Native species planting, habitat creation restoration projects

[ken erickson]

As some may know here on the forum I am involved restoring a former Christmas tree plantation back to a native oak savanna.

I would love to hear from others your experiences with your native species projects and how your tractors and equipment fit into your work. Please share things such as what type ecosystem your project is, amount of acres, success's and failures. What organizations you have worked with, good or bad, that you have experience with. Pictures of before and after, in progress.
I am hoping that maybe some folks that are considering planting natives instead of perfectly manicured lawn , which is a wildlife wasteland, will understand there is a lot of help, technical, monetary and boots on the ground with these types of habitat projects.

Here is synopsis of my project.

Purchased a fallow 56 acre former Christmas tree plantation in Jan of 2017
Spring of 2018 discovered that my property was in the range of an endangered butterfly called the Karner Blue Butterfly. I made contact with the US Fish And Wildlife , Partners for Wildlife and came up with a plan to forest mulch 28 acres and plant natives.
Seeding was done after herbiciding for invasive species in the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019
I also joined two local grass roots organizations , Pheasants Forever and The Prairie Enthusiasts , both work with private landowners with habitat projects.

I already had a Kubota B7100 that I used for brush cutting and maintaining my two track trails. Late 2019 purchased a new L2501 with grapple which is used for many tasks including pulling and removing non-native Scots pines in areas that was not forestry mulched.

As of the 2021 growing season the native grasses and forbs are starting to do well but I have a continuing issue with non native invasive species such as Spotted Knapweed.

Pictures
The forestry mulcher doing his thing.
The same contractor seeding with a diverse mix of natives
US Fish and Wildlife guys putting in a work day thinning pines
My B7100
My L2501

 

[jyoutz]

Buy a 20 gallon electric sprayer and mount it on a 3 point carryall. . Mount a deep cycle battery there to run your sprayer. Fill the tank with a 2-4-D herbicide mix and add a dye so you can track where it’s applied. Drive around and use the want to spray knappweed. Do it before the plants go to seed.

 

[ken erickson]

I have been , with help , spot spraying the knapweed Basel leaves before they bolt. At this point with so many of the natives species coming it there would be too much collateral damage using 2-4-D and a boom type sprayer. The herbicide of choice for Spotted Knapweed is Milestone.
I do have the bio control weevils that were imported in the late 1990's helping out the situation somewhat. The picture shows a Knapweed flower head with a weevil on it doing its thing.

Jyoutz, I re-read your post and missed where you suggested using the wand to spot spray. My apologies. Yes, I had thought about this method of using my tractor with me using a wand. Thanks for your input!

 

[Poohbear]

What are you planting for the butterfly's ? I'm on edge of monarch migration route so we plant milkweed.
I am fighting Asian beetles right now so please don't use non native bugs as it will come back & bite us all
.

 

[ken erickson]

What are you planting for the butterfly's ? I'm on edge of monarch migration route so we plant milkweed.
I am fighting Asian beetles right now so please don't use non native bugs as it will come back & bite us all
.

To be clear the weevils where imported and introduced roughly 20 years ago in central Wisconsin. In another words , all ready part of the landscape. (sigh).

My seed mix contained about 43 native wildflowers including two milkweeds. Common and butterfly weed.
The host plant for the Federally endangered Karner Blue Butterfly which I have a growing population of is Wild lupine. No Lupine , no Karners. I do have a population of Monarchs and other butterflies besides the Karners.

I would like to hear more about your project. Roughly where are you located? How many acre planting? Was it just milkweed or have you planted other natives?

 

[ken erickson]

If anyone has a interest in seeing the native forbs and grasses that I planted here is the order form. These seeds where chosen for the type of soil I have and my geographical location. The ones marked in yellow had to be ordered from a different vendor. Most native seed vendors strive to offer seed that was collected from as close to the intended planting location as possible.

 

[jyoutz]

I have been , with help , spot spraying the knapweed Basel leaves before they bolt. At this point with so many of the natives species coming it there would be too much collateral damage using 2-4-D and a boom type sprayer. The herbicide of choice for Spotted Knapweed is Milestone.
I do have the bio control weevils that were imported in the late 1990's helping out the situation somewhat. The picture shows a Knapweed flower head with a weevil on it doing its thing.

Jyoutz, I re-read your post and missed where you suggested using the wand to spot spray. My apologies. Yes, I had thought about this method of using my tractor with me using a wand. Thanks for your input!



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I did the same thing several years ago for invasive plants. If you are careful with the wand there isn’t much collateral damage on desirable plants. But the dye in the tank is a must, so you can track what has been treated. 2-4-D will work well and not effect other plants if you target the wand spray, but I know there are other effective herbicides. I used tordon on my project and saw very little non-target damage.

 

[ken erickson]

I did the same thing several years ago for invasive plants. If you are careful with the wand there isn’t much collateral damage on desirable plants. But the dye in the tank is a must, so you can track what has been treated. 2-4-D will work well and not effect other plants if you target the wand spray, but I know there are other effective herbicides. I used tordon on my project and saw very little non-target damage.

What invasive's were you spraying for? Mine as stated is primarily spotted knapweed but I also have black locust , buckthorn and a bit of one of the invasive honey suckles.

 

[bucktail]

I bought 15 acres last October. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. Probably put down some lime and see if I can get clover to grow. The soil is very sandy without much topsoil. There's some sumac that I'll probably shred. Might do corn and soybean food plots but probably not this year.

 

[jyoutz]

What invasive's were you spraying for? Mine as stated is primarily spotted knapweed but I also have black locust , buckthorn and a bit of one of the invasive honey suckles.

I’m on the edge of the plains in New Mexico, so what I was treating is very different. Some are native but too expansive into native grass such as prickly pear cactus, barberry and yucca. Some are indeed non native invasive plants such as spotted knappweed, tumble weed, and bull thistles. Tordon took care of everything, but I only had partial kill of the yuccas.

 

[Poohbear]

We are in North East Tx & for butterflies we have planted milk weed, butterfly plant, hummingbird plant, tulip trees, & a mix of asstd wildflowers. I don't bother with bluebonnet as our sandy soil is not what they like, bluebonnet do great starting about Dallas going west.
We also have 24 asstd fruit trees & 24 muscadine grapes that when all are blooming will have lots of butterfly's comeing and going

 

[ken erickson]

Thanks for the information on your projects guys! Sounds like some great work is being done to improve habitat.

 

[ken erickson]

This is a link to a video that was shot on my habitat project. Brendan Woodall is the private lands biologist that I worked with. He mentions the parcel is 28 acres, but that is the total of what we planted in natives. Total parcel is 56.

watch