Mark Reynolds

Kim Wills wrote:

Mark Reynolds wrote:
I'd look at planting some deep rooted plants that CAN break up the compaction. Forage radish, possibly alfalfa, turnips. The radishes will also collect nutrients and make them available to other plants when they die and decompose.

Daikon! "Daikon radish" can be up to a foot long and up to 3-4" thick. I have searched this topic to death because the spot where my kitchen garden will be has a sub layer of nearly solid clay; like, you could mold an ashtray out of it. I'll be ordering 3000 seeds for $8. The reviews complain it's more like 2000, lol, but that's still the best bargain I found. From what I hear, I'm supposed to plant the daikon all over, let it grow as long as possible, then chop & drop the greens and leave the daikon in the ground to decompose. This will add the biggest possible pockets of organic matter. I can't wait til spring to try it!

Kim, as for your Daikon radish (that is the most commonly known one), go to a feed store and inquire about purchasing the radish seed. You'll buy it by the pound, not the number of seeds. 3,000 radish seeds sounds like highway robbery to me for $8.00!

I didn't find radish seed yet, but check out these numbers of seed per pound and the cost. You will quickly understand my reaction and what I mean by 'highway robbery'.

Here are my figures for this year.  K500 alfalfa, 227,000 seeds per lb., $2.58 dollars per lb., equals 87,984 seeds per dollar.  Climax timothy, 1,152,000 seeds per lb., $1.06 dollars per lb., equals 1,086,792 seeds per dollar.  Baraula orchardgrass, 416,000 seeds per lb., $2.44 dollars per lb., equals 170,492 seeds per dollar.  Seed seems less expensive now.

Leah Sattler wrote:hmm. I don't understand how the taproot thing could be true?? wouldn't you graft a desirable apple onto another apple tree? wouldn't all apple trees have or not have a tap root? just curious.

Apple varieties, (the trees are what I'm referring to here) are propagated from bud and stem (scion) grafts onto 'rootstock'. The rootstock comes from an apple tree that has good root structure, (a root cutting), although not necessarily great fruit. In other words, the commercial apple tees you see do not originate from seed. They are literally a "Frankenstein" (I don't mean that in a bad way) of a tree. They are composed of parts from other trees to create a new tree, that was not propagated from a seed. As such, this new tree will not/does not have a taproot that originates from a seed. However, because it is created from 'superior' root cuttings, I would suspect that a tree grown in this manner would likely be superior to a tree propagated from seed in terms of the root structure. Taproot notwithstanding.

Carla Burke wrote:I'm not sure why, but the 'neither' option isn't working for me. I choose neither, not because I don't do them, but because where my preference is depends on my purpose. I shower to get clean, but use baths medicinally, for both mental/ emotional and physical healing, with epsom salts, oils, herbs, and essential oils, with or without the jets.

There was a Sultan at one time in Turkey that did both, but he took a shower first. His reasoning: "If you take a bath, you are marinating in your own filth." He took a shower first, to remove the filth, and then a bath to relax in. It was during the Ottoman Empire.

Hello!
I think I see a few things going on.  Yes, it appears you have a high clay component with a degree of compaction, but that isn't the only thing that I see. I'm not sure when the pictures were taken, but it appears there is a lot of tree canopy. That in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but to grow most things under that, my guess they will need more light than what they will get there.

Have you done a soil test? In looking at the current vegetation, I'd also guess the plants that are there aren't getting the nutrition they need. This could be the pH of the soil. Maybe the nutrients the plants need aren't there. Maybe both? You need to be able to get something into the soil somehow in order to add lime? or nutrients. Subsoiler as suggested?

I don't care for equipment myself as it's expensive and tends to have a short term effect. To break up your compaction - long term - organic matter would be what I'd add. The best way to add OM is through roots of grasses. Of course, the grasses have to be able to grow which means nutrients, and the roots also have to be able to overcome the compaction. The earthworms would be nice to incorporate surface added OM, but the soil is too compacted.

You have a bit of a vicious cycle or circle here. Roots to address the compaction, om to address the compaction, nutrients to feed the plants but can't get in the soil because of the compaction, etc.

I'd look at planting some deep rooted plants that CAN break up the compaction. Forage radish, possibly alfalfa, turnips. The radishes will also collect nutrients and make them available to other plants when they die and decompose.

