BROKEN OAK HILL(R) Dispatches from the heart of Wisconsin Woodland News and Notes
Above: Visitors at the Tree Farm Field Day listen to one of the discussion leaders at the Arington Tree Farm. The 400-acre farm, owned by Joe Arington, was honored as the 2009 Wisconsin Tree Farm of the Year.
Smokey Bear was on hand to greet visitors and to help with the session on using fire as a management tool.
Smokey Bear was on hand to greet visitors and to help with the session on using fire as a management tool.
Tree Farm field day a winner
Presentations add to tree farmers' tool box
With the way it has rained this season, who could have guessed that the 2010 Tree Farm Field Day at the Arington Tree Farm near Cambridge would come with bright blue skies and occasionally brisk winds?
After a welcome coffee, conversation and lots of doughnuts in the Husker Barn - always a good time to pick up information and ideas - the sessions got underway.
Each visitor was assigned to a group and got to visit each of the presentations: Chemical control of invasives; preventing deer damage; direct seeding vs. planting seedlings; and fire as a vegetation management tool. After lunch their was a presentation on lyme disease. Here are highlights of some of the sessions.
Chemical control of invasives: Garlic mustard, because of an early spring and lots of moisture, is about three weeks ahead of its usual maturation rate, and there could even be a second round of seed-bearing plants this year, according to Bernie Williams, a DNR expert and one of the presenters.
You cannot stay ahead of it the by pulling alone, and that's why the session was "Chemical Control of Invasive Species." Dave Hall, a retired forester, said he used glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, on garlic mustard on his property. He said he does five applications
to a patch of garlic mustard, starting at a 1.5% concentration but gradually increasing to 5%.
"It takes two to three seconds to spray, compared to five minutes to pull it," he said.
Besides garlic mustard's other evil characteristics, there was discussion that it chemically changes the soil and inhibits the growth of micro-organisms, and thereby inthibits almost all other forms of growth.
For controlling buckthorn, late-season cutting (August and September) was recommended, followed by treating the stump. Full-strength glyphosate is one possibility, but other chemicals are available. And if you need another reason to control buckthorn, private forester Chuck Brooks offered this one:
Buckthorn is a place for soybean aphids to winter, and the Chinese ladybugs feed on those aphids, so buckthorn provides favorable habitat for the ladybugs, which can be a major nuisance in homes and other buildings.
Williams also discussed the problem of nurseries still selling some plants that are banned for sale in Wisconsin, such as barberry bushes.
Preventing deer damage: You can try shiny mylar ribbon or flashing strobes or noise makers to scare off deer, but eventually the deer get used to them and figure out that they're not a threat. The DNR's Brad Koule said there is even an inflatable "scary man" that pops up every 15 minutes, then lies back down for a nap until it is re-inflated again. That's about $500, and again, like the other practices, "the deer become habituated to it."
Tree tubes can be useful for protection in some areas, but you need to get the 6-foot tubes. Some of the original ones sold in the United States were 4-foot tubes designed for the shorter roe deer in England, but they were not tall enough to protect trees in the U.S. from whitetail deer.
He said guard dogs have been tried and have been effective in some areas, such as cranberry bogs, for keeping deer away.
"Bangers" and "screamers" are another weapon, fired from a special gun to scare deer. But you have to be present to use them. He also discussed other methods that have varying degrees of success such as repellents, bars of soap (some feel Lifebuoy is the best, but others say Ivory is just as good and cheaper).
Koele's demonstration was given at the edge of an area of the Arington farm that has deer fence around it, and fencing still seems to be one of the most effective methods. Plastic fencing is one that is relatively inexpensive at about $2 per foot and with a useful life of about 10 to 12 years. Electric fencing can also work well, especially if you bait it with peanut butter so the deer lick it and get a jolt, although sometimes the deer learn to jump over it.
We've migrated to one of the more expensive methods discussed -- woven wire fencing. The advantage is that it has about a 30-year lifespan. It's about the only way we've found to get evergreens and red oak (and even black walnut) to a height above six feet, where they can survive the deer browsing.
We learned that red oak is a favorite summer browse of deer. It can grow in several spurts if the weather is right, and the deer love to come along and chew off the tender new growth, keeping the tree stunted.
