rusty1034
Active Member
A 1/2 acre brassica plot at my place. The recent rains and a dose of nitrogen have really helped.
Sent from my iPad using Deer Hunter Forum
Sent from my iPad using Deer Hunter Forum
Bowhunter's upstate New York property tour
- Thread starter Bowhunter
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Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
Is that as flat as it looks? A flat field usually has an advantage over a sloped field because of not having any runoff.
Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
Yes it is quite flat. Maybe just a touch of slope is all.
Dump trucks full of stones I’ve picked off this field, so I have literally tons invested in this field.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
I don't have a rock on my place, but then I have slopes and soil erosion. I have to be careful with soil tillage as my soil type just washes. So I've got to do mostly notill, and that leads to more spraying. Flat field farmers can do more tillage to get rid of weeds at planting times. So I guess if you don't have one problem you have another. Most wildlife plots are on marginal soils. How's that brassica coming?
Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
I’ve been fairly quiet on here of late with work and the two boys keeping me quite busy. I just wanted to update everyone that I just recently purchased 20 acres just down the road from my place that borders one of our leased parcels. I’m going to be doing some pretty big habitat improvement projects. The first will be clearing an area for a food plot and an apple orchard. It used to be all field but has all grown over and is probably 30 years of growth.
Here is the boundary of the parcel and a Google Earth satellite image as well. I can’t wait to get started on improving it.
Here is the boundary of the parcel and a Google Earth satellite image as well. I can’t wait to get started on improving it.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
That's exciting news. With the way your other plots look I'm guessing that you will have a nice field going in no time. Are the trees in the 6" range or so, and 30' tall? Will you burn some trees or pile them up? I like to pick a stand site first on a new field, then push a big windrow of downed trees as a barrier screen between the blind and the field. Burning some trees in the middle of the field raises the ph of the soil and saves some lime.
Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
Some of the trees are around 12” or so and some are around 6” depending on what type of tree they are. It’s on a southeastern facing slope so I think that’s why some of the trees grew quite well. I tried to pick a spot where there is mostly white pine, Poplar and some other trees that aren’t worth anything but there are some silver maple, ash, and cherry that I will have to cut down in order to bring adequate sunlight to the plot. It’s not anything that’s gonna happen overnight but I’ll be chipping away at it this spring and summer.
That’s what I typically do on new plots is try to burn the majority of the trees in the middle of the plot and place some of the stumps along the edge and try to guide the deer into the plot and screen the edge a little bit.
That’s what I typically do on new plots is try to burn the majority of the trees in the middle of the plot and place some of the stumps along the edge and try to guide the deer into the plot and screen the edge a little bit.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
That looks like it should be a relatively easy land clearing project. What kind of equipment do you have to work with?Here is a few pictures I took of the area that I’ll be clearing for my food plots and orchard.
Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
I have an older John Deere 510 backhoe, and a John Deere 550g dozer to push out all the stumps. I prefer to get all the stumps out with the backhoe because it’s easier to minimize topsoil loss but it takes longer than it does with the dozer. I’ll probably use both for the task though.
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Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
I try to make a good enough access road into my new plots to get a lime truck in. I'll put a full truckload on a small plot, I've never had a problem with ph too high yet. And it saves time and $, not to mention giving the new field a huge boost in production.
Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
I will have an access road to the new food plot but I more than likely won’t be able to have a lime truck get to it in the spring time. Soil conditions just won’t allow it in our neck of the woods. Mid summer is about the only time I can get the lime trucks on any of my plots for that reason.
One reason I bought a ton of the pelletized lime from Tractor Supply when they had it on sale earlier.
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
With that equipment you are way ahead of most hunters trying to put in a plot. I agree with you on the stump removal, topsoil is way more valuable than saving a few hours in land clearing time.
Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
It’s not new equipment by any means but it does the trick. Sure is nice to have nice new shiny equipment but a lot of times some older equipment will last someone a lifetime of sporadic use. Most of the times IME letting the stuff sit is the hardest on it.
Here is a few photos of the backhoe and dozer.
Bowhunter
Well-Known Member
I got 6 more apple trees planted today in my orchard that I planted last year. I previously planted 4 Enterprise trees, and today I put in 4 Liberty, 1 Honeycrisp, and 1 Cortland. The Honeycrisp and the Cortland are the pollinators for the Enterprise and the Liberty.
I still need to stake down the cages, and get some stone on top of the fabric but I got the brunt of it done today.
I still need to stake down the cages, and get some stone on top of the fabric but I got the brunt of it done today.
Double L
Well-Known Member
I use a product called Humistart by Timac Agro. They will sell it in 50 lb bags 400 lbs is about the same as 4000lbs of lime. My newset plot I made last year hat I cleared wooded timber hill side went from 4.8ph to 5.9ph this year. I did spring and fall treatment of Humistart. It can be spread with small broad cast spreader. I swear its like rocket fuel..
