Planting the Ozark Chinquapin

Today, the first little Ozark Chinquapin that sprouted was moved to its new home.

1) Dug a hole with the post hole digger - the hole was slightly deeper than the cardboard tube was tall.

2)  Drove a T-post on either side of the hole, spaced so that the wire cage would fit between them.

3) Put some topsoil down in the bottom and mixed it with some of the clay that came out of the hole.  

4) Wrapped the cardboard tube in chicken wire.  This is an attempt to protect the little nut, because if it is stolen, the tree likely won't survive.  The chicken wire will rust and eventually break (I hope).  If it doesn't, I can dig down around the tree when its older and cut it loose.

5) Centered the cardboard tube in the hole and started filling it back with topsoil mixed with the clay.

6) Filled the hole to the top then slightly pinched the wire around the top, again, trying to protect the nut.

7) Put a plastic container around the little tree to protect it from the wind (it was VERY windy today!).  The container will also help concentrate the water around the tree's roots this summer.  I learned that last year when I had that same container around a little oak tree that I planted.  Mounded the rest of the clay around the plastic container, because I believe the dirt will settle when it rains.  I may actually have to remove the cage after it rains and fill in some more around the cardboard tube.

8) Secured the wire cage around the newly planted tree.  The cage may look like overkill, but because the cattle are still in that field, it has to be sturdy enough to withstand them rubbing on it.  I may actually drag some of the cut privet limbs up and pile them around the cage to keep the cattle back until we get the new fence put up (this is my future wildflower meadow).

9) Stepped back and imagined how the two Ozark Chinquapin trees will look five years from now.  The tree I planted last year is in the cage by the stump, with the newly planted tree about 10 feet to the west.  I hope I planted them far enough apart.

I really hope the little trees put on some good growth this year.  I was a bit disappointed that the one I planted last year because it is only about 3" tall.  But it has new leaves, so at least I know it survived the winter.  I'll see how the trees look come June.

UPDATE 4/3/2024 - I looked out the front window yesterday morning and there was Arnold (the young bull) beside the new cage, just rubbing and rubbing and rubbing!  "This feels so good!" I heard him thinking.  Luckily, the cage and posts did their job and stayed in place.  He did bend the wire in a couple of spots but not so bad that the cage is non-functional.  

UPDATE 4/7/2024 - Well, the cows were at it again, rubbing on the cage and it is now bent in quite a bit at the bottom.  I drove two more T-posts beside it...one on the east side and another on the west.  I'll see what they do now.  The good news is that the tree still looks Ok.

The Ozarks Chinquapin Foundation 

(Other blog posts about the Ozarks Chinquapin)

Spring 2024

 

Sunrise at 7:27 am on Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

All stove-up

 

I've been trying to make up for lost time with the privet down in The Carey Woods.  I got a late start this winter and because of the unseasonably warm weather in February, I knew the sap was going to start rising, putting an end to the cut-stump treatments.

I feel that I made really good progress though. The section I started on last winter is almost entirely clear now with the exception of just a few trunks.

I wish I had kept count of how many trunks I cut and treated.  I do know that in the area between the downed trees shown in the top picture below, I cut and treated 25 trunks in a 15' section.  There was lots and lots and lots of privet down there...so much privet.

Privet thicket last winter.

Area shown above as it looked after more work this winter.

Looking up the hill through the same area now.  The privet has all been cut and the stumps treated.  With it gone, you can now see all the way up to the top of the hill.

RAF always worries when I go down there, and offers to go with me, but I tell him he doesn't need to go.  He then always tells me to be extra careful.  I always tell him I will be.

It really isn't an easy place to work.  I've slipped on rocks on the hillside, and stumbled climbing over things.  I've had privet limbs flip up and hit me in the lip.  I've had scratches from the stickers and bruises on my ribs from bracing the loppers while I cut.  Nothing serious though.

But a couple of weeks ago as I was tugging a privet limb out of the cedar top, one of its wispy long branches whipped across my face under my glasses.  It happened so fast that I didn't even have time to  blink.  The end of the limb raked right across the surface of my right eye.  I thought I was blinded!  It stung for a good while, but eventually I was able to open that eye and to my relief, my vision didn't seem to be affected at all.

Once my eye stopped watering, I got back to work because I was nearly finished with that section and I didn't want to quit until it was done.  But only a little while later as I was pulling another limb out, it got tangled up with a second limb.  I could tell there was quite a bit of pressure on that second one, which was about an inch and a half in diameter.  The thought had just entered my mind that I needed to stop tugging and untangle them, when suddenly that second limb snapped free and WHAM! hit me right in my left temple.  It knocked me sideways and my glasses went all wonky and almost fell off.  I think if I hadn't been wearing the glasses though it could have been much worse.  As it was, all I got was a big scratch and a really sore spot beside my left eye.  After a little bit of bending and straightening on the glasses, and a few choice words and phrases later, I was able to get back to work, and finish for the day.

