My property tour

[jlane35]

I’m almost done, with some help of course, staining our cabin. We still need to fix the gutters and replace two boards. But hopefully I can get it all finished before my third daughter arrives. And since I got most of the “work” done my father can take over all the fun stuff like planting food plots in a week or so.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I’m always nervous about trimming my trees. I don’t want to take to much off. So again, another problem of mine.

What does the white paint with sand do? Keep rabbits and mice from eating the bark?

So how hard should I trim the large existing apple trees next year? Could I trim them to hard?

The old timers always said to prune an apple tree that you can throw a cat through the branches and they can't grab a hold anywhere. I don't like to trim a neglected, overgrown tree to where I want it all in one year, rather taking a two or three year approach. Of course you can trim it too hard, but you're probably not getting close to where I'd consider that point to be. Rule of thumb when you're pruning is to remove branches that grow out of the top or bottom of the main branches, and leave the ones that grow out of the sides of the main leaders. Stand back and look at the structure and scaffold of the tree before starting, to imagine what effect removing certain branches will have, the thing to avoid is having a large hole in the perimeter of the crown without any branches there. When cutting off branches look for the branch collar and make the cut just beyond the point where the branch collar flares, this is the wrinkled part near the base where the branch is connected to the tree trunk. The branch collar has the ready growth to heal the cut, so doing this makes the cut heal nicely. Always leave some limbs with some small branches, these have the fruiting and vegetative buds on them. If cutting a branch in mid-branch, cut just beyond where a bud grows out to the side, this will be the new branch direction next year. it might sound complicated, but after practicing for a few years it'll all come naturally. Remember, no trimming at all is worse than a little bit of trimming that's not quite perfect.
I've done the white latex paint before, which protects the tree against insects and weather, adding the sand in the paint to deter mice and rabbits and deer rubbing is a new trick that I've just learned on this site. Can't wait to try it out.

 

[MarkDarvin]

Cool thread man. Could you post some pics of how the interior of your cabin is set up?

 

[jlane35]

Cool thread man. Could you post some pics of how the interior of your cabin is set up?

Thank you, I’m no where near as knowledgeable as most of the guys on here but I enjoy the outdoors and doing the best I can to improve the property.

Here is the best picture I have.

Behind me to the left is the wood stove and to the right is the propane stove, and the countertop with a sink. We have propane lights installed but we’ve never used them. We use a generator to power everything, but no running water. We do have pipes running from the sink to outside though, so we just bring gallons of water to wash our hands or clean anything.

And the one thing I’m most happy about is those two photo albums on the table. From the first animal we ever harvested off the property I took a picture and put it in the album. It’s really cool to look back, normally on the day before rifle season when there is 4-5 of us at the cabin, and talk about successful hunts. And also see the increased quality of animals taken.

 

[MarkDarvin]

Ah hell, you're doing great. If we did everything right the first time, what would we do next habitat season? Love that cabin.

 

[Triple C]

jlane - Going back thru some of these threads that existed on the old forum brings back a flood of memories from when I started this whole habitat thing myself. The pic of big timbered entrance reminded me of the the pic of saved from the old forum when you first erected that thing. I still have the pics as I planned on doing the same with my entrance. Still haven't got that done and may never do it but always thought your entrance was one of the best looking I have seen. Enjoyed catching up on your thread this morn!

 

[jlane35]

jlane - Going back thru some of these threads that existed on the old forum brings back a flood of memories from when I started this whole habitat thing myself. The pic of big timbered entrance reminded me of the the pic of saved from the old forum when you first erected that thing. I still have the pics as I planned on doing the same with my entrance. Still haven't got that done and may never do it but always thought your entrance was one of the best looking I have seen. Enjoyed catching up on your thread this morn!

I realized I never posted an updated picture of the swing gate. My father got the idea of the fence from going out to Wyoming. It seems like everyone there has them. The only difference is they have gates that are about 8 feet tall with a separation at 4 feet high. In the middle of the winter they can just open the top section and drive right over the bottom on their snowmobiles. I’m glad we don’t get that kind of snow.

it’s a picture of a picture so the quality isn’t the best but you get the idea. We capped the top of the columns and the arch with copper.

