Planting Honeysuckle at the feeder.

[Slick8]

I went out to the lease to fill the protein feeder take measurements for repairs and plant some honeysuckle with a watering system install.

I know some of you don't approve of planting Honeysuckle but please don't make this a Urinary Decathlon, some others here may wish to do the same.

I installed 3 healthy sized plants in the ground with wire cages for protection and am going to water a small amount every other day. I'm in an area that gets just enough rainfall for them to do okay until summer where it typically dries up to nearly a crisp. Additionally I'm not planting for them to do okay, I fertilized lightly and want them to flourish.

I'm watering from my 275 tote which the deer rarely drink from....I think it's a bathtub for the coons. I used a small bilge pump which was laying around from another project and an old water hose with a 12vdc deer feeder timer. The only draw back to any deer feeder timer is they have a maximum 30 second run time. But, again it and the box was in the shed begging to be re-purposeed.




The feeder will be moved to the left on my next trip with a Krivoman directional installed slinging parallel to the line of honeysuckle.



The plants are 23-26 yards from the stand with the corn running 18-24.




I left directly from work on Friday to do a little predator hunting. I was accused of setting up a meth lab...

[sports]

Looks good. Looking forward to game camera pics later in the season. Good luck

[Sippy]

Im a fan! In fact i prefer the invasive Japanese variety.

[Slick8]

Im a fan! In fact i prefer the invasive Japanese variety.

Thanks, I'm now cleaning coffee from the computer screen.

[kingchip]

They sell an automatic water hose valve at Home Depot and such that is battery operated. I use them to water fruit trees.

[Slick8]

They sell an automatic water hose valve at Home Depot and such that is battery operated. I use them to water fruit trees.

How do you control it's off and on operation, does it come with a timer? At that point is it gravity fed? I had thought about something like this but had most everything I needed laying around the house. Additionally, I can run it multiple times. I currently have it set for two 30 second cycles every other day. I'll likely double that come summer.

I tested the battery and pump combo in the pool and it ran continuously for 20 minutes until I thought that was enough and pulled the plug. With the solar panel and limited run time, it should be fine.

[KactusKiller]

The feeder timer is a great idea!

[Slick8]

That's what I'm doing now. It's set for two 30 second runs a minute apart. I'll likely double that when it gets hot.

[Hydestik]

I guess deer like to eat Honeysuckle ?

[Slick8]

Yup, plus depending on conditions its protein content can run as high as 15%.

Deer like it and most anything you wish to plant in your yard. Honeysuckle happens to be fast growing and easy to take care of.

[CoolArrow]

"Urinary decathlon". That's funny!

[DTala]

I would make the cage larger to allow for more growth out of the deers reach. Leave the cage and let the deer eat what grows outside. Otherwise the deer will kill the plant by overgrazing it.

[Slick8]

You could be right. I pre-fabbed the cages at home and didn't think they'd be so tight to the plant.

I don't have a great deal of pressure at this feeder which is one of the reasons for the added forage to attract the does over to this area and little more.

It will hopefully have very little pressure as I don't turn this feeder on until August. I run a protein feeder about 150 yards away. Additionally, they hardly touch the corn slinger until after the corn is harvested and they pick up the remnants from the field.

[GarGuy]

I would make the cage larger to allow for more growth out of the deers reach. Leave the cage and let the deer eat what grows outside. Otherwise the deer will kill the plant by overgrazing it.

Yep, good point. I have a ton of honeysuckle and the deer hammer it late season. Longer, low to the ground style cages might work better too. Just bent a hump in a 8ft piece of wire and stake it on the edges as honeysuckle loves to run along the ground and root down. Im with Dtala on leaving the cages or they will wreck it.

I have it all along a 200yd fence row thats grown up in Youpon. It just made a mass of vines on that fence row. Its on the edge of my food plot and gets fertilized right along with the food plot.

[Slick8]

I went this weekend, one month after planting. I filed the protein feeder, helped the landowner install a Jagerpro wireless hog trap and tied up the runners on the honeysuckle. All three plants are about 3 feet tall and growing really well.

The deer hardly bother with that feed pen so hopefully it can go un-molested until August when I turn the golden nugget slinger on.