Just further explaining the general concept I’m talking about……..Think about this question……If we were to cut down a pine stand tomorrow down to a clean clearcut……….what’s gonna happen to that piece of ground over the next 100 years? Take me through that process like we were looking at it in 10 years….again in 20 years …..then 50 years……and so forth….What will take place?......

It’ll start out as the early successional species with forbs, legumes, and grasses sprouting from the seed bank……..In 5-10 years you’ll start to see the stand transition into sweetgum saplings, thick briars…that type of “trash” stand as most people would refer to it…….Eventually in 20-50 years those sweetgums would start to die out though and give way to oaks that have been sitting in waiting and the forest would end up being a climax community of likely oak, beech, hickory….specific species will depend on geographic location.

Now that’s a brief, brief explanation of the process and I'm sure my years are a little off but the bigger point I’m trying to make is how that there’s a progression happening and a step by step order of things……And so is there in our food plots……...there’s a step by step order occurring….but its not quite the exact same as the clear cut though because in most situations we’ve basically taken the soil and broke it down with tillage to nothing but dirt. We’re actually working through a process of soil rebuilding……Nature still has a progressive process just the same and species for accomplishing certain tasks. N2Turkey keep talking about replacing them with “better” species but why do we assume that we know a better species than nature? If we put that “weed” side by side with the plant that n2turkey wants to replace them with….Which one is likely gonna out compete the other one? Which one is likely gonna make it through a drought?....etc..etc.....Which one is better for rebuilding soil? Your way or God's way? Now that may sound WAAAY deep for some of you.....but isn't that what nature's way really boils down to....isn't it God's design? Just something to ponder over......

I see dog fennel as just another step in the line of progressing……Progressing to richer and more productive soil. I’ll always tweak things to keep it in early successional growth and not allow it to progress to a forest…..But I still will seek to reach some kind of a climax soil condition. I know I’m not there yet but I think the new addition of all of this long term, high C:N biomass is gonna take it to the next level. I’ve seen what happens when you grow blackberries in the same spot year after year and mow that biomass down. The soil gets a whole nuther kind of rich in that spot. That’s what I’m going for across the whole field…