Got some saw work done...

[growalot]

Man, what a great work day...just starting to dry up a bit and sunny..42 ,just warm enough to loose the jacket. Dropped a few bigger trees, and small ones with standing dead ash. What a pain those turned out to be. Brush pile fence is now head high.Tomorrow I take out the leaf blower on the new plot areas. What a difference in soils! I have one of my very first plots in this area the soils . are dark and are neutral too sweet in smell, perfect. The new areas are reddish grey with a bit of yellow under tone and just as acid smelling as it comes. Almost nose tingling. I know I'll have a lot of rocks under that leaf litter to deal with. I'm up to 22 bags of lime and it will take most of it for just this area to grow anything this year. I've waited many years to do this ,standing back and envisioning it has me pretty happy with the potential. So much work,like I needed more,but love it!. It needs to happen to counter somerecentand potentially new changes

Edited March 30, 2017 by growalot

[Lawdwaz]

Growie...what do you use for a tractor?

[growalot]

We have 3 JD,Two big mowers and  35 hp. Why?

[Lawdwaz]

No reason really, all the talk recently of tractors and such has me curious.  You do quite a bit of work on your plots, how many plots/acres are you working?

[growalot]

To be honest I doubt they all totally 4 acres. Maybe 5 with trail plots behind the house and this year's New additions. I still do some by hand. All prepping  for this area is hand work ,saw,rakes,and leaf blower. Having inner woods small and trail plots are  hard t o  keep up with area seeing they rotate in and out of  production.

[growalot]

You got me looking through pics on this...It really does seem bigger/more somehow...but being the only person doing these, from scratch as it were, I suppose that's natural...lol

Will take some pics of area I'm working on now ...gotta hit the ground ,rains due and some heavy stuff for the next 2 days . That will change a few plans

[growalot]

So ...What was I thinking?! I went out with the leaf blower and removed more,not all, but more sheet moss in 5 mins than I did raking a half hour getting fiberglass splinters!...Anyways I cleaned the area up a bit and started to remove the leaf litter where the new plot will go...The trail plot will connect the plot, pic with deer in it(taken yesterday), to the green plot at the end...a bit over 100 yrds. The new plot will be adjacent to the end of trail plot...this should steer the deer to the center of our place or into the safety of the gully...Man do I have some rocks to contend with...the leaf blower ran out of gas and me time. I have business this afternoon so here are some progress pics...

[Merlot]

Grow, sure get the feeling you're in your element when outside working on plots and stuff....good for you.

[growalot]

I'm one of those people that has a difficult time staying indoors...no matter the weather...as a kid I'd leave in the morning and come home for meals...as a teen when not at one of several jobs I'd leave and not be back until after dark... sometimes I'd walk from Piffard to Avon and back or  Mt Morris...if on a bike All around Conesus lake and back or to wolf creek in Letchworth......The one thing I loved about living in a village is when Mr B and the kids went to bed I grab the dog a 11pm and walk a few miles around town,or hit the bike and ride a 7 mile route I mapped out. Winter was cross country skiing to the land and back. Always have had gardens...

[sailinghudson25]

All those maples and no hinge cuts.....

 

Any reason you leave them cut 3 or 4 ft high?   Tip them over with the bucket.  

I know one guy who just pushes trees like that over with a front bucket, uncut......

[growalot]

Yes there is a reason and I posted about it years ago..when leaving maples and a few other species that height and cutting just as they are having the sap return they feed young buds..which grow into young tender branches with nice tender leave food topiary ...note a stand in one picture..this has the deer feeding at head level stopping and even stretching out . Also this is a plot area ...I do not want hinged trees in a plot. Also walking along at eye level deer are not seeing a lot of change. They are still seeing the standing trunks. Now note those bigger ash trees across what is to be a trail plot...the rather large tops knocked over other smaller maples and dead ash causing some nice cover in the existing slashing....I have several hinged areas on my land..this area doesn't need that..They bed in the adjacent gully and the wind cover of those brush pile fences.

[growalot]

Was on the kindle last night...took 20 mins of correcting to post that..dispatch them all...ie try this again   dispatch = didn't. dropped catch completely 

Land = parks

Leave = leafs 

Edited March 31, 2017 by growalot

[kpkot]

On 3/29/2017 at 10:53 PM, growalot said:

To be honest I doubt they all totally 4 acres. Maybe 5 with trail plots behind the house and this year's New additions. I still do some by hand. All prepping  for this area is hand work ,saw,rakes,and leaf blower. Having inner woods small and trail plots are  hard t o  keep up with area seeing they rotate in and out of  production.

If your truly curious downoad a hunting app for the kindle. They r free and there's a tool in it you can measure distance or area in aerial maps. Its a free app i think mine is called hunt stand. Came in handy in a pinch as a rangefinder last year too.

