I am planning on adding about 1000 root clippings of Blackberries on our ground as an edge feathering component, and in clumps to our monoculture stand of switch grass and haphazardly throughout the to CP25 stand mix.
This is where I could use some input
from those of you more versed in QDM and upland bird habitat than I.
This is all being done as a test/ hypothesis, to see if adding very stout blackberry bushes can improve the desireability of a Monoculture switchgrass stands for deer bedding and to get pheasants to nest there more than they already do.
My thoughts here.... and these are just just that, thoughts..... are, the added height and mass of the blackberry will encourage for the deer to use it more than they already do. Why, because I figure they can get consealed more easily than in just switchgrass. I am thinking that 6-8 foot tall canes would provide some needed shade especially in the heat of the early season as well as a breaking up the cover of the switchgrass with a higher canopy without too much worry about eventual choking out the switchgrass like a tree or shrub might.
Some observation that make me think this way.
I watch deer every day (benefit of working from home) in the big CRP pasture by us and how the deer have used the field every day over the past year.... Being creatures of the edge, they always seem to be by something to break up their form.
Blackberries came to mind as an option because I want to do everthing in my power to hold and manage both Bird and Deer in the limited acreage I have to work with.
Part of the reasoning for Blackberry was that, I was always busting quail and big bucks too, out of the briar patches in the fence rows and woody draws. I am guessing that pheasants will probably utilize them just as much because of the open ground beneath them when they get filled out. This should have the added benefit of producing a Covey headquarters for quail eventually as well.
The thornless varieties from the University of Arkansas which are reasonable to buy even with the royalty as long as you bu the root clippings. These plants throw out some very tall canes and if planted in the right density, are going to hold up well and provide some dynamite cover in the worst snows. I imagine the Switchgrass and other warm season grasses pressed up against these bushes on the windward side, would provide a decent wind break for all game.
There is also the food benefit as well but that is not their main purpose, although I would not mind making some extra jars of blackberry jelly in the summer
My thought was the black berries should get a head start on the switchgrass and CP25 with growth as soon as the ground starts to warm in early spring, the initial prima cane stalk that will come up will be small and not very bushy so it would not really compete to much with its surrounding plants althouugh eventually it would in its immediate area.
(experience tells me this, as we had 10,000 on our last farm in Indiana)
Anyway, once the blackberries are up and as they start to get thicker, this should provide some open ground for brood rearing and travel corredors through the denser switchgrass stands.
Your Thoughts?
N9BOW
This is where I could use some input
This is all being done as a test/ hypothesis, to see if adding very stout blackberry bushes can improve the desireability of a Monoculture switchgrass stands for deer bedding and to get pheasants to nest there more than they already do.
My thoughts here.... and these are just just that, thoughts..... are, the added height and mass of the blackberry will encourage for the deer to use it more than they already do. Why, because I figure they can get consealed more easily than in just switchgrass. I am thinking that 6-8 foot tall canes would provide some needed shade especially in the heat of the early season as well as a breaking up the cover of the switchgrass with a higher canopy without too much worry about eventual choking out the switchgrass like a tree or shrub might.
Some observation that make me think this way.
I watch deer every day (benefit of working from home) in the big CRP pasture by us and how the deer have used the field every day over the past year.... Being creatures of the edge, they always seem to be by something to break up their form.
Blackberries came to mind as an option because I want to do everthing in my power to hold and manage both Bird and Deer in the limited acreage I have to work with.
Part of the reasoning for Blackberry was that, I was always busting quail and big bucks too, out of the briar patches in the fence rows and woody draws. I am guessing that pheasants will probably utilize them just as much because of the open ground beneath them when they get filled out. This should have the added benefit of producing a Covey headquarters for quail eventually as well.
The thornless varieties from the University of Arkansas which are reasonable to buy even with the royalty as long as you bu the root clippings. These plants throw out some very tall canes and if planted in the right density, are going to hold up well and provide some dynamite cover in the worst snows. I imagine the Switchgrass and other warm season grasses pressed up against these bushes on the windward side, would provide a decent wind break for all game.
There is also the food benefit as well but that is not their main purpose, although I would not mind making some extra jars of blackberry jelly in the summer
My thought was the black berries should get a head start on the switchgrass and CP25 with growth as soon as the ground starts to warm in early spring, the initial prima cane stalk that will come up will be small and not very bushy so it would not really compete to much with its surrounding plants althouugh eventually it would in its immediate area.
(experience tells me this, as we had 10,000 on our last farm in Indiana)
Anyway, once the blackberries are up and as they start to get thicker, this should provide some open ground for brood rearing and travel corredors through the denser switchgrass stands.
Your Thoughts?
N9BOW
