Collins Kids Black Walnut Plantation

[Lollykoko]

George, if I wasn't already tired when I got home, reading about your watering operation was enough to wear me out. I'm sure glad that someone planted my walnut trees for me a few decades ago. Now I have to do is cut out the white pines tucked in between them.

[George Collins]

[pa_friendly_guy]

WOW, what a Great unit George, how well does it work? does the charge stay over night? What unit did you buy? We all have questions. Tell us your thoughts.

[George Collins]

Guy, I actually composed an explanatory note to go along with that picture but it didn't post for some reason. My guess is that said note is sitting there on my big computer waiting for me to hit the "submit" button. The way I do this when posting a picture is to do so from my phone then "edit" the post to add any needed text. I am now composing this message from my iPhone.

The idea behind the fence is to trick the deer. A deer can jump really high or he can jump really long. However, he can't do both at the same time. So putting a tall fence on a slant and marking it with something easily seen by a deer (white marking ribbon) creates a psychologically impossible jump. That leaves the deer with only one other option - going through. By attempting to go through the obstacle, he is directed into the hot wire, the shock of which let's him know that going through the fence isn't an attractive option so choosing the least of all evils, he stays the heck out. Mission accomplished.

The unit is a solar powered Fi-Shock SS-440 Low Impedance Medium Duty Fence Energizer which is rated to energize 5 miles of fence and our fence is a smidge over 1/4 mile long. The hot wire is a Poly Wire and all the others are the plain metal wire normally used for electric fencing. The most frequently used and in retrospect the diameter preferred is 17 gauge. The metal posts are 6' tall and the wooden posts are treated 2 x 2s. The 2 x 2s were affixed to the metal posts 4' from the ground and the base of the 2 x 2s are 4' from the base of the post. The 2 x 2s were affixed using the same wire as was used for the fence itself. The fence consists of the one hot wire and 5 dummy wires. The dummy wires will all have white marking ribbon tied onto them to create that 3-D image because a deer sees in black and white so something pure white becomes very visible.

The beginning and end points of the fence are treated 4 x 4s that were salvaged from the kids' playhouse that survived the move perfectly from our old house to our new one until we went under that low slung cable that pulled it off the trailer and converted that seldom used waste of money that I told my wife in vain that it would be to MUCH more valuable scrap lumber.

I have no idea how long the unit will hold a charge as I was merely following the recipe as given by a fellow who reportedly had great success with an almost identical set-up.

The number of hot wires you can have is situationally driven. If rabbits are a problem, an additional, energized wire can be added at any height the user deems appropriate. We have insulators at the 1' mark but as of now there is no wire placed at that height. Last year, the only rabbit sized varmint that caused any trouble was that skunk that dug up that chestnut. He also got 2 or 3 walnuts but unless something become a consistent pest, I like the idea of letting as much wildlife as possible move about unmolested.

The one thing I'll do differently if another opportunity arises is to put all insulators on the outside aspect of the 2 x 2s instead of just the hot wire being positioned so.

On a side note, everything was watered again today - one hour fifty minutes. We planted 25 more bringing the total up to 444.

[pa_friendly_guy]

Interesting fence design. I have not seen it used around here. The theory sounds right to me, the design should work great for you. My garden fence is 4' high woven wire with a 1" X 2" mesh. The small mesh keeps the rabbits and ground hogs out, the hight seems to be enough to just discourage the deer from going in there. Like you say they could easily jump the fence, but with enough to eat with out having to jump anything they stay out. I think it is just a bother to them, and it is summer time, and life is good and food is pleantiful, so why exurt yourself by jumping over a fence, lol. They must be a Lazy as me,

[George Collins]

Work ended today before it ever really got started so I took the opportunity to put in some hours in the grove. We mulched everything that had not yet been, cut the grass out from under the hot wire and planted five more germinated nuts. That brings the total up to 449.

I've also conducted a test to determine the time between planting a just-germinated nut and the time until the sprout emerges. On March 14th, we planted four seeds that were in the earliest stages of germination visible to the naked eye. I marked those four and checked on them daily until all four finally sprouted. The results are as follows:
Nut #1 - 9 days
Nut #2 - 11 days
Nuts #3&#4 - 14 days.

[George Collins]

The rate of germination seems to be starting to slow a bit. We picked up every nut today to check for germination and only found 19. With those added, the grove is now up to 468.

Next weekend represents the 3-month point from when the first nuts went into the fridge. They will then be taken out of cold stratification and put into pots with hopes that the rate of germination will be higher than those that didn't receive artificial chilling. At a minimum, seeing the difference in germination rates will be interesting. The two batches will be kept very separate to avoid confusing from where newly germinating nuts came from.

The only task left to do to call the electric fence 100% done is to add white marking ribbon to the dummy wires. Anyone ever tried to buy white marking ribbon? We had to break down and order some from an online source for none of the ~10 places we checked had any. There is plenty of marking ribbon to be had in all of the colors of the rainbow . . . but not white!

What's up with that?

And the dern stuff HAS to be white for that is the color most visible to a deer.

[George Collins]

The fishing trip behind us, today it was time to get back to work. When I got home from work today, we started the now much expedited process of identifying germinated nuts. When the last one was nestled gently into its little dirt nest, we rounded the corner of the house and there, coming hard from The South was an ominous looking cloud.

Seeing such produced a surge of energy to get to and then get out of the grove as rapidly as possible. The Marine manifested and soon everyone was lined out and we were in the grove and dirt was flying. Only once before had we made sets at such a pace and that time too was storm-driven.

We got out of the field just as the wind started picking up and back home just as the first sprinkles of what is turning out to be a fierce thunderstorm arrived.

The thiry sets made today brings the total to 498. A quick survey of the rows as yet unplanted makes me believe that the field may be a bit larger than my original, crude pace count said it would be.

[George Collins]

Anyone know what's going on with this little tree? Why the leaves are turning black?




If last year's experience holds consistent, this wee feller is destined to turn solid black, desiccate and die.

[matt walker]

Looks like something that got too cold to me, but I don't know if that happens down there. Rattler bit it as retribution? I dunno.

Oh, wait, too cold or too wet. Is it in a hole that won't drain, maybe?