The long term increase in OM will help with compaction as well as help with water retention.  I bet the area dries out completely and turns into a 'brick' during the summer. Getting the soil to absorb some of that water will assist with the ponding, but it will also decrease the long term dryness I'm sure you have encountered, or will encounter.

Are the ducks getting a 'wobble' in their 'wattle"?

It did have a smell though? In my experience, the prunus is going to have a stronger smell than the beech. Maybe a bit 'pungent'? Someone give me a hand here with what the prunus/cherry smells like...... possibly somewhat like bitter almonds. That would be the cyanide within the tree. (It's not going to harm you unless you are going to eat the bark, which I don't imagine you have any intentions of doing).

greg mosser wrote:smooth, gray, relatively thin bark could say beech around here. do you have european beech in your area?

I get what you are saying about beech. This bark is smooth and unfurrowed, I don't think its quite smooth enough for a beech, although I honestly wouldn't put money on my guess.

Truly the wrong continent for me, let alone the country. However, in looking at the bark, that is giving me some ideas. It is smooth, gray, relatively thin (especially for the diameter). Also note the horizontal lenticels on the bark.

Add to your description any smell that may be present on the bark and/or the freshly split wood.

There are some indications to me that the tree may have been some kind of Prunus species, or a cherry/peach/apricot/almond in other words.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=0a179fb36889e67d66b3a164290b2c02e331bce6985c1b5f9f4093b8b0e433b1JmltdHM9MTczNTYwMzIwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=35303032-f811-6b77-0999-2568f99f6ae1&u=a1L2ltYWdlcy9zZWFyY2g_cT10cmVlK2JhcmslMmMrY2hlcnJ5JmlkPUQ5MkQ4QjhDM0RGREM1NjIwNTBGNjhGOUM2MTEwRjM1MEUwOEE2NTAmRk9STT1JUUZSQkE&ntb=1

Hi Kim. I'm a bit late to this party, but I can add a few things here. You are west of the Cascades.....so I'm guessing east of the coast range and you are in the valley? (I've been there). Based on that (some assumption on my part) you are likely to have some forage growth year round, depending on the grass species.

Here are 4 guiding principles when grazing grasses. I'm guessing you have sod forming grasses where you are.

1. Never let seed heads form on your grasses. Doing so will slow the growth of the grasses and lower total forage production, hence less to eat.
2. Never Graze the grasses closer than 3 inches. The grass needs that leaf area for photosynthesis and to keep growing.
3. Never graze an area for longer than 7 days. You want the grass to regrow after being eaten. Let the grass regrow. Don't let the animals keep eating the new grass as soon as it emerges. This will weaken the grass if you do. Gras can be re-eaten after being g
       grazed 3 days later. Grazing an area for longer than a week will result in too much grazing of brand new growth and becomes detrimental to the plant.
4. Never return to a pasture sooner than 30 days post grazing. Once animals are removed from the pasture, keep the animals off the pasture for 30 days (minimum 28 days [4 weeks is a nice, round number]. Returning sooner consumes regrowth too soon and
            decreases plant vigor. You also don't want to rest too long as at some point, grass nutritional value will start dropping. I don't have a set time for this, but I'd say don't stay way longer than 45 days.

You asked how many acres for a animal. It's highly variable. Depends on animal size. Depends on forage production. Depends on feed efficiency (depending on the grazing system, this could be somewhere between 30 at the low end and 85/90 at the high end. That will largely be determined by how frequently you move your animals to new pasture. More rotations = more efficiency. The frequency of rotation I'm refering to here is from moving the animals once every 6 weeks to moving the animals 2x a day. Moving the animals is very, very easy though if you know what you are doing. It's not rocket science.  As a rule of thumb, its going to take 2.5 acres to feed a cow on a year round basis. That said, I've seen ranges from just over an acre up to about 4.5 acres as required. When you start talking talking about rangeland, you might need 60-80 acres for a cow for a year. You don't have rangeland where you are.

Not to muddy the waters any more, but "here's mud in your eye". Specifically, the question was in reference to chickens, aka birds, which is what I was responding to. I do not know the effects of the berries on other animals, including humans.  Different animals respond very differently to some things they ingest and very similarly to others.