joeelmo54

Recently crowned existing trails/roads in SW AR and want to plant soon for erosion contorol. Have approx. 6 miles through wooded area and gets small amount of direct sunlight. My seed supplier suggested kentucky 31 fescue. Ask him about endophyte concern with deer. He says no problem. What do you say? Primary goal is for erosion but would sure like to benefit deer and turkeys, the area totals to about 6 acres. It is extremely dry now and don' t expect that I will have sufficent moisture to plant until mid to late Sep., trying to get something growing this fall to help with erosion and mud. Trails are supposed to only be for 4-wheelers and foot traffic. Any suggestions- Ryegrass, Bahiagrass

Dan O.

As far as I' ve been told deer only feed on grass when it is young, tender and if they are forced to. Fescue is a grass species. You' ll probably get good erosion control but benefitting the deer is questionable. A mix that includes white clover will get you part way there.

Dan O.

Wooddust

If there is little sunlight fescue wont make it. Look in your wooded areas next to a fescue pasture...
The endophyte issue is huge and you wont impact it either way plus it only impacts cattle to any degree. Bigger issue is fescue sucks for any wildlife.

Use orchardgrass or a native grass, seed it and drag it in next spring. Rely on legumes more than grass, korean lespedeza is a top choice, ladino clover also

Tree climber

winter rye has a root system that is next to none for erosion.it is also a great attrant for the deer.JMO

farm hunter

Rye will grow, especially in the fall as the leaves drop. Rye cannot handle much foot traffic though - but will be OK the first fall. In my area (central NY) there is a wild grass that will grow in shaded areas. It grows natural if we keep the trails mowed once a year. It has a very narrow blade, and is kind of wispy - but it grows thick, and stands up well to foot traffic, and light vehicle traffic. The deer will not eat it though - we were able to mix in some white dutch clover in the sunnier places, the deer use the roadways to travel on.

If you can....the best way to benefit the deer with your raodways - is to cut back brush - 10 -20 ft on either side of the roadway - and fertilize it. Cut it back every 2-5 years - the browse will be thick, and more sunlight will reach the roadways - for whatever mix you end up with.

timbercruiser

On new roads I use Argentina Bahia mixed with Browntop Millet in the summer and substitute ryegrass for the millet in the fall/winter. A light amount of grass hay in problem potential areas helps a lot.

joeelmo54

Was thinking about planting a mix of ryegrass and bahiagrassin Sep. and then possibly overseeding with more bahiagrass in the spring. Do you think that I would get any benefit from the bahia this fall/winter.

Dan O.

Joel; as strange as it may sound a good growth of forbs (weeds to most people) will give you erosion control and are part of the deer' s standard diet. You can just enrich it with some clover or other legume to make it more tempting. Even if you plant a crop in that location, if you don' t tend it the weeds will move in anyways.

Examples; chickory, goldenrod.

Dan O.

joeelmo54

Talked to County Extensions folks today and their suggestion for fall plantings on trails/roads was ryegrass, winter wheat, and ladino clovers. I am looking at that option strongly. Ultimately the trails will probably be taken over by native grasses and weeds, and that is fine. Our club has 50 members (fortunately only about 25 utilize our property, to some degree) and covers just shy of 4000 acres. The trails are scattered through out the acerage. It would be great to utilize these areas as food plots, but the primary usage is for access to areas of the property and we have approx. 40 acres of plots and do supplemental feedings. The trails will get heavy 4-wheeler and foot traffic starting soon. I just want to do what we can to preserve the money spent to ditch and crown the trails as we have many low areas and flooding and standing water becomes a problem in some areas. Just makes sense to help the wildlife with forage in the short term if possible until we achieve the ulimate erosion control goal and we may find that some of the grasses, forbs and legumes may be of long term significance as well.