From forest to food plot, suggestions?

[Tororider]

We are in the process of making a food plot out of some woods that borders our swamp. Should be a great hunting spot when we are done. I didn't have the foresight to take before pictures, but I will try to get some quickly and keep it updated.

Heres the situation. There are a ton of what I call finger sized trees, one to two inch trees that I am cutting close to the ground. Then there are some more mature trees 6-10 inches that I am cutting off a couple feet above ground so that I have room to try and pull the stumps.

We are chipping all the trees with the Wallenstein bx62, anything bigger than what it can take will be used as firewood.

The plan is to get it cleared as much as possible and then pull stumps, probably with the aid of a sawsall. Then we will brush-hog as low as possible. Once this is done, round up and disc.

I have been advised that with an area that is so overgrown now, by the time we get to discing, I am going to have to stop at every pass to clear roots off the disc. Is there any way to avoid this? or do I just need to buck up and do that?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[john_bud]

Sounds like a job for a dozer pulling a rake.


If you don't want to spend that money, maybe a sub-soiler would help get the roots up.

I'd certainly try that first.

jb

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon Tororider,
Like John says, a dozer would make quick work of everything you describe. If money is an issue, a box blade on the back of a good sized CUT will rip out under brish and roots from smaller trees. Also an FEL with a toothbar would also help removing alot of what you describe !

 

[psuedofarmer]

We are in the process of making a food plot out of some woods that borders our swamp. Should be a great hunting spot when we are done. I didn't have the foresight to take before pictures, but I will try to get some quickly and keep it updated.

Heres the situation. There are a ton of what I call finger sized trees, one to two inch trees that I am cutting close to the ground. Then there are some more mature trees 6-10 inches that I am cutting off a couple feet above ground so that I have room to try and pull the stumps.

We are chipping all the trees with the Wallenstein bx62, anything bigger than what it can take will be used as firewood.

The plan is to get it cleared as much as possible and then pull stumps, probably with the aid of a sawsall. Then we will brush-hog as low as possible. Once this is done, round up and disc.

I have been advised that with an area that is so overgrown now, by the time we get to discing, I am going to have to stop at every pass to clear roots off the disc. Is there any way to avoid this? or do I just need to buck up and do that?

Thanks for any advice.

you've been given some sound advice, but i'll chime in because i just finished doing EXACTLY what you're looking to do..

i operate a large certified organic farm - i needed to expand my fields and decided to reclaim an old pasture bordered by a swamp. the area was ~3 acres. it was DENSE with fingerling trees (mostly pin cherry, etc.). in general, it's probably similar to your area.. don't have pics handy, but did take hundreds of pics to document the process:

first off, a dozer is NOT what you want to use IF you're going to plant food crops. a dozer will remove excellent top soil; you want to retain as much of that as possible. after using chainsaws, BHs, discs, etc., i changed tactics and hired an excavator with a thumb. this was critical. this machine was able to remove only the first few inches of soil (typically less); on bigger stumps, the excavator shook out the dirt and left it intact.

once the field was stumped and rocked, i ran a large disc over it... again.. and again.. and again. then limed it (2 tons/acre), added composted horse manure the first year, added a cover crop (peas/oats/vetch), the following year i added more lime, rock phosphate, and composted sheep manure. then another crover crop, this time field peas.

i'm now in my 1st year of production on that field and the yields are tremendous.. the abundance of turkey is tremendous. guess i'll be hunting from the porch this year!

the key to remember is your topsoil. if you're going to grow food, try to keep as much intact as you can; dozers work great for clearing land, but they have a tendency to take too much (while compacted the soil).

good luck.

pf

 

[toolsorbust]

How quick do you want it done? The slow way as well as the cheap way to clear it is go in and bush hog all that you can larger trees cut off even with the groundkeep it bush hogged ( every 3 or 4 months ) then in a gouple of years most of the stumps will have rotted away on the small stuff 4" and smaller. The larger stumps you may haft to dig them out. The advantage of doing it like this is you conserve your top soil, You mentioned that it is next to a swamp digging the ground up makes soup. also most of the roots will rot away and add to the soil. To me a large part of working the land is to let nature do her part. Just my 2c on this.

 

[Coyote]

I'll second pseudo's comments. I have done this all over my property. My routine is bushog as low as possible, Roundup, wait two weeks, disk it up real good. (If your disk is not getting it done, tear it up with the rippers all the way down on your BB) Wait for rain. Disk it again. Lime and fertilize. It may not be the best the first year, but it gets better with time. Good luck! It increased my wildlife population big time!

 

[Egon]

Dozer with a root rake on the blade will work just fine. Straight blade will not.

Ploughing/disking [ large disk ] may also be possible and then rake up the roots.

 

[Tororider]

Thanks guys. I was hoping to have this done for hunting this year, but that is looking less and less likely. I think I will take your advice and work towards next year by cutting and the hogging and discing a bunch of times. Here are a couple of pictures from last night. This is already a couple of days into the project. Hrm... pics too big. Ideas?

 

[EddieWalker]

I wouldn't think you'd have much of a chance to get it done this year. Especially if you have all those small stumps to deal with. Cutting anything off and leaving a root ball in the ground is going to make it very dificiult to work the land. Getting those root balls out is going to be your biggest challenge.

The easy solution is to hire it out, but that will also cost you the most money.

Do you have a box blade with adjustable teeth? I would try draging those teeth through the ground and see if you can loosen up the soil. It might only work with a couple of them all the way down, or just one.

There's no point using a disk until you get rid of those stumps. I've had issues with one inch stumps and the disk jumping over it. If you leave just one in there, you will know it as soon as you start disking the soil.

