Originally Posted by CatHeadBiscuit
Just acquired permission this past December but saw a good amount of leaves and it's in the middle of hardwoods. Just walked it today for first time since end of jan. Very thin stands of rye grass in amongst the rocky soil. Too rocky for sod bustin'. Gonna dig soil tests next weekend and look to amend into the early fall then mow and throw. Have transplanted some Honeysuckle cuttings to peat pots and plan to try and create screens with them around the edges and along trails in a month. very interested in using native type perennials as much as possible.


Leaves certainly won’t be a bad thing for the soil but you may have issues with them smothering out your small seedlings when they start heavily falling on a small plot like that. I think your best way to combat that, other than just eliminating the leaves with a blower, would be to get the cereal grains up and growing as fast as possible before the leaves fall. It may be a good idea to plant a little earlier than you normally would to allow more time to get some growth on the cereal grains. I don’t plant until the end of Sept or first of October but you might consider going ahead and planting early in September if weather permits. It’s just an idea. Also, make sure not to skimp on the nitrogen. Push the grain growth as much as you can before leaf fall occurs. At some point those leaves are likely going to tie up some N as they begin to decompose.

Take some pics as you go along. I’d love to see how some of these plots progress as y’all use these techniques.

Last edited by CNC; 05/16/16 02:21 AM.
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