Tuna now and pike when?

It went real well. We got 2 tuna, 5 AJ, and a 70-pound wahoo.

Pike in June. Now that I have enetered my 40s, I need to take advantage of some of the opportunities to enjoy the outdoors that have deprived myself of.

What kind of programs are out there these days to encourage landowners to plant longleaf? At one time I was hearing about a program that made payments for so many years. Lately I have heard only about cost share programs. What all is out there?

I am talking about a small tract. Greater than 10 acres but less than 20 of open land. It was under cultivation years ago but for at least 10 years has been only mowed once or twice a year.

I mainly just want to watch them grow and end up with some nice longleaf habitat long term. Timber production as a seconday consideration.

Lots of programs out there
http://www.forestry.state.al.us/CostSharePrograms.aspx?bv=2&s=2
The annual payment program you are referencing is CRP and is still in effect for cultivated fields. They are spending a TON of your $$ on longleaf restoration (as well as other give-away programs). However, if they are giving it away, we try to get our folks to get some

jlcoffee, I can hook you up. Send me an e-mail at mbrock@nwtf.net

What are some good native shrubs to plant for quail covey headquarters?

This winter I planted two rows of Chickasaw Plums and Crabapple trees,about 2,000 lineal feet, around a pasture to provide overhead cover and feeding area. This is bordered by a 60' wide strip of native grasses that gets 1/3 disced every year.

I use plums, wax myrtle and lespedeza but they won't do any good without abundant broomstraw habitat!

Just MHO, but if you disk 1/3 of a native grass patch each year, you will turn it into a weed patch with no grass.

Sorry, I was unclear. It is not native grass I planted just the natural stuff that comes up in vacant land, broomsedge,etc. I hope to convert it into the real stuff at some point but the real estate bidness has got to get a little better first.

Back to the chufa discussion earlier on this thread - I found this on the NWTF site:

http://www.nwtf.org/online_chats/online_chat_7-1-10.html

>>>Q: In Washington, we need more solid evidence to prove to the government that chufa nutsedge is different than yellow nutsedge. They are different subspecies, but they get lumped into the same category out here. With the info I have above, I'd like to know the scientific name or variety of chufa. In Washington and other states Cyperus esculentus eptostachyus is an introduced yellow nutsedge and in the South Cyperus esculentus macrostachyus is a native variety. Is chufa a cultivated genotype of the native or the non-native? I want to plant chufa for wild turkeys but I hit roadblocks with agencies that consider chufa a noxious weed.
— Eric Braaten, Electric City, Wash.
A: There are a number of references in scientific literature and on the Internet to yellow nutsedge and its relationship to chufa. Both are the same species but they are very different variants. Generally, most authorities agree that the weedy, invasive type (yellow nutsedge) is Cyperus esculentus var. esculentus, and the cultivated, non-invasive variety (chufa) is Cyperus esculentus var. sativus.

Research by Dr. Andrew Dyer at the University of South Carolina (Aiken branch) has shown that the two variants are quite different in physiology and reproductive capability. Nutsedge produces a widespread network of tubers and roots and chufa produces a compact ball of tubers directly under the center of the leaves. Nutsedge flowers early in the summer, and chufa, if it flowers at all, does so in late summer or early fall. This means the likelihood of hybridization is near zero.

Dyer has suggested that the two variants are so different that they may deserve distinct species status. Nutsedge is also invasive, spreading quickly if introduced. Chufa will not spread from a planting site, and in fact, since it does not compete well with other vegetation, will quickly die out if not maintained.<<<

Maybe this is the reason that I'm killing chufas with herbicides that have no effect on yellow nutsedge.

I also found this on another page:

http://www.nwtf.org/online_chats/online_chat_7-9-09.html

>>>Q: I've planted my chufa and it appears to be coming up well, but a lot of grass and some broadleaf weeds are coming up with the chufa. Should I be worried about this and what can I do about it?
A: You definitely don't want weed competition in your chufa plot if you can help it. For grass competition, use 1.5 to 2 pints of Poast herbicide per acre (see the herbicide label for non-cropland use) along with one quart per 100 gallons of solution of crop oil concentrate as a surfactant. Surfactants are wetting agents that lower the surface tension of a liquid to allow easier spreading and lower the interfacial tension between two liquids. If you also have broadleaf weeds such as coffee weed and pigweed, use 1.5 pints per acre of 2,4-DB (also called Butyrac 175), but do not use 2,4-D because it may kill the chufa. You may use this mixture alone or in a tank mixed with the Poast. In either case, use the same rate of crop oil concentrate as recommended for the Poast mixture.<<<

Notice that he specified NOT to use 2,4-D because it can kill the chufa, which is exactly what I've experienced. And yet a recent article in the NWTF magazine recommended a quart of 2,4-D per acre. Sure wish 007 could get a big grant to figure all this out.

Thank you, sirs.

How many ounces of Post per gallon of water and also how many gallons of wayer per acre ?

This is for Clover fields ...sorry about that .

If my memory is correct we sprayed ~12 oz. to the acre at a rate of ~25 gal of water to the acre.

Blessed,
You will need to check your sprayer to see how much mix you are applying on an acre. If you need some help with this let me know.

If I assume 15 gal/A, which is a common rate for ag practices, then at 2 pints/acre (946.25ml/A), you would need to put this into 15 gallons, or, 63 ml/gal. That equates to approximately 2 ounces/gal.

The beauty of "broomsedge, etc" that comes up in vacant land, is it is free and forms the base of good quail habitat. You can buy it for $50+ per pound and plant it but you can promote it for free!

We own 200 acres that is split by a dirt road easement. One half has a large drainage running the length of it with various fingers and smaller drainages running into it. This half also has a large plateau on the north side of the drainage. The other half is mostly a flat plateau except for two large bottoms. The plateaus and some fingers (approximately half of our acreage) were clear cut 20-25 years ago. The clear cuts regenerated in mostly pine and scattered smaller hardwoods. The drainages and bottoms contain mostly large mature hard mast producing trees. After owning it for 20 years we are thinking about cutting the plateaus and maybe a few fingers and replanting in pines to possibly create some revenue in the future. All the land that we are thinking of planting is high ground and should be dry enough to log in the winter. All the land around us is planted in pines and has no hard mast producing trees. So our drainage and bottoms attract a lot of game through out the year. We also have 5 food plots and also plant a power line that cuts through our property. After cutting I plan on adding one or two food plots and roads/fire breaks to completely surround the plateaus so we can burn in the future if we want to.

Does anybody have any suggestions or critiques on my plans?

Are there any programs that would help pay to replant?

Should any thing be done to the bottoms to help increase wildlife value? (possibly going in and select cutting low wildlife value trees)

Never having seen it nor knowing where you are, hard to critique. Plan sounds good without knowing details. There are tree planting cost-share programs for shortleaf pine (north AL) and longleaf (south/east AL) as well as a "low density" loblolly program that assist with paying for replanting. If it is loggable in winter, you should be able to get fair prices for it. PM me if you want my number - it is what we do.