! So I took the squeaker from a dog toy, loaded the .22 and headed to the deer stand. The coyote responded to the call, and in 15 minutes the problem was solved, and I've never had a hose chewed since!


 
Capping pines with window screen works. A deer attempted to browse the leader on a pine, pulled off the window screen, and decided not to eat pine after chewing this window screen.

 
During the Winter months I grew seedlings in the basement. These were the first primitive attempts to grow seedlings before people like wbpdeer turned growing seedlings into a science. The advantage of growing seedlings is that I could grow hybrids and rare trees that aren't commonly available. The basement has since been finished, so I lost my nursery.
 
Brushpile said:
During the Winter months I grew seedlings in the basement. These were the first primitive attempts to grow seedlings before people like wbpdeer turned growing seedlings into a science. The advantage of growing seedlings is that I could grow hybrids and rare trees that aren't commonly available. The basement has since been finished, so I lost my nursery.
Click to expand...

Thanks Brush for a mention but there are many indoor growers on this forum - some of them are Chinese Chestnut growers.
That is a topnotch photo. :)
 
Here I used milk jugs in an attempt to create a greenhouse effect. Pear cuttings were successfully rooted, but my success was only about 25%. Where transpiration can be controlled, apple and pear can be rooted. The drawback to this method is that it produces a standard tree that will take about 8 years to bear fruit.
 
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wbpdeer said:
Thanks Brush for a mention but there are many indoor growers on this forum - some of them are Chinese Chestnut growers.
That is a topnotch photo. :)
Click to expand...
This was back in the day when the learning curve was straight up! In this pic I have lighting, that I didn't have the previous year. We didn't know what soil to use, how much and how often to water, and if we got lucky chestnuts sprouted. I was among the best growers at the time. LOL
 
I was chasing my tail weed whacking and watering, until I started using Lumite. Lumite is a weed barrier and also a moisture barrier. Even in the worst drought conditions trees survived when they were planted in Lumite with occasional watering. Here Lumite is being rolled out over the top of Johnson Grass, in preparation for planting Hybrid Poplar Cuttings to shade out Johnson Grass.
 
Here Lumite is laid for planting a roadside screen. Hybrid Poplar created an instant screen and where it was planted to shade out Johnson Grass, the Johnson Grass is gone.

 
The bucket contains Hybrid Poplar (HP) cuttings, and across the top of the bucket are Silky Dogwood and Ninebark branches that were made into hardwood cuttings and planted with the HP. These cuttings were harvested from my own plantings. Planting a small nursery provides free cuttings for future plantings.
 
The staple that's next to the cutting is very important for several reasons.
1. It folds the fabric in place so that the fabric doesn't rise up over the cutting.
2. Moisture is constantly evaporating from deep down in the soil, and it collects on the bottom of the fabric like a solar still, and gravitates toward the cutting.
3. Rain and morning dew will funnel toward the staple.

 
These cuttings will grow rapidly, so the fabric will need to be cut to allow the cuttings to expand and not become girdled. In my location I cut an X in about July.

 
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Ninebark in Lumite. Hardwood cuttings are harvested prior to bud break. Cuttings are about the size of a pencil, and 100s of then can be harvested in minutes. They are planted so that at least one bud is above ground and 2/3rds of the cutting are in the ground. Not every tree will grow from hardwood cuttings, but here's a partial list of those that will: All the Dogwoods with the exception of Flowering dogwood, Willows, Hybrid Poplar, Elderberry, Ninebark, Highbush Cranberry...
 
Next I'll discuss brush. Identifying each plant that will grow from cuttings is important, because why buy expensive cuttings when you can make your own and the supply is unlimited?

This is Red Osier Dogwood (ROD). ROD likes moist soil, and is thicket forming. When I hunted in WI, the hunters called it "Red brush". I belonged to a bow club and our best drives were through ROD thickets because it's thicket forming providing cover, bedding and food. ROD grows from cuttings. Know this bush and gather 100s, even 1000s of cuttings FREE!

ROD is redder and more upright than Silky Dogwood.

 
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An advantage to planting cuttings is that it doesn't require digging a hole. With this tool I poke a pilot hole, insert a cutting... DONE! 1000's of cuttings can be planted in one day.
 
ROD is more upright and red than Silky Dogwood and has White Berries, while Silky Dogwood has dark blue berries.

 
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