Wild Idea

C

ChadS

New Member
Here is a wild idea I got walking around our place this weekend.

We have a camp in our woods, and every spring I have to blow all the leaves out which opens up the soil.

Every Spring, I get a huge rush of growth in camp, and it greens up real good.

I am a huge believer that one of the things that would help our place out immensely is if it burned, getting rid of the Leave covered floor and getting that sun onto black dirt.

Well, why not take my back pack blower and go into the woods and just start blowing huge areas open to get sun light and bare black ground.

I have a back blower that we use to blow trails into our stands, and works great, tons of power and does not take that much effort.

As well these trails ten to green up where the sun gets thru.

Any ideas?? For or Against?

Has anyone tried this before?

I just think it would give a spark to getting things growing.

Thx

Chad
 
I should have mentioned we have already done extensive TSI and there is good sun light getting thru.

I have just been a little disappointed at how long it is taking to get anything going on the ground.

Ill take pics this weekend of the areas i am looking at.

I would try burning, but there is way too much wood on the ground.

I am in Western New York.
 
I have used fire to rid plots of debris in the past and it works well (to actually prep the plot for planting). I have also seen places where fire got away from folks and a year or two later the woods bounces back pretty well. The main thing with burning is that small plants and the like won't do well with it. I know after my place was logged we had an explosion of non-woody plants the first year or two and then the hardwood saplings and the like started to be come more and more evident. Keep in mind when you burn in the woods you want a cool fire. You shouldn't have flames a foot tall or more. Your not burning native grasses!
 
Some guys throw out wheat and have the turkeys scratch out dirt. If you have turkeys. The backpack blower idea sounds good, if rather labor intensive, and in the woods will probably not move the bottom matted down layer like it moves the loose ones in your camp yard.
 
Your leaf eaters are missing. Sounds like a light shot of lime and gypsum is needed to kickstart your biology. Might not hurt to throw 30lbs/ac of forage barley in with it.
 
You know one of those snow blowers, or leaf blowers, on the back of a small tractor would be the ticket. Just meander thru the tall trees
 
I'm too lazy for all that. Do as suggested, spread cheap reclaim oat or corn in areas and let your turkeys and other birds/squirrels do your work for you. If you have enough sunlight and dspm is not high, it works well. If deer eat growth before it has a chance its tough no matter how you do it. Compesate by creating more browse if needed. Good luck.
 
It would help to know where the site is located, the type of timber and the amount of sunlight reaching the ground.

Blowing away the leaf litter can certainly constitute the "disturbance" that exposes seeds already present in the seed bank. The response is largely going to be based on what seeds are present, and the quality of growing conditions post-disturbance (amount of sunlight on the ground). If you are in a hardwood stand with a full canopy once the trees green up, I would say you are doing more harm than good by moving nutrients from one area to another and potentially increasing erosion. If you have a hardwood stand that has gaps in the canopy that allow 20-30-50% sunlight on the ground, by all means go for it, but you would probably already have vegetation on the ground if you had gaps in the canopy.

How about some more details on the site or some pictures.
 
Drycreek said:
Mark, I have this feeling that if you walked into a bar and the bartender asks "What'll it be?", your answer would be......."Barley!":D
Click to expand...
There is a reason. I've been waiting for someone to call me out on my "Barley is the answer to every question" position. To you doubters, today is not your day.

The leaf eaters aren't there. There is almost no biological economy because of the tree canopy that made the leaf layer. To get a biological economy going, you need economic stimulus. So.

Barley comes first. It puts down a living root. A hyphae grows towards and penetrates the root of the barley plant. Where it meets the barley root, an arbuscule is formed. That's where fungus meets the plant roots and they exchange goods and services. Fungus brings things they scavenged below ground. Plants bring sugars converted from sunlight and CO2. They swap them out and both win.

Lime and gypsum will set the stage for this to be possible. Barley is a good one cause it's cheap and can be planted a month before warm season grasses. It's also short lived, broadcastable, water thrifty, straw won't be a residue nightmare like rye, and it makes damn fine beer.
 
MarkDarvin said:
There is a reason. I've been waiting for someone to call me out on my "Barley is the answer to every question" position. To you doubters, today is not your day.

The leaf eaters aren't there. There is almost no biological economy because of the tree canopy that made the leaf layer. To get a biological economy going, you need economic stimulus. So.

Barley comes first. It puts down a living root. A hyphae grows towards and penetrates the root of the barley plant. Where it meets the barley root, an arbuscule is formed. That's where fungus meets the plant roots and they exchange goods and services. Fungus brings things they scavenged below ground. Plants bring sugars converted from sunlight and CO2. They swap them out and both win.

Lime and gypsum will set the stage for this to be possible. Barley is a good one cause it's cheap and can be planted a month before warm season grasses. It's also short lived, broadcastable, water thrifty, straw won't be a residue nightmare like rye, and it makes damn fine beer.
Click to expand...
You will be proud of me. Today I planted... barley.
 
I'd just add that what looks like a "green spot" in a woods - might not offer a lot of lbs/forage, The way you describe it - sounds like a pretty serious canopy - and meaningful forage needs ample light. Ive not seen a lot of success where the canopy was serious enough that tree seedlings cannot get started - regardless of leaf build up.
 
farmhunter said:
I'd just add that what looks like a "green spot" in a woods - might not offer a lot of lbs/forage, The way you describe it - sounds like a pretty serious canopy - and meaningful forage needs ample light. Ive not seen a lot of success where the canopy was serious enough that tree seedlings cannot get started - regardless of leaf build up.
Click to expand...
So right about sunlight.
 
MarkDarvin said:
There is a reason. I've been waiting for someone to call me out on my "Barley is the answer to every question" position. To you doubters, today is not your day.

The leaf eaters aren't there. There is almost no biological economy because of the tree canopy that made the leaf layer. To get a biological economy going, you need economic stimulus. So.

Barley comes first. It puts down a living root. A hyphae grows towards and penetrates the root of the barley plant. Where it meets the barley root, an arbuscule is formed. That's where fungus meets the plant roots and they exchange goods and services. Fungus brings things they scavenged below ground. Plants bring sugars converted from sunlight and CO2. They swap them out and both win.

Lime and gypsum will set the stage for this to be possible. Barley is a good one cause it's cheap and can be planted a month before warm season grasses. It's also short lived, broadcastable, water thrifty, straw won't be a residue nightmare like rye, and it makes damn fine beer.
Click to expand...

I love it when someone talks scavenging. And did someone say beer?? Guess a call to my feed store in order but don’t know anyone around here planting barley but then at one time no one around here knew what brassica were till I foodplotted them. I do know barley big crop in Canada.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
MarkDarvin said:
There is a reason. I've been waiting for someone to call me out on my "Barley is the answer to every question" position. To you doubters, today is not your day.

The leaf eaters aren't there. There is almost no biological economy because of the tree canopy that made the leaf layer. To get a biological economy going, you need economic stimulus. So.

Barley comes first. It puts down a living root. A hyphae grows towards and penetrates the root of the barley plant. Where it meets the barley root, an arbuscule is formed. That's where fungus meets the plant roots and they exchange goods and services. Fungus brings things they scavenged below ground. Plants bring sugars converted from sunlight and CO2. They swap them out and both win.

Lime and gypsum will set the stage for this to be possible. Barley is a good one cause it's cheap and can be planted a month before warm season grasses. It's also short lived, broadcastable, water thrifty, straw won't be a residue nightmare like rye, and it makes damn fine beer.
Click to expand...
BTW, what's your observations on barley VS oats?
 
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