Biodiverse Polyculture (USDA 8a Zone Pasture) - sounds better than "My Acres of Weeds"

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Man, that’s some acres of weeds!

Interesting mix, which is impressive as that clay soil looks…let’s say “challenging”.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Man, that’s some acres of weeds!

Interesting mix, which is impressive as that clay soil looks…let’s say “challenging”.

More challenging than I had expected. I'm down to low speed data on my cell phone, but will be going back and editing in additional comments and nutrition info on the pictures I took today.

 

[flagirl]

Dogfennek
View attachment 3047170

will the chickens eat this? i use it to deter bugs in pantry. a farmer i buy my wheat grain from in ND says he uses it to deter and kills wheat weevils, so i keep a large sprig in my bags.

 

[3KillerBs]

Dandelion, no flowers yet.
View attachment 3047231

If it wasn't blooming already several weeks ago, if the leaves are fuzzy rather than smooth, and if the flowers bloom on top of excessively long stems it may be False Dandelion rather than the normal dandelion.

Still perfectly edible and nutritious -- especially for livestock -- but less palatable to people as salad.

I know because my former property had only the false kind while this property has both (I'm trying to weed out the false dandelion and encourage the true dandelion).

As my pastor becomes established it is being out competed as well

This typo made me smile because one of my pastors is a commercial chicken farmer.

Yes, that's what my phone app was saying as well. If true, I certainly would not complain. There are several similar plants, though that is the tallest, in that area of the pasture. I just don't recall ever eating cherries around there, and have no explanation as to how they might have otherwise appeared there

It does appear to be trying to fruit, so I guess we will know soon?

You're too far south for anything but the scrubbier sorts of wild cherry. I can't even get cherries for my zone (border of 7b and 8a -- literally, it's within a mile of my house). Even up in Raleigh, edible cherries are said to fruit only once in several years if the conditions are exactly right.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

will the chickens eat this? i use it to deter bugs in pantry. a farmer i buy my wheat grain from in ND says he uses it to deter and kills wheat weevils, so i keep a large sprig in my bags.

Neither my chickens nor my goats nor my rabbit will eat dog fennel.

We loaded tons of it under our RV, and found no bug repellent properties, either. Due to moisture content, it makes a very poor addition to deep litter - I would no t throw any significant amount into the coop in hopes of deterring little bugs.

The tall stalks, when dried, are quite stiff, thick, and brittle - they make great kindling. The plant itself does a great job of breaking up clay soils - its roots are relatively shalow, but tightly bundled. I'm using it to break up my ground, provide shade (the birds do love to dust bathe next to it), and ripping it out as more desired plants spread nearby.

TY for asking!!!!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

If it wasn't blooming already several weeks ago, if the leaves are fuzzy rather than smooth, and if the flowers bloom on top of excessively long stems it may be False Dandelion rather than the normal dandelion.

Still perfectly edible and nutritious -- especially for livestock -- but less palatable to people as salad.

I know because my former property had only the false kind while this property has both (I'm trying to weed out the false dandelion and encourage the true dandelion).



This typo made me smile because one of my pastors is a commercial chicken farmer.



You're too far south for anything but the scrubbier sorts of wild cherry. I can't even get cherries for my zone (border of 7b and 8a -- literally, it's within a mile of my house). Even up in Raleigh, edible cherries are said to fruit only once in several years if the conditions are exactly right.

I'll leave the typo - was doing speech to text.

and I didn't think cherries (of whatever sort) would grow here at all - not enough chill hours - so I was stunned to see it putting out what eventually will be fruit (of some sort). Like my wild blackberry, or my wild grapes, I did not expect large, sweet, easy to harvest fruits like the commercial varietals. I was sort of wondering if it might be chokecherry....

 

[3KillerBs]

I was sort of wondering if it might be chokecherry....

I've never been able to tell one kind of scrub/weed cherry from another.

If I had a setup more like yours I might try to replace scrub cherries with some of the native plums.

 

[RubelliteRose]

Thanks for the update with all the pictures!! You have identified many of the plants on our property for me

I was sort of wondering if it might be chokecherry....

I was just going to say that I think it is a chokecherry. Our neighbor has one in their pasture.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I've never been able to tell one kind of scrub/weed cherry from another.

If I had a setup more like yours I might try to replace scrub cherries with some of the native plums.

I have peaches from a UGA cultivar for our area I hope to spread, in time. We are also trying to add raspberry, loganberry, and next year maybe jostaberry. We are also considering olives, if we can find the right cultivar, and figs. Our efforts with pecan were a complete fail.

The wonderful thing about it just being my wife and I is that we don't need an orchard - just two or three of each species will see to our needs and offer some seasonal variety (the same way I offer four varieties of clover to my chickens), so an investment in diversity is relatively cheap, if we are willing to wait for the plant to mature.

our little dinosaurs are, of course, perfectly willing to help with anything bruised, wilted, bug-sampled, etc...

 

[RubelliteRose]

will the chickens eat this? i use it to deter bugs in pantry. a farmer i buy my wheat grain from in ND says he uses it to deter and kills wheat weevils, so i keep a large sprig in my bags.

Neither my chickens nor my goats nor my rabbit will eat dog fennel.

We loaded tons of it under our RV, and found no bug repellent properties, either. Due to moisture content, it makes a very poor addition to deep litter - I would no t throw any significant amount into the coop in hopes of deterring little bugs.

The tall stalks, when dried, are quite stiff, thick, and brittle - they make great kindling. The plant itself does a great job of breaking up clay soils - its roots are relatively shalow, but tightly bundled. I'm using it to break up my ground, provide shade (the birds do love to dust bathe next to it), and ripping it out as more desired plants spread nearby.

Keep dogfennel around with caution. While it supposedly has insecticidal properties and the dried stems are very useful, it is toxic to the liver so keep an eye out and make sure your goats don't change their mind about eating it. Unfortunately, my daughter's horse isn't as smart as your goats so we are working on eliminating it.
"Ingestion of dog fennel by your horse can cause him to have various issues. In a short amount of time, it can cause a dermatitis issue or diarrhea. If he ingests this plant over a longer period of time, it can cause internal bleeding tendencies you may not even realize until it is too late. " "The volatile oil produced by the dog fennel plant is what is toxic to your horse. The oil is made up of bisabolol, chamazulene, anthemic acid, and tannic acid." "there is no antidote to dog fennel poisoning"