So down the mountain slope from the cabin, we cut quite a few trees a few years ago. Some of them cut a little over a year ago are still salvageable for firewood, others cut several years ago aren't. I want to just clean up a fairly large part of the forest below the cabin, all the fallen trees, etc...

To that end there is a forest mulcher guy, Heath, who has been doing a bunch of work for some folks over on the canyon side, came by the cabin the other day and took a look at what I have. He's going to help me get the wood we can salvage up the mountain with his grapple in 8' pieces so I can cut and split it. It will take him less time to do that than it will to grind it up with the mulcher. And then he is going to basically clean up the forest and the jumble of downed trees. Most of the smaller trees and saplings he is going to take down and only leave the trees I want.

I have looked at a bunch of his work and I really like the results so I am encouraged. He charges $1600 a day, and he thinks he can get what I want done in a day. So I'm optimistic after meeting with him.

My question for you guys is: What should I plant or should I plant anything?

According to him he can get at most of the area with his tracked mulcher, but I don't feel comfortable getting to most of it with my Yanmar tractor, so what ever I decide to plant I'll have to do it with a walk behind spreader and I certainly won't want to cut it in the future.

Ideally whatever I plant would be the following:

1. Perennial.
2. No maintenance.
3. Attractive to deer.
4. A good ground over.

I'm honestly a Newb when it comes to this sort of thing... Am I asking too much?

Kudzu

Definitely no English Ivy either.

Fescue. Just not very attractive to deer.

Might throw a couple fruit trees in there too

Never Bamboo I'm interested to what you decide to plant.

Clover would meet all your criteria. I’d plant it with wheat as a nurse crop. Durana has done well for me but many others are good too.

Dwarf chinkapin oak, only grows about 10ft tall.

That was my first choice. It's cheap and well... It's cheap.

Native grasses such as switchgrass, Indian, big and little bluestem, and gamma grass once covered much of North America.

Shrubs: Allegheny chinquapin, plum, native honeysuckles, raspberry, blackberry, American beautyberry, strawberry bush, and gray or red osier dogwood.

You'll need to spray it before you try to plant anything, or you'll be looking at a jungle again.

Mix in some white and red clover with whatever you plant.......

I hear Privet is really lovely in the Springtime.

Whatever you plant, you'll have some good mulch anyways. I would think that your no maintenance plan will have to include mowing it or else you are going to end up with an impenetrable thicket of briars and other such plants.

Definitely kudzu and bamboo

Add privet for the trifecta

Yeah, this definitely. Might have to go through a couple rounds of spraying to kill off whatever is in the seed bed so 8 zillion briar bushes and sweet gum trees don’t completely choke whatever you go to the trouble to plant.

This is why I love this forum. Everyone is so helpful.

I guess once it gets mulched, I'll see what I can possibly get to with my tractor and brush hog.

I may plant some dwarf type trees. Possibly even fruit trees. Mrs. Irish suggested a vineyard.

Any tree would have to be dwarf, or else it would defeat the purpose of cutting the trees in the first place... To open up the view.

Throw in a few mimosa trees for the pretty flowers.

I would go with clover if you can get a good stand up. I would think you would need to plant something pretty thick or else itll look like a 5yo cutover in 5yrs. I would think alot of what hes mulching will put back out from the roots or stumps. Thats the problem youre facing. If left alone it will go back to what it is now. I would go with something tall and thick.

How big of an area is this?