[IceHog]

The reason I tried the Hancock blend was mostly for the deer vetch, never used it before, I'll report back later this summer.

American Jointvetch - NDA

American jointvetch (Aeschynomene americana), or aeschynomene as some refer to it, is a warm-season annual legume that is used in pastures as livestock forage, for hay production, or as green manure. It is also an excellent summer forage for whitetails and can provide great brood-rearing habitat...

deerassociation.com

 

[Lightfoot]

I'm working on a small slice of property (1.5 acres) with a house in the middle, but still...I think it's worth working on as it's a decent funnel between the expressway and some unhuntable land within city limits that acts as a refuge. The nearest neighbor up the street is 150 yards away and has shot a few nice bucks traveling this corridor. I am hesitant to hunt here with my compound bow, but the crossbow can definitely reduce the odds of them hitting the expressway (50 yards to the fence) or having to track them through a subdivision lol.

Welcome to the small property food plot and habitat club.

 

[LabtechLewis]

We seeded our 0.25 acre switch plot today. One unexpected consequence of dragging to remove the vegetation was hard packing the soil. It's common sense, but I never considered it. So after we cleaned the seed bed, we ran the tiller over it to break it up a bit. Then sowed the Plotscreen and dragged it. Then sowed the switchgrass seed and dragged it.

Before:

Initial soil temp test:

Harrow drag to clean the plot:

Tilling:

Plotscreen:

Final soil temp test:

After:

 

[IceHog]

I was able to get 400-500 trees sprayed today, the old backpack sprayer and stove pipe method for vegetation killer. Also made some Rabbitat using pallets and then piling a load of brush on top, hopefully they appreciate my sweat. I'm going to make 3-4 more rabbit hut's, but probably not until next Winter. Plots are looking great as well, the weather this Spring is nothing like last year, it's been perfect for the food plots and the newly planted trees.

 

[Wild Thing]

We seeded our 0.25 acre switch plot today. One unexpected consequence of dragging to remove the vegetation was hard packing the soil. It's common sense, but I never considered it. So after we cleaned the seed bed, we ran the tiller over it to break it up a bit. Then sowed the Plotscreen and dragged it. Then sowed the switchgrass seed and dragged it.

Before:
View attachment 834440

Initial soil temp test:
View attachment 834444

Harrow drag to clean the plot:
View attachment 834447

Tilling:
View attachment 834453

Plotscreen:
View attachment 834452

Final soil temp test:
View attachment 834443

View attachment 834454

After:


View attachment 834451

View attachment 834462

You threw me a curve with that soil temp in Celsius LabTech...Had to ask Alexa to help me out converting it to Fahrenheit. She says 63.68 F - Perfect!

 

[IceHog]

I was able to get out today and brush hog my access trails, clover plots, alfalfa plot and pollinator field. I bought a new 6' Woods HD cutter and it worked really well, super smooth and cuts really nice. Also smoothed out my driveway/parking area gravel. Tomorrow evening I'm going to spray my sugar beet plots, they're getting a bit weedy at day 17.

 

[NovemberWhitetailz]

Spent Saturday cleaning up and making a bunch of access trails and raking beds. Sunday morning early was just hack n squirt any and all honey suckle I could find. Younger seedlings I was able to pull by hand relatively easy.

 

[NovemberWhitetailz]

 

[mustang72]

Am I the only one looking at these pictures and wishing I had soil like that?

 

[NovemberWhitetailz]

The beds I raked from a couple weeks ago are already getting a lot of use.

Question.... I'm getting a lot of this tree sprouting but I can't seem match it to anything? I'm leaning towards bitternut but I'm not sure. Any idea? It's all over and I'm guessing my luck it's not something deer prefer.....

Had 1 small mishap. Only a couple feet of fence was above ground hid behind some honeysuckle... But I found it.

 

[NovemberWhitetailz]

Just downloaded a free Leaf Identifier app and it actually popped up as White ash?

 

[bwlacy]

I got a couple of acres of forage beans planted, now waiting for rain.

Loggers still haven't shown up, was hoping they would be done a few months ago.

Building a couple of new blinds in the barn right now.

Fruit trees all had a lot of blossoms, hoping for a good year from them and the oaks.

 

[Big CC]

I have probably planted about 3,000 trees in my 10 acre field in the last 10 years (mostly Norway and Red Pine). Spent a lot of time, money and effort. And the simplest thing that I did that has had the most bang for $0 bucks is collecting maple seeds with my daughter around our neighborhood and spreading them over the field about 3-4 years ago. Maybe I won’t appreciate it at some point, but right now I’m thinking that it will provide lots of food and cover. I must have a couple thousand maples growing.

 

[Luv2hunteup]

It finally dried up enough to pull my subsoiler through a few plots. After that I pulled the disc through. It’s not quite ready to plant yet. One plot is 1/4 mile long and situated between a clover plot and rye plot that just starting to head out. The other is about an 1-1/2 in size. The two are 400 yards apart on but will be hidden from the road with 6 rows of HD screen that I use the high rate seed plates. This screen is a 1/4 mile back from the road. The two bigger plots will be planted in soy beans.

Most of my other plots are still too wet to pull the subsoiler through. The soil will mostly support the tractor but the subsoil is still pretty wet. Last August planted rye is just starting to head out. My clover plots are growing and nice and green. One of the clover plots will need a herbicide treatment to get rid of some daisys, golden rod, sedge grass and thistle. In another week all these invaders will tower over the clover. I’ll use a weed wiper with a heavy dose of glyphosate to clean things up.

 

[jmich24]

Picking up 5 more pears and apples from Walmart today for $15 each. Nice looking trees, 6-7 feet tall. Keiffer, Wolf River and Pink Lady available.

 

[IceHog]

My 1YO single rhizome Miscanthus edge is really cranking, it's already 4-5' tall and about 30 stalks. For comparison, I snapped a picture of a single rhizome that was planted a few weeks ago. If you want/need an edge or permanent screen in a hurry I highly recommend this stuff. I have about 3/8 of a mile that I've planted over the past 2 seasons with approximately 98-99% survival.

 

[LabtechLewis]

Wonderful drive to Holland and back for the first half of the day. Just enough time left over to work on North Side Plots #2 and #5.

This is what I planted:

Wifey got it for me for Father's Day. I just happened to find it in its "hiding spot" (along with a Gamekeeper bag seeder). Makes no sense to wait until then to open it when it's planting season now! So, I'm just going to put some filler material in the bag and reseal the seeder box and put them back in hiding. Shhhhh...

 

[IceHog]

Got about 20 acres of ground worked twice this morning, first disked then used an Excelerator and planted it this afternoon. Actually, I was just sitting in the buddy seat when my while my friend planted my ag land . The technology farmers are using today is simply incredible, from auto steer (for laser straight rows) to GPS planting (zero overlap) and variable rate seed planting (uses harvest data and soil testing to determine seed spacing), it's very interesting and technical to say the least.

 

[Luv2hunteup]

We are supposed to get a big rain event tonight into tomorrow. I planted 250# of soybeans in a couple of plots that total about 2-1/2 to 3 acres. The hardest part was finding fertilizer. I was able to find some 6-24-24 and 3-14-42. I had time to work up 500+ yards for future HD screen.

The broadleaf weeds and grasses have doubled in size over the last week. I used a 5’ weed wiper on an acre of clover, 2 acres of trefoil and about a 1/4. I used a 2:1 ratio of water to glyphosate. Some of the broadleaf weeds were already wilting by the time I finished treating all the plots plus a quarter acre that I plan on expanding a rye plot.

 

[Luv2hunteup]