Tagging Trees for fun a profit

[Too Tall]

Once again I've taken a role to manage a fairly large acreage that includes our trailer camp. I consider this role a real gift. Basically, this is my adult playground. We have ATVs, chainsaws, water wells and DEER!!!

That gives you the idea of what this skinny coastal bum is up to the past two years ;) Well...there is that and a metric ton of dirt roads to ride. Ooof the riding is amazing. Back to the story.

The acreage is a lovely mish-mash of warm meadows and second growth hardwoods. Our walking trails are well used but as is the case when you clear a trail you also introduce more light and open the ground for noxious seeds and vines to take hold. Maintaining that boundary is near full time work but that's not why we are talking!

We are talking because I want to find creative ways to engage our visitors and park members to get a fresh second look at the glorious forest they walk thru. Because the paths are constantly overgrown, I'm afraid that is all they focus on so I do my best to keep it clean so that everyone "sees" the forest not the rest.

I've come up with a starting point, you tell me what you think and what other low order things I can do to bring mah peeps back to nature.

I have started using large metal tree tags to mark as many trees as I can find. Tags will read something like "American Poplar / Native Species" or "Chinese Chestnut / Non-native / Castanea mollissima".

If this peeks a wee bit of interest I may create a treasure hunt where folks race to find trees. Bonus points for finding rare items and most points wins a pointless trophy.

How m' I doing?

[Clyde]

Where exactly is this place?

[Too Tall]

Where exactly is this place?

Near the site of Floydfest. It's a thing in Floyd County, Va. So typical eastern hardwood second growth mix at about 3,000'

[einreb]

How m' I doing?

I think you're doing awesome.

A few months back I did a mtb biking trip to Bentonville Arkansas. One evening we took a post dinner stroll on a path that had all sorts of trees marked. The one that blew my mind was a 'Yellowwood Tree'. How many times have I thought a tree was a Beech and not realized I was seeing this rare beauty? I now know to better look at the pointy end of the leaf.

I was genuinely thankful someone made the effort to share some knowledge.

[Peter Polack]

Your intentions are sincere.

I hate to be the contrarian, but some people don't want to see signs when they go into the woods.

[rydesteel]

Vandeveer Botanical Park is one of the oldest Parks in Davenport. They have signs on most of the trees to identify them. If it's a cluster of trees then maybe only one sign. Keep it up Toot's sounds like your moving in the right direction.

[sk_tle]

Just skip with the ATV. You can do everything on a bicycle :)

[suspectdevice]

It sounds like you need some goats and an electric fence with some solar panels.
Goatscaping is definitely a thing now, some of my trailbuilding friends dabble in it

[SlowPokePete]

I hate to be the contrarian, but some people don't want to see signs when they go into the woods.

or banana peels.


SPP

[jmgorman]

It sounds like you need some goats and an electric fence with some solar panels.
Goatscaping is definitely a thing now, some of my trailbuilding friends dabble in it

Any of them with a rental flock* nearish northern VA - because I have a 5-acre bramble that needs tamed.



*I looked and this is the correct collective noun. I was really hoping it would be a chomp of goats or something.

[bigbill]

We dug a hole on our property as a test so we could get a septic permit. It's pretty big and not exactly where we will put a tank, so I'm thinking of buying a large tree to plant as we fill in the hole. I've done a rough layout for the road to our RV site and it meanders just enough to keep all the trees while navigating a large travel trailer to its summer spot. We have horses and pronghorn to keep the weeds down. If we relocate there year round, I'm buying goats. One day I want enough trees to label.

[Too Tall]

It sounds like you need some goats and an electric fence with some solar panels.
Goatscaping is definitely a thing now, some of my trailbuilding friends dabble in it

Goats sure but heck a herd of standard poodles will do the same and they like to cuddle.

[j44ke]

You can use roof flashing, tin snips and long garden "staples". Cut out your labels from the flashing with the snips then fold label over a staple at the "U" and embed in the ground under the tree. Staples with a flattened "U" obviously work the best. Better than attaching to the tree trunk. You can hand letter with a metal punch set.

Making trails - we've had good results string trimming paths to the ground and then using a blower to remove the nutrient layer. Over time, things stop growing on the trail and then you can decide what to do with the rest. Planting native grasses/sedges/rushes along the trail effectively blocks weeds. Mulch trail with pine straw not wood chips or gravel. Wearing out the offending plants by frequent cutting is a good but slow approach. Best to do it right after they've expended max energy growing to flowering but before seeds form. Replace loss of weed flowers to pollinators with native asters and other hardy self-reseeding or perennial plants. Inevitably these things take a lifetime to reshape and that might not be just your lifetime, so accept small victories.

