Doc Posted April 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding We just got a great soaking rain just at the right time and that stuff is growing like crazy. I finally got a real good, first hand look at the quality of the soil out there. It looked real bad from the surface, but yesterday I planted about a dozen fruit trees and had a chance to try digging in that crap. I'll tell you one thing, there is so much clay in that dirt, you could make pottery out of it. That really is not much of an exaggeration. I never saw dirt that was so darn sticky, slimey and gooey. In fact it was so bad that I had to go and buy topsoil to use in the tree-holes. Fortunately only two of the trees actually wound up where the pond was, so the rest of the trees were back on the area that was undisturbed by all the bulldozer work and still has its original structure with a good layer of topsoil. Can you imagine that? .... I actually went to the store and bought dirt ..... lol. This pond project has been nothing but a hassle. It was good that the pond guy had the guarantee of filling in the pond for free if it failed, but I'll tell you one thing. That field will never be the same as far as growing things. I guess that's just a warning to be darn sure about the odds of a pond actually working before you give the go-ahead to start digging. You sure can ruin an awful lot of land if it doesn't work out. I'm going to put some welded wire fencing around the trees to protect them until they get tall enough so the deer can't reach the buds, but I'll just bet that when some of those apples start dropping, the deer are just going to love hanging around that area. Between that and a nice green-field, all with a solid wall of spruce trees surrounding the whole area for cover and seclusion, and water in the swampier areas of the thicket nearby, It shouldn't be too long and the deer will think they've died and gone to heaven....lol. I'm already picking out a few spots for ground-blinds. What a great spot. It's completely isolated but only a 5 or 10 minute walk from the house. A couple of years and it should be just perfect. By the way, does anybody know if the deer will eat other fruits like apricots, peaches and cherries? I put in some of those too. If those trees start to bear heavy, I'm sure there will enough for us and whatever wild critters that want to eat the "drops". Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdoc Posted April 25, 2006 Report Share Posted April 25, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding [ QUOTE ] By the way, does anybody know if the deer will eat other fruits like apricots, peaches and cherries? [/ QUOTE ] you bet--like ice cream to a baby (or to me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] By the way, does anybody know if the deer will eat other fruits like apricots, peaches and cherries? [/ QUOTE ] you bet--like ice cream to a baby (or to me) [/ QUOTE ] Yep, not much a deer wont eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted April 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding You know, those fruit trees are going to make great yardage markers .... lol. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LETMGROW Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding Doc, with luck like your's you ought to be playing the lottery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted April 27, 2006 Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding [ QUOTE ] You know, those fruit trees are going to make great yardage markers .... lol. Doc [/ QUOTE ] Fruit trees are a lot of work if you want them to bear fruit properly, but yeah, the deer love them. I have my apple trees not 10 yards from the house and they occasionally get brave enough to come up and nip new shoots and pick the odd apple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted April 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding Lol .... Actually, I was only kidding about the trees being mere yardage markers. The yields from these trees is primarily for our own use, and I'm pretty serious about getting a yield off of them. The first thing I did after planting them was to put up a welded wire barrier around each tree. They are going to have to get pretty darn athletic to get at those buds. However, as the trees mature, the deer are welcome to any fruit that drops on the ground outside of the wire cages. Yes, I have had some pretty ugly experiences with deer vs. fruit trees. I didn't realize just what wonderful rubbing trees the fruit trees apparently make. In fact I had one apricot tree that not only got rubbed on, but the dirty critter twisted the trunk right in two and left the other half laying there on the ground. I have also had a constant running battle with them guys over the thousands of spruce trees that I planted. Of course there's no way that I could put fence guards around all of them, so my spruce trees get an annual pruning by the deer. However, the spruce trees won out (30' - 40' high now) over the years and are now a very thick bedding area surrounding this field that I just got done planting Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted May 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding Ok, it's official. I am declaring success! After 20+ days of no rain and that crappy clay/gravel mixture baking under the sun, we finally are getting lots of rain. And my new planting loves it. Also, the fruit trees are all starting to leaf out and showing signs of survival. .......... Lookin good! Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted May 16, 2006 Report Share Posted May 16, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding Thats cool Doc. Good to hear it worked out well for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QDMAworks4me Posted May 16, 2006 Report Share Posted May 16, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding [ QUOTE ] Ok, it's official. I am declaring success! After 20+ days of no rain and that crappy clay/gravel mixture baking under the sun, we finally are getting lots of rain. And my new planting loves it. Also, the fruit trees are all starting to leaf out and showing signs of survival. .......... Lookin good! Doc [/ QUOTE ] Thats great glad to hear it. Now lets just hope that there is not a real dry summer so it will continue to grow. QDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted May 16, 2006 Report Share Posted May 16, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding Good deal. Time to start spraying. If the blossoms are done, spray some Sevin now so the curculios don't get the fruits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted May 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding No blossoms this year. I'm just happy to see leaves....lol. If we get a real bad drought this year and I lose all that new stuff, I'm probably going to be pretty darn grumpy for a while. I've got quite a few dollars wrapped up in that field and those trees. It's a pretty "hard-luck" area I couldn't even get a pond to work there.....lol. If you count the cost of the failed pond, I have thousands of dollars invested in that chunk of ground. I'm afraid if the new plantings don't work out, I will just let the whole thing grow up into brush. This is that field's last chance. On the other hand, if everything turns out, it is going to be a bowhunter's paradise. Also, when really get old and bent and twisted, and not quite so mobile, I really won't have to go too far from the house to do my hunting...lol. Doc Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTbowman Posted May 17, 2006 Report Share Posted May 17, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding Doc, I know nothing about the frost seeding. Just a small note on that clay you spoke of. When I had my pond dug out they mounted the clay off to one side and lfatten it out for me to give me some more front lawn area in the side field. It was a huge mess in the spring but like concrete in the summer like you spoke of. One spring I got sick of getting the 15# per boot syndrome so I spread regular field hay over it just to be able to walk on it. (This clay mount happen to be where I relocated my shed and needed access to it.) Low and behold the clay took the hay and now its thick clover and grass. Appearently the hay had plenty of seed in it I was not aware of. Just letting you know you can get clover and grass to grow on solid clay when its wet long enough. Like now in the spring time... Just an FYI... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted May 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding Years ago (1965) we opened up a family archery business, a 28 target public NFAA field course. On a lot of the shooting lanes, we spread hay just to keep down the mud from the foot traffic. Guess what..... it wasn't long before we had a new maintainance activity added to the list, that involved mowing. This was right in the middle of the woods and one of the last places you would expect anything to grow. So, if the grass should happen to die out, perhaps that will be a good thing to try. Thanks for the suggestion. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Re: Frost Seeding Believe it or not most often hay does contain quite a bit of seed. We usually cut our clover for hay after it has started to flower, but before the flowers turn. That seed is then spread all over the fields as we feed, kind of redistributed if you will. I have clovers from my plots growing where I never planted it. Never tried it myself, but have heard of people using bermuda hay with fairly good results to grow yards by lightly discing it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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