My property

[Mike]

I'd like to start improving the five acres that I purchased in the fall. If you look at the aerial, you'll see two dark spots. Those areas holds water in the spring through the summer (swampy) and then it was dry by the fall when I made the purchase. There are tons of turkey that held there in the spring when I checked the property out.
Should I:

1: Leave it alone
2: Plant water loving trees like willows
3. Plant water loving switch grass
4: Plant water loving invasive species of reed grass
5: ???

 

[Diablo54]

Two good looking pinch points! Idk ab the water tho

 

[oakswamper]

I've got a lot of spots like that on my 60 acres and I sorta like them. I couldn't get anything to grow because the leaves are a good 10" thick in the spots so I gave up lol

 

[Gordo]

Im going through the same ideas as you with my newly acquired 8 acres. Its small but im lookin forward to enjoying it.

I think the thicker/nastier the better for what im trying to do.

 

[hickslawns]

Im going through the same ideas as you with my newly acquired 8 acres. Its small but im lookin forward to enjoying it.

I think the thicker/nastier the better for what im trying to do.

Same size as my property Gordo. I think each property is very different when you are talking about these smaller parcels. I just wish i had something to offer Mike on advice. I like where Mike is thinking and it would incorporate your idea of thicker/nastier. We have some grasses which grow in wet areas on one property I hunt. Wish I knew what they were and what they are called.

 

[Milo]

Swamp white oaks or i think there is obe called a water oak

 

[Gordo]

I dont think you can go wrong by droppin trees and openin up the canopy(at least for deer).

Letting that under growth explode will create that thick/nasty shit that ya cant walk through, but has the potential to hold those mature deer.

If i had to do something tomorrow to make my parcel better, id go drop just about every tree in there unless it was an oak.

I got a good start because someone did that to my land probably about 5 years ago.

 

[Mike]

I'll take some pictures when I go out there today.

 

[Mike]

Swamp white oaks or i think there is obe called a water oak

Good call Milo. With all of the looking around I've done, I never say this species.
https://ohiodnr.com/forestry/trees/oak_wh_swamp/tabid/5402/Default.aspx

 

[oakswamper]

Swamp white oaks or i think there is obe called a water oak

for a second I thought you were talking about me lol

 

[hickslawns]

for a second I thought you were talking about me lol

Now that would be bad. "Plant oakswamper's ass out there." hahahah Who did you irritate oakswamper?

 

[Mike]

I didn't take any pics. Nice deer runs though. The boys had fun playing on the ice and shooting the .22

 

[jagermeister]

I think planting swamp white oaks and clearing some of the canopy would be a good start. Those SWO's produce gigantic acorns and the deer love them.

I think you're going to have a difficult time getting grasses to grow in there. It's just saturated at all the wrong times. You'll notice in the pics that virtually all of the vegetation around those holes is woody vegetation... very little wetland plants. That's because the grassy-type wetland plants need bare soil in the spring to germinate. Your millets, smartweeds, and reed grasses aren't going to take off if they're covered with water. If there were a way to let some water out of there, I'd definitely plant some reed grasses and millet. Thicken it up with grass cover... Then create a few small "islands" of high ground in the middle, just big enough for deer to lay on. Big bucks love bedding on islands surrounded by grassy swamp.

 

[hickslawns]

There is a train of thought I hadn't considered. Great ideas Jim!

Check the flow of the land. See if you can rent a mini excavator for a weekend and empty the wet lands. Hire a dozer operator. You would be amazed how much they can accomplish in a small area for $2-500. That is a great great great suggestion by Jagermeister.

 

[Mike]

Thanks for the great suggestions guys. My plan was to dig live and viable reed grass rhizomes from ditches. That stuff is everywhere. If it takes that's great, if not no harm done. I'll probably get some swamp oaks too. I guess I should do some watching before I get too carried away. I'll set some cams up soon to see what going on.

 

[hickslawns]

Soil and Water Conservation sale is going on right now as well. Allen County sale ends March 4. I believe most are similar time frame. Might be a good time to snag 20-25 trees for $17-25.

 

[oakswamper]

This is one of the smaller areas I have, you can see the pin oak that fell and how shallow the root system is. I can't find the pic of the area when it is dry.
Most of the spots like this are surrounded by pin oaks and they don't get much bigger than this one before the wind knocks them down. I have a lot of white oaks on the property but they are on higher ground (lol if you can call it that) that doesn't have standing water.

 

[oakswamper]

Thanks for the great suggestions guys. My plan was to dig live and viable reed grass rhizomes from ditches. That stuff is everywhere. If it takes that's great, if not no harm done. I'll probably get some swamp oaks too. I guess I should do some watching before I get too carried away. I'll set some cams up soon to see what going on.

You are more than welcome to come out and dig some oaks up if you want.

 

[Mike]

You are more than welcome to come out and dig some oaks up if you want.

Do you have some white oak starts?

 

[oakswamper]

Do you have some white oak starts?

The white's were loaded the last couple years, there are a lot of nice starters. My brother-in-law took a bunch up to his property in Michigan and he said they are doing great