Should I be drawing down my wetlands right now. We got 6" of rain last week and my ponds are full. I'm trying to promote moist soil plants.

Thanks

Mother nature may do it on her own over the next four months, do you have the ability to replenish the water or are you counting on rain?

Yes, I've got an agricultural well so I can pump it back up or flush it

I'm a novice at best but I do know that you want to discourage perennial growth and promote annuals (more seed production). To achieve this you must disk every few years and have a slow draw down to retain native seed already in the soil. Different papers I've read on the subject suggest doing so in the first 45 days of your local growing season. Makes sense though...

Quite the opposite. Moist soil management is based on naturally occurring perennials. The beauty of it is that the seed stays dormant until the water is removed, so you can perfectly time the germination period/maturity with waterfowl season. The reason for the slow removal of water is simply to maintain adequate soil moisture during the first stages of plant growth.

For example, barnyard grass (my favorite) has a 75-90 germination period so you can do the math pretty easy. For example, if you have three impoundments, you can stagger the draw down so that so one impoundment matures for teal season, one for the first split and one for the second split.

Long story short, the plants you are trying to promote will determine when to draw down and how slowly to do so. Consult a field book and someone with the knowledge to help you define which plants should stay and which should go.

Our wetlands was sold to new owners this past February. Because they are a long distance from here (they live in Houston area) and we are only 5 miles away, I agreed to help them over the next several seasons in doing the annual or bi-annual draw-downs, the discing and then the replanting of the entire area.

I started the draw down in mid-March and ran it out over a month's time. The next few weeks was strictly time for the fall's shallow flooded areas to dry out enough to get equipment in there to disc, install a couple new pit blinds and seed all of the duck-grocery areas. That work was all completed by yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera yesterday when I was doing the seeding or I would provide some pics. Perhaps the new owners took some and will post a few.

In the meantime, Don't overlook the DU website as a good resource for waterfowl hunting and habitat management info. As an example ... http://www.ducks.org/media/Conservation/GLARO/_documents/_library/_landowner/Landowner_Guide.pdf

I don't think that is correct. It only makes sense to promote the growth of annuals with a higher seed yield per acre. The annuals get choked out by the perennial that have a deeper root structure. Discing prevents the perennials from taking hold and allows the seeds from the annuals(naturally present in the soil)to be able to grow and produce more duck groceries per acre. I was just guessing on the slow draw down, good point on that though.

Rooster ... which annuals are you referring to that don't need replanting each spring? There are very few if any quality waterfowl food sources that provide sufficient seeds for feeding birds through the season and promote re-propagation in ensuing seasons.

http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/wdb/pub/wmh/contents.html
http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/wdb/pub/wmh/13_4_6.pdf
What grows here or there may not grow at your place..Take in a soil sample to the county agent..and ask the local wetland bio..It does have to be timed right or you could have a bunch of burrs come up no matter how much discing you do..Everything has its own time, temps, moisture content,etc to grow..

Thanks for the help guys. The wetlands was completely drawn down until last week when we got 6 inches of rain. I pulled a board out yesterday and will start to draw it down again. I've heard you are supposedly flush the wetlands once or twice during the growing season. Is this beneficial?

There are a variety of annual seeds in any soil depending on location. I would definitely seed the soil after discing. The point I was trying to make is that the annuals will give you a higher seed yield than perennials resulting in more duck food.

Wish I was complaining about 6 inches of rain.

Me too!!

I've never heard of flushing a wetland. Maybe to try and kill/drown unwanted plants?? I doubt that would very effective. At 30 days post germination, we apply a broadleaf herbicide (2,4-D) and follow up 15 days later with high nitrogen fertilizer (42-0-0 or 38-5-3). If rain is not in the forecast we will add water after the fertilizer but only enough to ensure strong absorption. Again, it all depends on which plants you are trying to promote.

Found a good calendar for you to refer to regarding moist soil draw down/management.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_pr_w7000_1179a.pdf

Recent DU issue on Moist Soil Management

http://www.ducks.org/conservation/habitat/a-primer-on-moistsoil-management?poe=wr

Nothing beats flooded corn, nunca, nada, niet

This is my lease this year.
Pic taken last year.

It will be epic

Holly smoke

were did you get all those decoys

^^ www.livemallards.com

I put them on a stringer with a brick at the end. Old skool like we used to do it in europe.

Looks like a great spot, good luck with it.

lol

I need to bring out the excavator though, they were fighting for a spot this mornin while scauting

hmmmmmm looks like a good skillet shot to me!