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| Habitat improvement for whitetail deer; red osier dogwood | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 28 2012, 05:39 PM (1,214 Views) | |
baydog
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Mar 28 2012, 05:39 PM Post #1 |
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I spent a few hours on the weekend taking some cuttings and transplanting some Red Osier Dogwood to create thickets around the property. It's pretty easy to do. Just cut it about 24" before it buds out, stick it in the ground. As long as their is enough moisture (I have clay soils so it's not a problem this time of year). I try and do a little bit every year just to mix it up. The deer and moose hammer this stuff and usually it's browsed pretty tight to the ground. Anyway, we talk a lot about food plots but that's only one part of it. One of the easiest ways to create great deer habitat is with the chainsaw. Here's a pretty interesting short article on improving habitat. http://michigansaf.org/forestinfo/MSUElibrary/DeerMDHA.PDF |
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Sam Menard
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Mar 28 2012, 05:47 PM Post #2 |
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Cool idea! Thanks for sharing that information. Sam |
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bigr
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Mar 28 2012, 05:52 PM Post #3 |
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Very cool. Can be done with Cedar as well. |
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forkhorn
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Mar 28 2012, 07:40 PM Post #4 |
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Thats a good idea.. The food plot I planted last year boarders a thicket.. It didn't even dawn on me to plant it...
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BigRackSlayer
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Mar 28 2012, 08:11 PM Post #5 |
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BigRackSlayer
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good idea! just might have to do some of that with some cedar. |
| BigRackSlayer | |
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| Renegade | Mar 28 2012, 11:06 PM Post #6 |
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Atikokan, Ontario
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will try transplanting some Red Osier Dogwood myself. So you cut a two foot piece off a living plant, bigger one and stick it in the ground? |
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baydog
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Mar 29 2012, 06:10 AM Post #7 |
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Yeah, if you cut it below a bud and stick it in. It doesn't have to be two feet, some of mine were shorter but I think the important think is soil moisture to stimulate root growth. Dogwood likes moisture. Some might not take, depending on your particular conditions but you could also soak them in water with some growth hormone to stimulate root production if you want to improve the odds. I just stick them in. Same with willows, planted some of those along the edge of a field just to provide a bit of cover. I did a quick search, and the guys in Michigan are having luck with the same method: http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=349555 |
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Bocephus_86
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Mar 29 2012, 07:39 AM Post #8 |
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Great read TFS! We harvest a pile of dogwood stakes each year for shoreline planting to prevent shoreline erosion...never thought about intensifying deer habitat with them! Might have to give it a try!
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| trophy | Apr 26 2013, 04:48 PM Post #9 |
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Regular
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deer love dogwood, I usually trim out the hazelnut too let my dogwood thrive. The deer at my place never eat hazelnut but love dogwood. Bears and grey jays seem to eat all the actual hazelnuts. Will try transplanting some this weekend, good tip. |
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baydog
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Apr 27 2013, 08:04 AM Post #10 |
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As soon as this snow goes, I'm going to transplant some of this again. |
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Cervus_stalker
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Apr 27 2013, 11:38 AM Post #11 |
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Glad to hear that you're improving the habitat there. I have used another technique for dogwoods. I just walk into a wet area and rip out some of the smaller stems. Red osier dogwood mostly propagates with layering (branch gets pushed to the ground by snow and develops roots on the contact points). I pull these out, plant them as I would a small sapling, and snip off most of the growth. They lose a lot of moisture through the leaves, so minimizing the number of leaves seemed to help a bunch for my technique. I have tried the cuttings method too, and it works well. As you said, you just need consistent moisture. |
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