Timber Companies Spraying

If they are spraying glycowhateverthehell it will not penetrate the ground at all

You better axe permission before you plant on the clearcuts. They spray to kill any competition of the pines they will plant this fall/winter.

Just go ahead and be prepared for a group of migrant workers coming in and planting it during hunting season. Usually during peak rut too. And you won’t get a heads up either.

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Grandfathered in

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These aren’t new clearcuts?

So, it depends on the company and what philosophy they use with their herbicide program.

Most companies use a three way combination of imazapyr, glyphosate, and sulfumeturon methyl. This will kill whatever is there as well as provide soil activity that will keep your plot from growing all winter. It will basically keep anything from growing until about May or June of next year.

Weyerhaeuser has a unique approach. They do more mechanical ripping in the summer, then they Plant and spay imazapyr only the following year over the top of the young pines. You should be ok there.

As for a tarp....uh, how big is your plot?

The best thing I can tell you to do is to delineate the food plot as much as possible. Like with a dozer or a tractor. If you make it obvious, the helicopter pilot will most likely skip over that spot. If he can't tell the plot from the rest of the cutover as he's flying by at 80 mph then he'll just spray it all.

Yes, I was in this business for about 6 years. I've sprayed hundreds of thousands of acres of pine plantation.

Plot is probably +/- 1/4 acre, its small

It is Weyerhaeuser land. They just sent letter said will be spraying sometime between 7-1 thru 7-31

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Weyerhaeuser

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They usually spray imazapyr only. (Or at least they used to). And imazapyr won't kill legumes. So you'd be ok with clover in your plot. (Imazapyr started life as a soybean herbicide so legumes are immune).

They've sprayed several of our plots over the last couple of years. If you don't designate an area as a protected food plot, they will spray it. Hell, two years ago the guy was spraying me as I drove the tractor towards one of out plots. Whatever they use does have residual impacts to the soil. An area we haven't designated was sprayed last fall and it was barren all winter. It used to produce some of our best growth. If it's an established plot, it'll show up as such on the maps they provide on the website for your lease. You can also contact the recreational manager for Weyerhaeuser to see if they have a record of the plot. Personally, I try to designate at least one plot every time they clear cut so I have areas to provide plots that they will not screw with. Like No Colors said, try seeding clover or another legume in case it does get hit. Maybe a quicker growing one that'll jump during hunting season. The biggest issue with the spraying is that it delays the benefits of a cutover for a few years. We're on year five of our lease and the areas that were cut in year one are just now getting to where they will hold deer. They have been parking lots up until now. Our best area got cut a few months ago. It'll be worthless for four years. Then it'll be great.