It has finally begun...

[schoolsout]

Back at it this weekend. Spent Saturday cutting up the smaller hardwoods that were taken down with the pines. Will use that for firewood come Fall/Winter. Rained Sat evening/night and drizzled off/on Sunday. Took buddy down to the end of the road that the loggers cut and I think we are going to try and plant for deer back there. Should be interesting with all the stumps and some soggy areas, but time will tell. Burned a bunch of trees/limbs where the small plot will be on Sunday since everything was so wet and the place is surrounded by pine trees/pine straw. Fire burned longer than expected and didn't feel comfortable leaving it until about 6pm. Long weekend....

There is a field about 2 acres or so that we are really going to start on by making some not so large piles of the gums/whatnot cut down to burn. Hoping this field won't take too long to somewhat prep for planting then it's off to the field about 8 or so acres. That should be interesting. Only trees left standing in it are a few beech, walnut (small) and larger black cherry trees.

 

[schoolsout]

Here's the beginning of the road they cut. This runs about 3-400 yards to one corner of the property. Also had them cut a road about 50 yards off of this one to a low area on the property where a pond will eventually go...hopefully.

 

[newbury]

Have you looked into Bing maps?
Here's a couple of examples:

You can get pretty good detail.

 

[schoolsout]

Have you looked into Bing maps?
Here's a couple of examples:

You can get pretty good detail.

I've done Google Earth, and it would probably work well enough, but the image is a few years old. I'd love to have one with everything that has been cut this past week or two.

The cat's meow is using my phone with Google Earth while out in the middle of the property. Helped us stay somewhat straight when marking the path for the road we wanted cut.

 

[nybirdman]

Plan on a lot of lime,those pines like high acid soils.Nice project,I have doing the same for ten years!

 

[schoolsout]

Plan on a lot of lime,those pines like high acid soils.Nice project,I have doing the same for ten years!

Yes, lime will be the key. Trying to convince my dad and buddy that this place will need lots of it. They have a hard time thinking that you need to do stuff to dirt to get plants to grow

I've been thinking about getting a subsoiler/middle buster combo type thing. I'm hoping our MF 1533 could pull between the stump rows and do a good bit of ripping of roots and whatnot, but not sure if our tractor is large enough for it. I'm sure it will get some, but I'm also some larger roots will be a problem. What do y'all think?

 

[schoolsout]

Back out there this past weekend...man, it was hot. I guess Summer is really here. 90 degrees wasn't conducive to doing everything I wanted, but we did manage to burn a smaller pile of debris left from loggers as we piled up more in a few other spots. Can't tell a whole lot was done, but the smaller field is getting there slowly...

Will the rotting limbs and leaves/pine straw add much to the soil if I let just decompose in the field? I plan on just discing over them as much as possible trying to stir it around and help break up the material. Soil is very sandy and needs organic matter (in my opinion).

 

[kebo]

Plan on a lot of lime,those pines like high acid soils.Nice project,I have doing the same for ten years!

Yep nice project! I wish I could afford to buy a sizable tract of land in the upstate part of SC. Your land looks to be pretty level, which is a really a bonus as hilly land (like we have in the upstate) is just a little more difficult to work with. It sounds like you have a good plan to work withtoo, hopefully you will have the time and money to make it all happen.


I was going to mention the same thing about soil ph. Pine trees tend to make the soil acidic, and burning off pine limbs in the small food plot is going to really get the soil ph out of wack. With soil samples and proper lime, etc. (and money lol) you should be able to get it back to a reasonable ph number. Good luck with it, and keep up with the pictures & progress reports! I will follow this one for sure. :thumbsup:

 

[foreman Etexas]

Here's the beginning of the road they cut. This runs about 3-400 yards to one corner of the property. Also had them cut a road about 50 yards off of this one to a low area on the property where a pond will eventually go...hopefully.

The place is looking good,being able to get around on the Rhino is going to be nice. Looking forward to seeing the barn:thumbsup:

 

[IronHog]

You need a rachet rake.