The "final option" discussed was a real final option: shooting more deer. Deer damage permits that had traditionally been limited to traditional farmers to shoot deer in any season are beginning to be issued more in areas where deer are damaging the forest. Koele said to contact the DNR wildlife biologist in your county to apply.
"Despite what hunters say, there are lots of deer," Koele said. "I've had landowners give up on planting trees."
Presentations add to tree farmers' tool box
With the way it has rained this season, who could have guessed that the 2010 Tree Farm Field Day at the Arington Tree Farm near Cambridge would come with bright blue skies and occasionally brisk winds?
After a welcome coffee, conversation and lots of doughnuts in the Husker Barn - always a good time to pick up information and ideas - the sessions got underway.
Each visitor was assigned to a group and got to visit each of the presentations: Chemical control of invasives; preventing deer damage; direct seeding vs. planting seedlings; and fire as a vegetation management tool. After lunch their was a presentation on lyme disease. Here are highlights of some of the sessions.
Chemical control of invasives: Garlic mustard, because of an early spring and lots of moisture, is about three weeks ahead of its usual maturation rate, and there could even be a second round of seed-bearing plants this year, according to Bernie Williams, a DNR expert and one of the presenters.
You cannot stay ahead of it the by pulling alone, and that's why the session was "Chemical Control of Invasive Species." Dave Hall, a retired forester, said he used glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp, on garlic mustard on his property. He said he does five applications
to a patch of garlic mustard, starting at a 1.5% concentration but gradually increasing to 5%. "It takes two to three seconds to spray, compared to five minutes to pull it," he said.
Besides garlic mustard's other evil characteristics, there was discussion that it chemically changes the soil and inhibits the growth of micro-organisms, and thereby inthibits almost all other forms of growth.
For controlling buckthorn, late-season cutting (August and September) was recommended, followed by treating the stump. Full-strength glyphosate is one possibility, but other chemicals are available. And if you need another reason to control buckthorn, private forester Chuck Brooks offered this one:
Buckthorn is a place for soybean aphids to winter, and the Chinese ladybugs feed on those aphids, so buckthorn provides favorable habitat for the ladybugs, which can be a major nuisance in homes and other buildings.
Williams also discussed the problem of nurseries still selling some plants that are banned for sale in Wisconsin, such as barberry bushes.
Preventing deer damage: You can try shiny mylar ribbon or flashing strobes or noise makers to scare off deer, but eventually the deer get used to them and figure out that they're not a threat. The DNR's Brad Koule said there is even an inflatable "scary man" that pops up every 15 minutes, then lies back down for a nap until it is re-inflated again. That's about $500, and again, like the other practices, "the deer become habituated to it."
Tree tubes can be useful for protection in some areas, but you need to get the 6-foot tubes. Some of the original ones sold in the United States were 4-foot tubes designed for the shorter roe deer in England, but they were not tall enough to protect trees in the U.S. from whitetail deer.
He said guard dogs have been tried and have been effective in some areas, such as cranberry bogs, for keeping deer away.
"Bangers" and "screamers" are another weapon, fired from a special gun to scare deer. But you have to be present to use them. He also discussed other methods that have varying degrees of success such as repellents, bars of soap (some feel Lifebuoy is the best, but others say Ivory is just as good and cheaper).
Koele's demonstration was given at the edge of an area of the Arington farm that has deer fence around it, and fencing still seems to be one of the most effective methods. Plastic fencing is one that is relatively inexpensive at about $2 per foot and with a useful life of about 10 to 12 years. Electric fencing can also work well, especially if you bait it with peanut butter so the deer lick it and get a jolt, although sometimes the deer learn to jump over it.
We've migrated to one of the more expensive methods discussed -- woven wire fencing. The advantage is that it has about a 30-year lifespan. It's about the only way we've found to get evergreens and red oak (and even black walnut) to a height above six feet, where they can survive the deer browsing.
We learned that red oak is a favorite summer browse of deer. It can grow in several spurts if the weather is right, and the deer love to come along and chew off the tender new growth, keeping the tree stunted.
The "final option" discussed was a real final option: shooting more deer. Deer damage permits that had traditionally been limited to traditional farmers to shoot deer in any season are beginning to be issued more in areas where deer are damaging the forest. Koele said to contact the DNR wildlife biologist in your county to apply.
"Despite what hunters say, there are lots of deer," Koele said. "I've had landowners give up on planting trees."
