Getting Logging Deck Prepped to Plant

[gamecock1974]

Our lease has been cut a good amount over the last few years. As you would expect, they typically will use our food plots as logging decks. The last crew did a shit job of cleaning up after themselves, so had to hire a bull dozer man to come clear off all the wood, but the growth thereafter has been pretty poor.

Logging crew has been there for the last month or so and are supposed to pull out later this week - and they used two of our food plots as their decks. This crew and our forester/landlord have been really solid this go round. They've greatly improved our road system and also agreed to run a bull dozer through and scrape the logging deck in an effort to help us reclaim our food plots.

Question --- what do you suggest we do thereafter? It will likely be like concrete I am guessing. I have a pretty heavy duty disc and will disc it after it rains here and there, but any other suggestions to get it back to where it will grow very well? Thought about liming the hell out of it, but not 100% sure that is of much benefit. Or is time the only solution?

[2thDoc]

what county

dont let him push all your topsoil away.

plant clover.

[Buckhunter99]

I suggest doing a soil sample and having it sent in. I personally use whitetail institute for my soil samples. It is easy and you get the results in like 48hours once they get them if you have them emailed to you. It will ask you what you plan to plan they obviously push their products but if you plan to plant colver it will basically be the same. I have had great success doing this in the past. They tell you the amount of lime and other fertilizers to put per acre or per square feet. In my opinion it is a detailed report and fairly easy to read and if you dont understand it they will help walk you through the process.

Like2th said dont let them push away all of your top soil if you can help it but if so I would definitely start with a soil sample.

[chessieman]

This area will be compacted beyond belief. I have done the following with some success. Run subsoiler as deep and in as tight a strips as possible. (You cannot over do this). Come back with scarifier and run through at as high a speed as possible. Then run through with disk. After that we used a tiller to get a seed bed and planted a mix that included rye (looking for any plant that has a deep and aggressive root system). This will work but still may take a year or so to get back where you want to be.

[bigbuckdown]

Thank God the crews that timbered ours were great. They stayed out of our plots and built new decks.


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[Waterfowler]

Root rake on a dozer will be your best friend. Leaves soil and pushes up the wood debris. Like someone else mentioned above those decks will be very compacted and the wood buried under the surface where the equipment mashed on it is going to be a real pain. Heavy discing will help but it’s probably going to be pretty rough on equipment like a grain drill or planters ect. Best bet is 1 ton lime to the acre for starters, especially if this is a pine hill you’re talkin about. Would follow up with something you can spin spread. Preferably something that will give back to the soil. Best of luck

[TheVisorGuy]

Landscape rake on a tractor.

Rake away as much debris with is as you can. Like the shit out of it with the fast acting bag line.

Fertilize it appropriately

Top sew a white clover and winter rye mix prior to a rain event.

Do this until all the remaining slash rots enough then do whatever you want .


I agree with 2th (can’t believe I typed that.). Don’t let them just push it off. You will spend a lot of money trying to remedy the soil to grow anything.

[TheVisorGuy]

If they do push it off a chisel plow or bottom plow will be your best friend assuming you have a tractor that can pull one

[StrutnBPS]

So how do you clean up all the oil and 5 gallon oil buckets they always leave behind?

[Whackumstackum]

Have them push the limbs/tops into a pile you can burn.( Can throw the buckets and tires they leave in the fire also)

[StrutnBPS]

Have them push the limbs/tops into a pile you can burn.( Can throw the buckets and tires they leave in the fire also)

I hunt a small tract that the owner recently had cleared. They left a stack of hydraulic fluid buckets, puddles of fluid/oil everywhere like they changed the fluid/oil in all of their equipment. They also left a 12-14ft trailer that must have come unhooked from the truck on the way to the site. The tongue and axel were torn off of it. I told the owner, but he lives out of town and hasn't stepped foot on the property in years.

[Big Time]

I hunt a small tract that the owner recently had cleared. They left a stack of hydraulic fluid buckets, puddles of fluid/oil everywhere like they changed the fluid/oil in all of their equipment. They also left a 12-14ft trailer that must have come unhooked from the truck on the way to the site. The tongue and axel were torn off of it. I told the owner, but he lives out of town and hasn't stepped foot on the property in years.

Wow. That is a horror story. But if you clean up the buckets you can spread some fertilizer over the oil spot and it will break down the oil rather quickly and will not have a long term impact on the soil. Triple 10 works fine. But that is to say that an oil spill from a busted line or something similar and less than five gallons total. Now if they spilled buckets of oil or poured them on the ground, I have no idea what to do other than have them remove all of the dirt from the land and dispose of it somewhere else.