Habitat Improvement

[imw001]

Yep in MN west of the cities, Miscanthus is on year one but so far so good. I'd say over 70% of the rhizomes made it through the winter. Waited until late may to plant so maybe that helped a bit.

My family has some acreage further north, by Itasca State Park - would this sort of planting be beneficial up there? We’ve got pretty dense wooded area across most the land.

Our current property goals are thinning out predators (black bear, wolf, coyote) to whatever degree we can. We have some food plots, but don’t do much else planting.

 

[BLJ]

Interesting stuff. Thanks.

 

[jgilber5]

My family has some acreage further north, by Itasca State Park - would this sort of planting be beneficial up there? We’ve got pretty dense wooded area across most the land.

Our current property goals are thinning out predators (black bear, wolf, coyote) to whatever degree we can. We have some food plots, but don’t do much else planting.

The biggest draw for planting miscanthus is to use it as a cover screen, I don't think there is really any forage value to it for deer once it matures. If you aren't familiar with the stuff its almost like bamboo, grows pretty thick and can get over 10 ft tall. People will use it to shelter off food plots or even to create a hidden access if for example you have to cross a pretty open field to get to your stand, you can plant a row of it to walk behind. If your land is pretty thick, unless you're trying to screen a particular spot from the road it might not do you much good.

 

[Forestryguy]

For you all that are using Miscanthus for screening. Why not use native Big Stem prairie grasses and/or shrubs? There is no value to Miscanthus for any wildlife, and really should be listed as an invasive.

 

[jgilber5]

For you all that are using Miscanthus for screening. Why not use native Big Stem prairie grasses and/or shrubs? There is no value to Miscanthus for any wildlife, and really should be listed as an invasive.

Don't get me wrong, big bluestem and canada/virginia wild rye is awesome stuff and great bedding too. Where I'm at we're next to a pretty busy county road and like the extra height. Great point though. I know there are invasive miscanthus species but the stuff we use is classed as non-invasive

 

[wind gypsy]

For you all that are using Miscanthus for screening. Why not use native Big Stem prairie grasses and/or shrubs? There is no value to Miscanthus for any wildlife, and really should be listed as an invasive.

Because they don't serve the purpose of a screen nearly as well as miscanthus. Which is to create a visual wall to screen animals from people you dont want seeing them or to keep screen your own movements from animals.

I've yet to see any native grasses that hold up to snow sufficiently to work as a screen. Most applicable shrubs are going to lose leaves during hunting season, take longer to be adequately thick to serve as a screen, require a larger area in order to not be seen through. On top of that, they are likely to become browse or bedding which is the opposite of what you want when the goal of the screen is to sneak in undetected. I'm currently working on using spruce, willows, and alders to try to screen off an area but if I knew miscanthus would work in this ground I'd plant it in a heartbeat.

If I got a good miscanthus screen around my field that has a road on 2 sides, the animals would actually feel safe to use it during daylight and not worry about all the traffic stopping to look at it or getting poached from a road.

I've never seen a report of miscanthus giganteus becoming invasive, if there is documentation of such please share. [Edit to add: the miscanthus i've seen sold for screening is sterile and only spreads a little through rhizomes. I understand concerns over fertile miscanthus becoming invasive]

 

[Forestryguy]

Don't get me wrong, big bluestem and canada/virginia wild rye is awesome stuff and great bedding too. Where I'm at we're next to a pretty busy county road and like the extra height. Great point though. I know there are invasive miscanthus species but the stuff we use is classed as non-invasive

Because they don't serve the purpose of a screen nearly as well as miscanthus. Which is to create a visual wall to screen animals from people you dont want seeing them or to keep screen your own movements from animals.

I've yet to see any native grasses that hold up to snow sufficiently to work as a screen. Most applicable shrubs are going to lose leaves during hunting season, take longer to be adequately thick to serve as a screen, require a larger area in order to not be seen through. On top of that, they are likely to become browse or bedding which is the opposite of what you want when the goal of the screen is to sneak in undetected. I'm currently working on using spruce, willows, and alders to try to screen off an area but if I knew miscanthus would work in this ground I'd plant it in a heartbeat.

If I got a good miscanthus screen around my field that has a road on 2 sides, the animals would actually feel safe to use it during daylight and not worry about all the traffic stopping to look at it or getting poached from a road.

I've never seen a report of miscanthus giganteus becoming invasive, if there is documentation of such please share. [Edit to add: the miscanthus i've seen sold for screening is sterile and only spreads a little through rhizomes. I understand concerns over fertile miscanthus becoming invasive]

I get that it grows up faster for screening. It is also unfortunate that these days we feel that we have to keep the deer that are on properties a secret/hidden from others. With some additional fertilizer bushes could get more height and fuller faster. Were I worked in Iowa, we did a screening planting using Red Rodesiary Dogwood and White Pines. We planted on tight spacings in rows. The pines grew taller and filled out faster to screen and then the dogwood followed. Eventually the pine was cut out once it was too tall and to avoid power lines. But removing it would keep deer out of it for feed and bedding. The dogwood was pretty thick and did a decent job of breaking up a person walking by. Just ideas. It would take more room but be a better option, IMO.

I don't really trust the selling point of something being sterile. All it takes is one slip up from QC and you have an issue. There is also the chance that something occurs between cross pollination or mutation that will make a plant fertile again.

 

[wind gypsy]

I get that it grows up faster for screening. It is also unfortunate that these days we feel that we have to keep the deer that are on properties a secret/hidden from others.

Agree that it's a shame a guy has to worry about poachers but also its more to make them actually comfortable using an area in daylight hours and making a food area actually accessible to hunt without blowing every deer out of the area because you cant access it undetected in the wide open. So making more of your property habitat deer are actually comfortable using and also making it more huntable isn't unfortunate IMO.

With some additional fertilizer bushes could get more height and fuller faster. Were I worked in Iowa, we did a screening planting using Red Rodesiary Dogwood and White Pines. We planted on tight spacings in rows. The pines grew taller and filled out faster to screen and then the dogwood followed. Eventually the pine was cut out once it was too tall and to avoid power lines. But removing it would keep deer out of it for feed and bedding. The dogwood was pretty thick and did a decent job of breaking up a person walking by. Just ideas. It would take more room but be a better option, IMO.

I've been planting a fair bit of red osier dogwood between transition from bedding to food. The deer hammer dogwood as browse and I see no reason they wouldn't bed in it since they bed in the willow bushes in the same area. My wife's red osier dogwood bushes in town even get hammered by deer.

I don't really trust the selling point of something being sterile. All it takes is one slip up from QC and you have an issue. There is also the chance that something occurs between cross pollination or mutation that will make a plant fertile again.

Not that familiar with how difficult it would be for this scenario to occur but it's getting planted a lot now for screening purposes and I've not heard of that scenario playing out. It seems you've got a better handle on how something like that would happen than I though!

 

[FINONYMOUS]

Oh yeah. This is a major passion of mine, with a focus of restoring the landscape to its native ecosystem and making an effort to rid of all non-native invasive species. Yes I want to improve habitat for turkeys, deer, quail, etc. because I love to hunt and as a conservationist I care about their success, but I am also invested in the plant species that historically flourished and created the foundation of the eco-regions our native wildlife called home. It is hard to wrap my mind around the amount of native habitat we have lost and continue to lose each day.