Eddie

 

[6sunset6]

What is the difference between disking and rototilling?

 

[Tororider]

Eddie,
Yeah, I had tried to convince my dad we needed a backhoe, which would have made getting them out much easier, but the one we were looking at on Ebay got to rich for him. I think I am going to try and get it cleared out as much as possible this year, create some shooting lanes and then in the spring clean it all the way up, hopefully by that time the stumps and roots have rotted a bit.

 

[Tororider]

Here are a couple pictures. Midway through the process, still trying to find a backhoe attachment as I think this is the only way to get the process expediated.

 

[Tororider]

Another try. Also a pic with the tractor and the Wallenstein.

 

[MikeD74T]

Tororider, I'm working with 3 others to create food plots on 1100 acres for bow hunting. Land is logged with raspberry brush, new growth hardwoods, & ROCKS.
The landowner doesn't believe in posting his land so the roads get a lot of hunter foot traffic. I don't hunt but have permission for ATV use in exchange for my efforts. We're creating strip plots 10'x100' in rays from good tree stand locations, 3 to 5 per stand. The theory is in heavily hunted areas the brush between the rays gives deer cover to just step out of sight as other hunters pass & makes them less spooky. Haven't witnessed this yet.
The strips are easy to build with a bucket w/toothbar as we just root stuff loose & toss to the sides. We work around the difficult stumps & large rocks. Maintenance is mowing a couple of times each year, lime & fertilizer, and keeping hanging brush back. Planting with deer mixes. We try to leave some brush or let it grow back to where the strips are visable from the stands but not obvious from the road. Last season the landowner struck out, mostly for lack of participation, but the other 2 took a 180 lb 8 pointer & a 230 point 12 pointer. MikeD74T

 

[Tororider]

Mike,
That sounds like a great idea. We only have just under 20 acres and it is all private land around us, the guy closest to where we are putting this food plot doesn't hunt so we really don't have to worry about other hunters, but I can think of another place where that tactic would work perfectly for me next year around another stand.

I actually think that we are going to get a box blade with scarifiers and should be able to get most of the roots from the smaller trees out and we will just work around the big ones. Possibly take a sawzall and cut a circle around the stumps and then use the tractor with a chain to pull them out, unless I can convince my dad soon to buy a backhoe for it.

I think if we can get that done, we should have it prepared enough for seed and hopefully can be sucessful this fall. I saw an 8 point last fall that I didn't hear anyone shot so I am hoping he is bigger this year and can get him during bow season. I will try to post a picture of him.

Let me know if you all have any more ideas.

 

[MikeD74T]

Tororider, In New Hampshire all private land is open to hunting, fishing, non-motorized travel by statue unless prohibited by the landowner. There are other statutes that regulate safe distances from dwellings, livestock, etc that must be maintained when shooting. Written permission is required for fixed trees stands but not for climbing stands. This landowner has spent a lifetime hunting, fishing, & trapping on others' lands so wishes to give something back now that he can afford his own land. In order to benefit from our efforts without giving everything away the plots locations are kept as secret as we can. Keeping them small also cuts maintenance effort and cost. I like being in the woods & working my tractor, to do both at the same time is a great day.
MikeD74T

 

[Tororider]

Mike,
In Michigan it would be trespassing if you hunted on private property without permission I believe, marked or not. I think it is awesome that the guy you are working with wants to give back now that he has the means to do so.

Found a 6.5' disc on craigslist last night, Dad went to pick it up south of Toledo this evening, so now we have that ready if we can get the area ready.

Also going to look at a used boxblade later this week, which I think will work to tear out most of the roots from the smaller trees we pulled out.

Going to try and get the larger stumps popped out, will be interested to see how it goes as the soil is pretty loose. I know it would be easier if we had a tooth bar on the FEL but haven't gotten one yet. Any suggestions on where to get a good one would be greatly appreciated.

Hope to get it more cleared later this week if I can find time. Hope to have pictures if we can get this close. Still holding out hope that we can have this planted before hunting season and maybe have some growth before at least gun season which is Nov 1st. I think Bow season and Oct. 1st is a total loss.

 

[MikeD74T]

I know it would be easier if we had a tooth bar on the FEL but haven't gotten one yet. Any suggestions on where to get a good one would be greatly appreciated.

Markham Welding - Home I got mine from Markham Welding & highly recommend them. My Kioti dealer, one of the 2 hunters, sold Woods tooth bars which I didn't know at the time but for much more money than Markam. He's since switched to Markham. I did have to grind mine slightly to get the end teeth to fit the cutting edge properly. MikeD74T

 

[Tororider]

Got a chance to get out to the property for a bit this afternoon. Was able to make some real headway. Getting closer to having all the trees down. You can actually see the water a bit now. Once I get the rest of the trees already cut down chipped, I can bring in a string trimmer to cut down the grass. Should actually look pretty nice once we get it done. Next year we will have to bring in an excavator to clean out the pond a bit.

Here are some pictures.

The last picture is of the new toy we picked up to work on this plot. A 6.5' king kutter we picked up for $250.

 

[kbiddle]

Tororider,
I will throw out another ideal taht may have you able to hunt i yet this year... There are several no till products out that that will germinate with minimal to no working required... I had similar issues as you here in Souther Indiana when I first bought my place... So the quick remedy was no till... worked great for the first year... And then went with the full plan the following spring...
Just another ideal...and I remember one thing that my DNR Biologist told me that never has rang so true... Is when doing improvments like this... patience is the most important Ingredient...
Good luck.. and keep us posted