|
Post by Catscratch on Dec 25, 2018 10:38:29 GMT -6
Cat, have you checked soil pH in various locations? Could you be too basic for apples? I have assumed most crabs will tolerate a pH of .5 units lower than regular apples. I don’t know if crabs tolerate higher pH than apples or not. You might find some locations with differing pH. My pH was 6.1 the last time I did a test. I'm growing apples and crabs but they take work and protection. The one's that I take care of are doing great (and thanks for the suggestion). The things I'm doing on this thread are just promoting native stuff that doesn't require much work other than taking a walk with some pruners, or stacking a brush pile with left overs from cutting firewood.
|
|
|
Post by Catscratch on Dec 25, 2018 10:44:02 GMT -6
This is overgrown pasture? Some of the best cover! Looks nice Thanks and yes. I'm becoming more and more of a fan of just letting stuff grow. Cattle will always have to be part of the equation but I'm figuring out how to use them to my advantage for wildlife. Lots to be said for just doing rotations and giving native stuff some rest at the right time. It's also easy to plant a plot with cattle so they will have their use. This particular pasture hasn't had a cow or burn go through it for 3 years. It's changing a lot and when I do put cattle back on it much of what has started growing will be big enough to withstand them. I'll be able to start a new rotation now and give another pasture the same treatment. Hopefully it won't be long before the entire place is grown up some.
|
|
|
Post by MN Slick on Dec 26, 2018 8:56:35 GMT -6
Looks great and I agree, overgrown pasture is about the best cover there. Hedge, cedars and brush of all kinds. Hard to find a good tree for a stand though!
|
|
|
Post by Catscratch on Dec 26, 2018 9:05:53 GMT -6
Looks great and I agree, overgrown pasture is about the best cover there. Hedge, cedars and brush of all kinds. Hard to find a good tree for a stand though!I seldom bowhunt from a tree anymore. Good hunting trees are seldom in good hunting spots, and I'm convinced deer are half blind and pretty stupid (if they can't smell you).
|
|
|
Post by sd51555 on Dec 26, 2018 10:15:59 GMT -6
Looks great and I agree, overgrown pasture is about the best cover there. Hedge, cedars and brush of all kinds. Hard to find a good tree for a stand though!I seldom bowhunt from a tree anymore. Good hunting trees are seldom in good hunting spots, and I'm convinced deer are half blind and pretty stupid (if they can't smell you). Don't go lumping MN deer in with yours. If you break normal cruising speed by 5 mph withing a quarter mile of a deer in a hayfield up by me, that deer will not reveal itself to a human in daylight ever again.
|
|
|
Post by Catscratch on Dec 26, 2018 10:33:00 GMT -6
I seldom bowhunt from a tree anymore. Good hunting trees are seldom in good hunting spots, and I'm convinced deer are half blind and pretty stupid (if they can't smell you). Don't go lumping MN deer in with yours. If you break normal cruising speed by 5 mph withing a quarter mile of a deer in a hayfield up by me, that deer will not reveal itself to a human in daylight ever again. Not my fault you guys run around trying to spook your deer into nocturnalism! I prefer to make pets out of them and then just pick the one I want to harvest that year. Stress-free backstrap tastes best!
|
|
wisco
New Member
Posts: 16
Likes: 10
|
Post by wisco on Jan 6, 2019 12:40:13 GMT -6
Great work catscratch. I'm seeing the same type of thing on my property. Its an old crop field that I have spent countless hours on planting and protecting trees with tubes to create deer habitat. All that effort and they still eat the terminal bud of my oaks as soon as the top the tree tube. But the edges of the field where the hay does not get cut anymore is thickening up with volunteer maple, oaks, black cherry, and a variety of shrubs. Its so much cheaper and easier to pick what I want to survive out of what nature provided for free.