Both of those accidents happened, I think, because I was tired and kept working when I should have stopped.  I'm just very lucky that my eyes weren't hurt.  (And yes, I intend to get some good eye protection that I can wear over my glasses before I start cutting again next winter.  Eyeglasses <> eye protection.)

When I got ready to go down to the woods this past Sunday, RAF looked at me and said, "Please be very careful," then frowned.   I told him I would be.

I knew I wasn't going to be able to cut and treat very much.  I was low on herbicide, and the privet had already started to green up.  I cut the last big privet bush at the top of the hill, treated it and just managed to squirt out enough herbicide to get all the way around the stump.

Since the herbicide was gone, I decided to just walk down the hill with Walter and start cutting out the tops of every privet tree I came across.  That didn't last long though...I made it to the bottom of the hill, cut a few limbs and Walter's battery died. I had found a nice privet stick that made a perfect walking stick, so the stick, Walter and I headed back up the hill through the newly cleared path.  

I don't know if I just wasn't paying attention, or if I'm just naturally clumsy (both?) but as I got almost back to the top of the hill, I snagged the toe of my right boot on the butt end of a privet trunk that I had left laying perpendicular with the pathway last year.  My momentum was forward, but because my toe was snagged on the stick, the movement of my foot was not.  I fell and landed HARD on a rock with my right knee.  Serious pain - for a few minutes I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get up.  I sat there for a while, feeling all around on my kneecap and since nothing seemed to be broken or out of place, I carefully tried bending and straightening my knee.  It still worked.  So I picked up the stick that had tripped me, gave it a few choice words and phrases then threw it with some force onto one of the piles of limbs.  I then picked up Walter (I don't think he was injured in the fall) and my privet walking stick and limped up the hill to the cart and made my way back home.

I didn't tell RAF what had happened.  I just put some antibiotic ointment and a bandage over the cut on my knee and kept working on stuff for the rest of the day.  But when I got up the next morning, I knew the injury was a bit more serious than I had thought and I had to confess to RAF what had happened.  He was not pleased.

By Monday evening, my knee was quite swollen, red and hot to the touch.  I could barely bend it, and once bent, could barely straighten it back out.  I was, as the expression goes, all stove-up.

But it's now Thursday evening, and while my knee is still very sore, I can tell that it's better.  The swelling has gone down some, and it's not so red and hot anymore.  I can actually bend it going up and down the steps.  

I still have one more day before the weekend.  Lord willing, I'll be able to take Walter back down into the woods and continue on my mission.  I really did think I was being careful. So can I work down there without doing something else stupid?  That's the million dollar question isn't it....

More posts about my war on privet

Ozark Chinquapins in 2024

I re-upped my membership in the Ozark Chinquapin Foundation on January 1 this year and on January 27, I got a nice surprise in the mail!

Chinquapin seeds

Unfortunately, while the package says five seeds, there were only three in the bag, and I'm not sure two of those are any good.  One of the three had already started to sprout, but the other two had not.

But even if there is only one viable seed, I hope I can do a better job of protecting it this year, and if the one little tree from last year survived the winter, I hope I can have two here in my yard by the end of the summer.

So today (Monday, March 4) I've taken the two that hadn't started to sprout, and I've planted them in cardboard paper towel tubes.  If they do sprout, my thinking is that I can dig a hole with the post hole digger and just plant them in that hole in their cardboard tube, hopefully protecting the little taproot from being damaged.  I'll be sure to update this post with pictures if (when!) that happens.

UPDATE: Thursday, March 28 - On March 21, I was delighted to discover that a tiny sprout had emerged in one of the tubes!

By this afternoon, the little tree was about an inch and a half tall, with two nice little leaves and a third emerging in the center.

I've tried to mainly water from the bottom once the nut sprouted, thinking that would encourage the tap root to grow straight down toward the water.  So far, there's no sign of the tap root at the bottom of the cardboard tube (and that's a good thing!), but I don't think it will be much longer until it will break through the cardboard at the bottom.  

So tomorrow the little tree will be planted outside and protected with a sturdy cage to protect it from rabbits, deer and (right now, most importantly) the cattle!

The Ozarks Chinquapin Foundation 

(Other blog posts about the Ozarks Chinquapin)