[jdanke]

We are talking because I want to find creative ways to engage our visitors and park members to get a fresh second look at the glorious forest they walk thru. Because the paths are constantly overgrown, I'm afraid that is all they focus on so I do my best to keep it clean so that everyone "sees" the forest not the rest.

I've come up with a starting point, you tell me what you think and what other low order things I can do to bring mah peeps back to nature.

I have started using large metal tree tags to mark as many trees as I can find. Tags will read something like "American Poplar / Native Species" or "Chinese Chestnut / Non-native / Castanea mollissima".

My wife is involved with the town-owned farm where some volunteers have been creating a "tree trail" (because the local politics surrounding the word arboretum is insane ?!). Liek you, the Friends want to engage and educate visitors. That effort includes interpretative signs that she designed and are then engraved into aluminum sheets and installed with a HDPE backer (photos show my son helping). This may be overkill for your goals, but may spark some ideas.

instagram @friendsofholcombfarm #interpretivesigns

MORE instagram @friendsofholcombfarm #interpretivesignage


They also have simpler signs on some trees.

instagram @friendsofholcombfarm #treetrail

[Too Tall]

Jake and Joel, all that is pure gold. I've got some reading to do. I'd love to have a unlimited supply of pine needles however the reality is that we have extensive trails so my go to (hold your nose) is a strong herbacide once per season. The thorny brambles are incredibly hard to deal with. If anyone knows where I can get a surplus WWII flame thrower please speak up.

I'll post some pic.s of a large and steep slope I have been working to stabilize. To name a few of the warm meadow plants: coreopsis, queen anne's lace, milkweed, black eye susan, switch grass, vetch. I love/hate the vetch becuase it is extremely good at slope stabilization and VERY boring to look at. I get a grim thrill when I run it over with the Dr Brush Hog ;) KIdding. Not.

The only thing I can think of for mass plantings in the tree understory are ferns. How the he!! do you mass plant ferns?

[j44ke]

Jake and Joel, all that is pure gold. I've got some reading to do. I'd love to have a unlimited supply of pine needles however the reality is that we have extensive trails so my go to (hold your nose) is a strong herbacide once per season. The thorny brambles are incredibly hard to deal with. If anyone knows where I can get a surplus WWII flame thrower please speak up.

I'll post some pic.s of a large and steep slope I have been working to stabilize. To name a few of the warm meadow plants: coreopsis, queen anne's lace, milkweed, black eye susan, switch grass, vetch. I love/hate the vetch becuase it is extremely good at slope stabilization and VERY boring to look at. I get a grim thrill when I run it over with the Dr Brush Hog ;) KIdding. Not.

The only thing I can think of for mass plantings in the tree understory are ferns. How the he!! do you mass plant ferns?

You need to get the rhizome balls either from a native plant nursery (<see link) or from other areas on the property that have plenty of ferns. If from other areas on the property, dig them up while maintaining roots and surrounding soil. You'll likely cut some roots as they send out runners in all directions, and some rhizomes are actually several plants connected in a tangled structure. A good fixed blade knife and a trowel are the best tools. Then plant them (with their "home" soil still around the roots) in the fall before any frost spaced 3-5' apart. Usually they will start doing something in the first spring, but they can sometimes take a bit to get started. And you'll lose some of course. After you get an established population, things fill in pretty steadily.

Interrupted fern is a nice big showy plant. Hay-scented fern is another good one. Sensitive fern makes for a nice mix of leaf shape.

For thorny stuff, you can actually burn the trunk once you've cut back the canes, but only when the ground is wet. You cut the canes back to the base in October as leaves are starting to fade, then hand paint (glass bottle and a brush) the trunk stumps with triclopyr, keeping the runoff to an absolute minimum. Helps to die the triclopyr blue so you know where you've been. Leave it over winter. In the spring, get a propane weed burner and go out looking for stumps that are resprouting. Hit any you find with the torch until the stump glows red. Again do it only when everything is wet. Bring a fire extinguisher and a shovel.

The landscaper cuts thorny stuff using a trimmer with a small tree blade attached. Or a chainsaw. Due to his potential for accumulated exposure to pesticides, he and his guys pull the stumps instead of poison and burn. Takes them 2-3 years to knock everything back instead of 1-2 with poison and burn, but they are definitely better for avoiding the poisons. They try to do the stumps right before the ground freezes.

[Too Tall]

That gives me alot to work with Jorn. We do have a propane torch. Good call, infact I do use Crossbow sparingly on the worst offenders. D@mn stuff stinks.

I like the link for fern rhizomes THANKS :)