|
|
|
Post by sd51555 on Jan 6, 2019 13:34:03 GMT -6
Great work catscratch. I'm seeing the same type of thing on my property. Its an old crop field that I have spent countless hours on planting and protecting trees with tubes to create deer habitat. All that effort and they still eat the terminal bud of my oaks as soon as the top the tree tube. But the edges of the field where the hay does not get cut anymore is thickening up with volunteer maple, oaks, black cherry, and a variety of shrubs. Its so much cheaper and easier to pick what I want to survive out of what nature provided for free. Have you tried a 6' tube? It gets tricky getting trees out a 6' tube, but oaks are one that can do it. I swapped out over 100 5' tubes for 6'. Trees started living then.
|
|
wisco
New Member
Posts: 16
Likes: 10
|
Post by wisco on Jan 6, 2019 13:45:24 GMT -6
I have not used the taller tubes because I'm cheap and I bought a bulk order of what I have now. I have enough that some make it and the ones that do get nipped stay alive and grow bigger roots. Eventually they shoot up when the deer aren't looking and then they are fine. I'm just going to stick with that for now, but I should have gone for the taller tubes to begin with.
|
|
|
Post by Tooln on Jan 6, 2019 14:43:44 GMT -6
Wisco, nice to see you back & welcome. We have a very knowledgeable group here. hope you enjoy. Would you mind being more specific for your location?
|
|
|
Post by nhmountains on Jan 6, 2019 15:28:48 GMT -6
I have not used the taller tubes because I'm cheap and I bought a bulk order of what I have now. I have enough that some make it and the ones that do get nipped stay alive and grow bigger roots. Eventually they shoot up when the deer aren't looking and then they are fine. I'm just going to stick with that for now, but I should have gone for the taller tubes to begin with. Have you tried bud capping the tops of the oaks? People do that successfully with pines and firs.
|
|
|
Post by Catscratch on Jan 7, 2019 6:10:18 GMT -6
I have not used the taller tubes because I'm cheap and I bought a bulk order of what I have now. I have enough that some make it and the ones that do get nipped stay alive and grow bigger roots. Eventually they shoot up when the deer aren't looking and then they are fine. I'm just going to stick with that for now, but I should have gone for the taller tubes to begin with. Have you tried bud capping the tops of the oaks? People do that successfully with pines and firs. I've never thought of bud capping. It just might work, but I bet it's a pain to get them to stay on when it's windy. I wonder if it would inhibit growth of a oak or not?
|
|
|
Post by nhmountains on Jan 7, 2019 11:26:58 GMT -6
Have you tried bud capping the tops of the oaks? People do that successfully with pines and firs. I've never thought of bud capping. It just might work, but I bet it's a pain to get them to stay on when it's windy. I wonder if it would inhibit growth of a oak or not? I’m pretty sure people on other sites have bud capped oaks before. I think the tree would push through or push the paper out of the way when the first flush grows. Maybe you’d need to remove them. I think SD posted a bud capping video a while back.
|
|
|
Post by benmnwi on Jan 7, 2019 12:48:35 GMT -6
Bud capping on pines works well if you can staple some needles to the paper to help hold the cap in place. There might not be much on an oak terminal bud to staple the paper to though, so the bud cap could slide down. Might be worth a try on a few trees this year just to see what happens.
|
|
|
Post by sd51555 on Jan 7, 2019 13:25:30 GMT -6
I still think I'd rather buy some 6' tubes and get it fixed up right. Bud caps are gonna turn to mush each time it rains. They work well in the winter because it doesn't rain, and the desire to browse pines isn't quite so high in the spring, summer, fall when there are many more options.
One way to maybe save some money is to take those tubes that are too short, and use some to cut "extensions" for the rest of the short ones. Duct tape or glue an extension on to your existing ones, and just buy 6' tubes to replace the ones you've taken to make extensions. Could also maybe do some window screen to extend them.
I think you gotta keep your eye on the outcome first and work backwards to a solution. Bud capping likely ain't gonna work and you'll return to another leader nipped off.
|
|