Fertilize

[Don]

Do any of you guys fertilize and lime the trees and wild plants in your hunting areas. ###I have tried this on honeysuckle and one the deer start eating it they destroy it. ###For a coulple of years now I have been fertilizing and liming around a huge white oak where I have a stand. ###The first year the deer flocked to it. ###Last year it was so dry we did not have any acorns. ###Seems to work though.

[Don]

Sorry I don't have any pics. ###I had not thought about before and after pics. ###Good idea, I might have a place that will work.

I just playing around to see how the deer reacted when I fertilized the honeysuckle. ###They love this stuff anyway and it is all over the woods. ###I had read about it also and after trying it I wanted to know if anyone else had tried it.

[flahunter]

Don,
What kind of fertilizer do you use? And when fertilizing the oaks do you just do it around the drip line?

[Don]

For the oak trees I use 10-10-10. ###I have just spread it around the drip line and I also have used post hole diggers to dig holes around the drip line. ###This is a lot of work for a big tree but you get longer fertiliaztion from it because you put in more and it dissovles slowly. ###The tree will grow roots to it and take what it needs. ###I fertilize the trees twice a year, in the spring when the leaves start to grow and in the late summer when acorns are growing.

I also use the 10-10-10 on honeysuckle and occasionally ###I will give them a shot of nitrogen. ###

I did not mention this before but it is a good idea to have a soil test done. ###Where I live the soil is naturally acidic so about once a year I also add lime to the areas that I fertilize, usually in January since hunting season is over.

[flahunter]

Thanks Don! I am going up to my lease next weekend and plan on doing my annual planting and I might try to fertilize a little. My lease has alot of green byrars and some persimmons plus alot of red oaks so I think I might try it. Thanks

[Don]

I forgot about the ###bryars. ###Our deer love them too. ###Pick you a spot and fertilize to use as a test area. ###I would like to hear what you find.

[gantley]

for 15 years i have babied a red oak in the yard. ###when i started out the tree had two leaves and was about 1/8 inch in dia. ###now the tree is over 25 feet tall and is 6 maybe 8 in in dia. ###that is not the part that excited me. ###the young tree has been covered with acorns. ###

i also baby an old red oak in the yard with the same results. ###each year there is 5 gallon bucket after buck of good acorns. ###i have raked them and put the out for deer like corn. ###

now i am not the brightest person in the wolrd. ###while watching a show called 'The Management Atvantage' on the Outdoor Channel, i put 2 and 2 together. ###i now fertilize three goups of large oaks with 10-20-10. ###i use the drip line method of putting out the fertilize. ###i have seen folks fertilize pecan trees by punching holes in the gound aound the drip edge with an old car axle to fill with 13-13-13. ###i am sure that works too.

fertilize is cheep considering the return. ###

[TNDEERHUNTER]

I use 10-10-10 on the oak trees on my property and I have done this for 5 years now. I didn't notice a difference the first year but since the second year I have noticed a difference. I started with about a 1 acre patch of white oak trees. I can tell a difference in the size of the acorns and when they start to fall the deer seem to eat them first. I don't know if they taste better or if its because they are bigger. One thing is for sure it does make a difference.

[Don]

The deer is what I really noticed. ###I focused on one tree when I was trying this. ###The white oak is about 3 feet in diameter. ###There are a lot of white oak in this area where I hunt and I wanted to see if I could bring the deer to one. ###It worked. ###

I have seen several deer but have not shot one yet. ###The underbrush is thick, have not had a clean shot but I did see a nice 8 pointer this year. ###

I will fertilizing this tree again in the next few weeks.

[sven]

I have heard of guys fertilizing mature oaks to maximize acorn porduction. ###Most have said they just use 10-10-10 since it is readily available at garden supply stores. ###There was one guy that went as far as digging a shallow trench around the drip line of the trees he fertilized to contain any rain water from runoff. ###

I've been thinking about trying some fertilizer on a couple of oaks this year and see what happens.

[Don]

It may take a couple of years to really see an increase in deer in the area where the trees are. ###They have to find out that the acorns are better there. ###

I plan on fertilizing this week since the trees here are putting out now. ###

Our weather bounces around this time of year. ###Two days ago it was 29 in the morning. ###Today we are supposed to reach 80.