 

[farmhunter]

Read through your thread - enjoyed your progress! reminded me of some of the same things I did.

 

[jlane35]

I’m waiting on pictures from my father to see how the fields look after planting. While I was waiting I looked at the extended forecast and it changed since the last few days. It always seems to happen that way. The rain never appears unexpected but disappears when they were calling for it.


Once we waited for the threat of frost to pass, and it’s only been about a week and a half since our last snow, we thought it was ideal timing with much more rain being called for in the coming week. But he is putting in 2 acres of sunflower/buckwheat mix, and an acre of chufa.

It also doesn’t help we are really getting busy at work, which is a good thing after the covid slowdown. And I’ve been busy with the arrival of our third daughter. We are truly blessed!

 

[jlane35]

My father ran out of sunlight so he finished cultipacking today. I ran up to give him a ride to the field, so I snapped a picture from the enclosed blind. Now just waiting on this weekends rain.

Beyond the foodplot you can see the rise in the field. That is where I’ll plant late dropping pear trees next year. I could just envision deer coming out of the heavily timbered woods on both sides of the field to get some pears during our rifle season.

 

[jlane35]

I would really like to remove a single large cage around 7 apple trees we planted a long ways back. And individually cage them so apples that fall are within reach of the deer. Just two problems, they are semi dwarf and I never trimmed them properly.
As you can see, if I put a single cage around this tree it would be so wide the apples wouldn’t be outside of it. Or the cage/protection would only be 18 inches or so off the ground.

Could I over 2-3 years cut the lower branches off without harming it past the point of no return? Or cut off what I want gone at one time? Then I could protect the truck in some way and allow the apples to be eaten.

 

[jlane35]

I don’t know how farmers do it. Calling for rain all this past week, so we put some plots in. Nothing ever showed. It was supposed to rain all day yesterday and today. It’s already stopped raining and all we got was .16 of an inch. The only thing I see coming up is showers on Thursday.

 

[jlane35]

I thought we got the seed covered well enough, but the turkeys disagree. Once I resized the picture it loses its clarity. But the turkeys have been scratching in the field the last few days. We disced, spread, dragged with a harrow and then cultipacked. With the lack of rain I would think these fields are going to be in pretty rough shape, if they grow at all.

 

[jlane35]

They are still at it.
I’ll be surprised if anything is left.

 

[Elkaddict]

I thought we got the seed covered well enough, but the turkeys disagree. Once I resized the picture it loses its clarity. But the turkeys have been scratching in the field the last few days. We disced, spread, dragged with a harrow and then cultipacked. With the lack of rain I would think these fields are going to be in pretty rough shape, if they grow at all.

View attachment 18968

We struggle with turkeys/geese pulling up young emerging plants to get to the seed. We also deal with heavy early browsing by deer. We up our planting rates to compensate.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Turkeys eating the seed and sprouts is the main reason why I plant into standing rye. We spray it with roundup then plant. About the time the seed sprouts the rye is yellow. The turkeys will still get a few, but they have to work for them.

 

[jlane35]

We struggle with turkeys/geese pulling up young emerging plants to get to the seed. We also deal with heavy early browsing by deer. We up our planting rates to compensate.

If this fails bc of the turkey pressure and lack of rain I’ll give it another shot in a few weeks when they are calling for rain. I’ll definitely up the seeding rate.

 

[jlane35]

Turkeys eating the seed and sprouts is the main reason why I plant into standing rye. We spray it with roundup then plant. About the time the seed sprouts the rye is yellow. The turkeys will still get a few, but they have to work for them.

That’s a dream of mine to have a no till planter but with only planting 5 acres a year it’s not worth it.

 

[Elkaddict]

If I could get an implement that would equally cover beans/corn/small grains/clover chicory/chicory/brassicas, I’d spend the money. For what I’m doing, broadcasting works good enough...but at the cost time and tilling the top 4” of soil. I have thought hard about a 3 row to no-till corn planter with plates for corn and beans and a Woods super seeder with 3 boxes....but haven’t pulled the trigger.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I'm predicting more new affordable notill planter designs coming out for large ATV's and compact tractors in the next few years. There is a growing market for these things that will not go unnoticed.