Recent content by Hunter_Dan

I'd second buckwheat. We've used it for years in sandy soil in Wisconsin and have seen good, steady improvement over the years.

For established sod, I burn whenever it's an option. A good burn makes it so much easier to till down the road. If it's green and growing, I like to spray with glyphosate, then wait 2-3 weeks for the vegetation to die and dry out. Then I mow/till a strip around the edge of the plot and light it...

Good stuff! Sounds like you've got an operation going on :)

Great choices! Any going in this year? Sometimes it's good to do a trial run to test your methods of planting, fencing, watering frequency, etc. I normally don't endorse trees from the big box stores, but might be worth getting one. Good luck!

Yeah, I could actually see it going both ways. You'll definitely have a more established root system. That said, it could be counter productive. The graft union obviously limits the growth of the tree right after grafting. With a small root system, that isn't a big deal. With an established...

Can you burn the area? There's no better way to clear vegetation than burning.

dogdoc is on the money. Remember to LABEL everything too, if you want to know what you have. Also keep in mind the size of the scion you're collecting. You want the diameter to be a little smaller than the diameter you're grafting onto (for a bench graft). So no point cutting off bigger branches...

I'd also toss in Van Well Nursery. I haven't personally bought from them, but they have a lot of good varieties and rootstock and keep their inventory updated pretty well.

Depending on what you're trying to do, you can also just plant "rootstock" and let them grow into full trees. It's a great way to get cheap wildlife trees with some certainty on some of the key factors (e.g. hardiness, size, soil type tolerance).

This isn't this years graft list, but was my selection from a couple years ago. Got most of them from Maple Valley Orchard I think. Most were on B118 and some on Antonovka rootstock. Go big or go home :) Galarina Williams Pride Florina Querina Pristine Northern Spy Holiday Hudsons Golden Gem...

I've never field grafted, but my intuition is to do it this year. When you graft a regular scion / rootstock, the rootstock comes bareroot with usually a pretty small root system, so I think you'd be better than that at the very least.

I've done it a few different ways. I started out with 2 posts and a ~5' diameter woven wire cage. I've also used cattle panels, which are great. Then I started doing micro-cages with woven wire. For these, I just let the lower down limbs get bit off by the deer, but you can access and maintain...

Thanks guys, great suggestions. For the forums I thought about that too, but don't want to try to compete with this resource. And j-bird, I like the suggestion!

Also, if anybody has any pictures they'd be willing to share, I'd really appreciate it! I'm looking to post pictures for most of the topics, but am limited to what I currently have in my possession from prior years. If there are any sections that you have a picture for and would be willing to...

Thanks sm. Might be the the "secure" part of the domain. Try https://plottersedge.com/ and see what that does. Buck, great idea. I got the same recommendation from my cousin. I'll see if I can build a tool that helps do that. Everybody else, what other topics would you want to see added to...