Reclaiming a long-lost field

[Garandman]

I'm interested in doing the same thing to what I'm told was once a potato field. There are a fair number of 30yo trees now - still thinking about how to get stumps out, but I've been thinning the small stuff. We've only had the place a month.

This is what we have now.

 

[dave1949]

I'm interested in doing the same thing to what I'm told was once a potato field. There are a fair number of 30yo trees now - still thinking about how to get stumps out, but I've been thinning the small stuff. We've only had the place a month.

<snip>

Neat! An old potato field should be reasonably rock free with some soil depth except for whatever rocks have migrated up over the years.

If you pull out the little 1"-2" trees (before cutting them off) with a chain hooked to your drawbar, you can easily get rid of those sapling roots as you clear. For larger saplings one way is to push on the tree about 5' up with your FEL bucket until the roots on the tractor side start coming out of the ground. Then back up and get the FEL bucket under those roots and push the tree the rest of the way out.

The larger stumps cut low can be bush hogged over until you have enough to make it worthwhile to rent or hire a machine to dig them out. Meanwhile they will be rotting and softening up some too.

 

[dave1949]

Good Morning Dave,
Yes we really are enjoying it !

One thing we found out was that we really needed to put a door in to close off the up stairs bedroom with the wood stove going ! It got unbelievably warm up there without one ! So last weekend I used what V groove pine I still had laying around and built a simple door.

That soapstone stove really heats that addition quite well, actually that stove can pretty well heat the whole house ! Its very easy to fall asleep sitting next to that thing !

To keep this post legal, I am going to be very interested in how your project turns out next spring and summer !

BTW thanks for asking !

Sounds awesome Scotty. Must be a good stove.

You could run an insulated duct or large PVC pipe from the upstairs addition to some other part of the house. Put an in-line fan with an adjustable thermostat in the duct and you would have a heat register at the far end.

 

[Garandman]

I bought a PullerBear to try, and the ratchet rake will often pull out the small ones.

 

[dave1949]

Just bumping this thread so I can find it when I get back to work. The field still has a foot of snow cover on average now. It will be interesting to see if the grass I seeded in a few places made it through the winter. It didn't have much time for root development before it got cold and buried in snow.

 

[cat fever]

Dave,
I have read this whole thread. What you have tackled is amazing. I'm sure the results when the snow melts will be great. I sure am jealous of all the trees that you and many others post here on TBN. As you can see from my avatar, trees are in short supply in my neck of the woods. I have planted several, but the gopher's or loose cow's always seem to get the best of them.
Good luck, I will be checking back.

 

[dave1949]

Dave,
I have read this whole thread. What you have tackled is amazing. I'm sure the results when the snow melts will be great. I sure am jealous of all the trees that you and many others post here on TBN. As you can see from my avatar, trees are in short supply in my neck of the woods. I have planted several, but the gopher's or loose cow's always seem to get the best of them.
Good luck, I will be checking back.

Thanks for the encouragement.

100% tree cover is the natural state of things here. The trees are a blessing and a curse. Anytime a project gets started around the rural Northeast the first thing is getting the danged trees and stumps out of the way. Plenty of firewood.

 

[cat fever]

Dave,
It's almost May. I'm dying to see some pictures!

 

[dave1949]

Dave,
It's almost May. I'm dying to see some pictures!

I'll take a few but not much has changed since last October's pics. We still had some snow cover up until a week and a half ago. Waiting on some warmth now.

 

[dave1949]

Anyone have experience or opinion about simple soil testing kits?

There are these simple pH meters:
Amazon.com : Luster Leaf 1840 Rapitest Soil pH Meter : Soil Testers : Patio, Lawn & Garden

And color strip types:
Amazon.com: Luster Leaf 1601 Rapitest Soil Test Kit: Patio, Lawn & Garden

At this point I am mostly interested in working on my pH levels, not fine tuning the soil for any particular crop. Are these simple and inexpensive methods accurate enough to be usable?

Thanks.