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.

 

[Larro Darro]

We always got ours from the County Ag office. Not sure about cost, but if it wasn't free, it wasn't far from it.

 

[Depmandog]

Dave

Larro is right. The best place is your local extension office.

The University of Maine - Cooperative Extension in Cumberland County - Need to test your soil? Here?s how.

The test kit is free and it appears they charge $15 per sample.

 

[DT86]

We always went to our fertilizer dealer, he sent the samples off to Va Tech for free. They cost a little, I'm thinking less than $10 each, to have done. He made enough off of us to make it up.

I'd contact the local bulk fertilizer dealers close by to see if they do something simular.

 

[dave1949]

Dave

Larro is right. The best place is your local extension office.

The University of Maine - Cooperative Extension in Cumberland County - Need to test your soil? Here?s how.

The test kit is free and it appears they charge $15 per sample.

Thanks. I have the Maine extension forms and sample boxes I picked up at their booth at the fair last fall. I think that would be the way to go if I had a uniform field or wanted to make a field as uniform as possible for a given crop.

At this point I would like to amend the pH as needed in different areas and use green manure/cover crops to build the soil humus level and use legumes to fix some nitrogen. So, I thought something quick and easy might work for getting a read on pH levels which probably vary quite a bit across the field. It's going to take a few seasons to build my soil into something reasonably fertile I think.

 

[Larro Darro]

Larro is right.

If you don't mind, I'll print this off, just to show Margie those words can be used together

 

[Depmandog]

If you don't mind, I'll print this off, just to show Margie those words can be used together

Here, let me help: "Larro is right in saying what a lovely wife he has."

 

[Larro Darro]

Here, let me help: "Larro is right in saying what a lovely wife he has."

Thanks, I need all the help I can get. A couple of weekends ago I was meeting Margie and some of her friends for supper when I got off work. Not only did I go to the wrong restaurant, but to the wrong town. {They were at the Altha Diner, the only place to eat in Altha after dark} Then this afternoon we were going out when she got off work. I thought she was coming to pick me up at here the Civic Center {where I work}, but she had said for us to meet at the restaurant. Maybe if I would pay more attention to our eating plans I would get into less trouble.

 

[dave1949]

I took a few update pics this morning.

The reddish-yellow is Sheep Sorrel seed stalks (AKA sour dock, dock). It rapidly colonizes disturbed ground and likes high acid soil. I have a lot of it.


The short green growth is orchard grass and timothy that I seeded last fall. It's not going anywhere without some fertilizer it seems.


That's my junk pile of roots and rocks. I left a band of open fill space around it that trees will eventually grow into to hide the junk pile.


I think that rock is permanent.


The area where I am working now. Foreground is typical before, background is after. I'm taking the time to pick it pretty clean 'cause I ain't doing it again. :laughing: I don't think I will be dragging the I-beam much anymore. The ground is setting up with not much loose dirt on top. After getting the chunky stuff off the surface I am doing some shallow, light grading with the FEL bucket, then pick up the few rocks that that brings to the surface.

 

[Garandman]

I think that rock is permanent.

I've got one of those. Doesn't look to big on the surface, but it's roughly 6'x4'x4', so 7+ tons.....

 

[cat fever]

I took a few update pics this morning.

The reddish-yellow is Sheep Sorrel seed stalks (AKA sour dock, dock). It rapidly colonizes disturbed ground and likes high acid soil. I have a lot of it.
View attachment 429210

The short green growth is orchard grass and timothy that I seeded last fall. It's not going anywhere without some fertilizer it seems.
View attachment 429211

That's my junk pile of roots and rocks. I left a band of open fill space around it that trees will eventually grow into to hide the junk pile.
View attachment 429212

I think that rock is permanent.
View attachment 429213

The area where I am working now. Foreground is typical before, background is after. I'm taking the time to pick it pretty clean 'cause I ain't doing it again. :laughing: I don't think I will be dragging the I-beam much anymore. The ground is setting up with not much loose dirt on top. After getting the chunky stuff off the surface I am doing some shallow, light grading with the FEL bucket, then pick up the few rocks that that brings to the surface.
View attachment 429214

Looks good Dave. All your work has paid off. Soon maybe you'll be doing this.