I’m betting if I come back in 5 years you’re still a dumbass.

We'll....I may be....but I'll be a dumbass who doesn't have sicklepod problems.....

Sicklepod is the least of your problems.

I've found, you either have sicklepod or not. Spraying is not the issue. I waited too late to spray the first time. I do the same in all my fields, but only have it in one. It's always been an issue about every 5 years.

If I came back in five years the Sicklepod would be replaced by pine and sweetgum trees.Neither which feed deer.

You'd be surprised how well a pine thicket can feed deer.

We would definitely have nothing but sweetgum if we didn't touch our fields for 5 years.

Why yes, Captain Obvious, a pine thicket does feed deer.Just not nearly as efficiently as a field of fertilized Soybeans.I have about a 160 acres of planted pines for them to scavenge in should they choose and they would do just fine since the pines are thinnned and burned. My summer plots are there to attract them to the area and give the does and their fawns a positive edge on nutritition and cover.I have no illusions that what I plant is providing the majority of their food, its just icing on the cake.Plus I just like growing things, got that from my Grandfather who truck farmed this place in my youth.

Yep, woody species would eventually take hold with sweetgum being one of the first ones to arrive on the scene......but it would go through a progression to get to that point. It would start out with your pioneer understory plants and then transition to the ones that are more favorable to wildlife.....things like pokewwed, ragweed, dewberry, etc.....It's the change in soil conditions that triggers the more favorable plants to germinate and grow. It's also the change to a more fungally dominated soil that brings on the woody species. The key to good fertile vegetative growth is to continue to allow the soil to progress but reset the succession of the vegetation without destroying the soil in the process and reverting it back to the pioneer plants

I love it when my neighbors plant soybeans and keep the feeders full all summer.
I'll put up a ladder stand on the property line and take advantage of their expense and hard work. 👍
They lease the land and live out of state. I live here and hunt 7 days a week. It works out perfectly.

The whole point here being.......if you want to quit fighting pioneer "weed" species......then quit reverting your soil back to pioneer conditions

Hell, I would not expect anything less from ya Out Back.Although in all fairness I actually plan on sitting the line next year because I have a couple of places that are looking just to good to pass up. The difference between me and the neighbor is I wont actually be able to see deer on his property, but hell if ya can't beat em, join em.

You should feel free to enjoy every square inch of your property.
Whether you own it or lease it. Every square inch is available for your use and enjoyment. 👍

Actually the whole point is there’s multiple ways to do things. What works for one person might not work for others and visa versa

Sure... there are lots of different ways to do things.... I'm simply explaining how soil functions.....everyone is free to take it or leave it.....and certainly free to choose their own methods.

I must have missed a few responses. I didn’t notice this one or Blum’s…

The point of that was not about sweetgum and pine feeding deer…..it was to illustrate how nature would get rid of the sicklepod permanently without you doing anything at all. Yet our “solution” of spraying only eliminates it temporarily and then we have to deal with it or another pioneer specie again. It’s something in the natural progression of the soil conditions that eliminates the sicklepod. You can still grow beneficial plants for the deer but the soil conditions need to progress out of the pioneer stage or nature will just continue to put out those types of plants…..Its natures attempt to repair the soil.

Blum……I think there are unintended consequences of spraying chemicals that we don’t have a full understanding of yet. The soil food web is a big chain with all the links tied together. You start eliminating some of the links and other links fall as well. There’s a very good chapter in the One Straw Revolution that describes a series of events just like this. We may not be aware of what its effecting but I would just about guarantee that chemicals impact some form of microbes, etc…

Dang all the way in deer management thread..

I got pig weed I k ow what caused it and know what I use to kill it:.. don’t know bout the sickle pod though..
Come get a bale of hay from me that had been fertilized with my chicken litter, feed it to some cows, take the cows off of it when they eat it all and you can have
my pig weed and little yellow flowers in the spring

CNC says you can borrow puff the magic dragon.

I'm not saying this is or isn't your situation.....I'm just commenting on traditional pasture management in general. Many of the problems folks see on cattle pasture land arise from very similar issues. Its because of soil conditions but the difference being that the problematic soil conditions have usually been caused from over grazing. When grasses are over grazed then they're root systems become more and more shallow. Problems insue like poor soil structure and poor areaation, compaction.....many of the pasture weeds that folks deal with as a result are pioneer species that are designed to alleviate the soil of these issues. It's nature's fix.....Many of these plants are seen as the nastiest of the nasties because they have to be in order for them to thrive in the poor conditions they are trying to grow in. Nature is designed this way so that the earth will be replenished with vegetation no matter what happens. It will progress from pioneer to climax conditions if allowed to do so or if the same priciples are implemented. It's only our management practices that keep it in the degredaded pioneer conditions

The peanut gallery.suits you well.