Comment by Ben Carter on May 30, 2014 at 10:45am

This is not "silvopasture", however, I am  considering this 10 acre footprint as a starting point. 

Comment by Jim Medeiros on June 1, 2014 at 9:13pm

Ben,

Looks like you could have a good start there.  I am guessing that is wetter ground, and  from the volunteer grass you have it appears she wants to grow forage.  How is the soil there?  Probably high in organic matter I would think.  Ground I have thinned out that looks like that usually has amazing soil and a good seed bank already there. 

Comment by Ben Carter on June 2, 2014 at 9:07am

The short answer is I don't know.  I am new to this so it will be the first year I've monitored our forest in a meaningful manner. The soil is a volusia flaggy silt loam with about 4-6" of decomposed leave residue. It has been a wet year so I'm not sure if its current moisture content is consistent with an average year or if there is a spring in the area.  Is it possible the volunteer forage's appearance is a result of the increase in precipitation or is this something I have simply overlooked in the past? 

Comment by Jim Medeiros on June 2, 2014 at 9:44am

Hard to tell from the photo but it looks like you have beech and maple there, so I would say it is wetter ground, which with good management is a good thing.  Usually in my experience the forage is more of a product of how much sun is getting to the floor rather than the excess moisture.  Is that along the edge of a field or opening?  Perhaps it was open in the past but was too wet for "modern" equipment so it has grown back over? On a farm we bought 2 years ago I have fields that lost 75' along the edge over the past 25 years as equipment got heavier and operators got lazier.  In one area I am back almost 200' and still finding evidence of formally open ground, probably back in the late 1800's would be my guess.

Comment by Ben Carter on June 2, 2014 at 1:17pm

That is a very insightful correlation.  When I probed soil samples last week, the ground seemed to be fairly dry relative to the rest of the 53 acre forest.  However, this particular stand has never really produced large trees.  Similarly, the trees in our lowland swamp areas exhibit the same characteristics.  Is there something I am not paying attention to?  Another piece of information that might be useful is the depth, (or lack there), of the soil.  It was suggested to me by NRCS that this particular area has rock not that far down.  I have no real evidence to support this yet but I will research it.  With that said, I suppose there is the possibility that this area saturates and drains quickly.  Any experience with this possibility or am I making things up?  Oh and one more piece of info that might be helpful. Long before my time, and most likely my parents, this entire forest was a dairy pasture and male syrup stand.  They way things are unfolding it feels more like some form ago-archeology.  Either way, I have a ago-forester ,(recommended by Brett), coming out in about two weeks to check it out and weigh in. 

Comment by Ben Carter on June 2, 2014 at 1:57pm

I hope all of these pics give you a better Idea of what I am working with.

Comment by Ben Carter on June 2, 2014 at 1:57pm

Comment by Ben Carter on June 2, 2014 at 1:59pm

Aside from ferns, there is a lot of this stuff growing.

Comment by Jim Medeiros on June 2, 2014 at 2:21pm

I would say you have a good prospect there for tall grass management / mob grazing, the next to the last photo looks like Downy Brome to me, some of it does anyway, in a week or two with more seed heads I could make a better educated guess.  Makes sense that was pasture at one point, it wants to grow grass and probably will produce well for you.  

Comment