[growalot]

Sailinghudson...I have to say this....if you know a guy "hinging" trees big enough that he can not 

1 push over buy hand

2 ratchet over with a complaint of a winch/rope set up

They might be too big. He's either brave or just feels lucky using a tractor bucket..I personally do not want to see a tree trunk sticking out of my radiator ...nor chest when they snap off and back.

Edited March 31, 2017 by growalot

[growalot]

Kp..Lol This dang things been on it's last legs for months..I can't imagine what it would do with a measuring app.!...Thanks for that heads up though. To be honest  all trail plots are easy..New one 15 ft x lets say 450ft..easy square footage then knowing sq.ft. of an acre and subtract. Odd shapes..... ball parks are close.

Edited March 31, 2017 by growalot

[kpkot]

Just  an example- its a useful app

[landtracdeerhunter]

You have a sugar bush. Where is the evaporator?, LOL.

[sailinghudson25]

That guy doesn't hinge cut he topple the tree roots and all.  Smaller maple trees like 6 inch or smaller.

How big do the maples get before they don't grow new shoots?

Also, when a hinge cutted tree I'd almost dead, can you cut it off lower and regenerate new shoots?

My plot work for next year will be planting 100 yellow birch, and pruning them to shrub shapes.  If you see any tips on that, please share.

[growalot]

Funny you asked that...I have a striped maple,considered junk maple by the foresters that have come out. It's what they call a soft maple...anyways they are the best to do this with and I have one that is at least 9 years old still producing stems each year...I just Yank them off or cut them back each winter. I was just checking it out two days ago another good one is hophorn I do not like taking them completely out when opening the oak canopies. So I topiary them. Bass wood and young ash will do well for a couple to a few years. We have some and cherry birch , paper birch...but those are growing in my stream areas with the witch hazel and beech...few giant reds... That area is a work free zone.

So you have cool, moist, acidic soils as we do? That's where they grow best with fewer disease /stress problems Not real tolerant of alkaline or warm soils ours are growing on the north side of the ridge behind the neighbors rather large stand of fully mature Norway Spruce...though we have had issues with the paper bark birch, borers killing some off,that said those came back,very slowly. I'm not sure I've know of anyone growing that many...curious as to why you choose that large a planting...I've also never heard of anyone ever trying to trim them to hedge form......I'll be interested to see how that works out. Here a good read on them. Ooopps the only Norway "pine " are pines growing in Norway...Spruce...I have wht. pine on the brain these days but my bad and caught /corrected....

Quote

General Upkeep and Control

Heavy or repeated browsing of yellow birch by deer and moose kills small yellow birch and may prevent regeneration. Heavy feeding by porcupine and yellow-bellied sapsucker reduces growth lowers wood quality, and is sometimes fatal.

Heavy cuts in older stands may be followed by top dieback and mortality. Recently isolated trees, in particular, are subject to wind throw on shallow soils and susceptible to winter sunscald. All are sensitive to high soil temperatures. Harvest of yellow birch timber should coincide with good seed years, because the trees regenerate primarily by germination, and openings for regeneration should be provided.

Yellow birch can be grown from seed relatively easily. Artificial propagation can be done through greenwood cuttings and by grafting.

 

Edited March 31, 2017 by growalot

[kpkot]

 

4 hours ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

You have a sugar bush. Where is the evaporator?, LOL.

My brother and I  do syrup, but haven't  taken the evaporator plunge yet. we cook it over a stove we built with .  Once kids get a bit bigger I want to get one.

[growalot]

 Mr B gets a free gallon of syrup and one of honey from friends each year...I have to say why bother with that...theirs is great and I didn't have to do it!..lol

[growalot]

It's been non stop rain since Thursday night. Yesterday the area I worked had two heavy flowing streams through it and The "pond" area is the largest I've ever seen it. I won't be planting in the  pumpkin patch plot until June from the looks of it. Think I'll take a hike to the stream part of property today see how heavy they are flowing. Won't have to worry about early nesting this year. There is cold and rain due in all next week as well. The water table actually needs this so I'll deal with delays and be happy.

. 

Edited April 1, 2017 by growalot

[Lawdwaz]

2 hours ago, growalot said:

It's been non stop rain since Thursday night. Yesterday the area I worked had two heavy flowing streams through it and The "pond" area is the largest I've ever seen it. I won't be planting in the  pumpkin patch plot until June from the looks of it. Think I'll take a hike to the stream part of property today see how heavy they are flowing. Won't have to worry about early nesting this year. There is cold and rain due in all next week as well. The water table actually needs this so I'll deal with delays and be happy.

. 

All that rain doesn't bode well for the fisherman in your area.  The creek's gonna be risin'

[growalot]

Already have..but Mr B said the lakes are now looking GREAT

[Lawdwaz]

Last time (two weekends ago) I cruised the east side of Canadice it was up to or above normal level.  Now it will be crankin' down the spillway!