dbltree
Super Moderator
Red Cedars for bedding
Wondering what to plant to create awesome bedding cover for whitetails?
Try conifers! White and Norway spruce can work extremely well but unless i fence them I can't grow them here in SE Iowa and really...why bother when red cedars thrive, deer don't murder them every fall and they will choose red cedars for bedding over almost any other bedding choice!
These beds are all literally with 50-80 yards of my house!
Only one bed was not under a Red Cedar!
The IDNR State Forest Nursery has conifers of all kinds at very reasonable prices and they will ship to other states. Use red cedars or spruces for bedding, screening and thermal cover, inter-plant them into hinge cuts, screen along the edge of your timber or plant odd unused ares to a mix of conifers and shrubs.
IDNR State Forest Nursery
You'll never regret doing so!
Wondering what to plant to create awesome bedding cover for whitetails?
Try conifers! White and Norway spruce can work extremely well but unless i fence them I can't grow them here in SE Iowa and really...why bother when red cedars thrive, deer don't murder them every fall and they will choose red cedars for bedding over almost any other bedding choice!
These beds are all literally with 50-80 yards of my house!
Only one bed was not under a Red Cedar!
The IDNR State Forest Nursery has conifers of all kinds at very reasonable prices and they will ship to other states. Use red cedars or spruces for bedding, screening and thermal cover, inter-plant them into hinge cuts, screen along the edge of your timber or plant odd unused ares to a mix of conifers and shrubs.
IDNR State Forest Nursery
You'll never regret doing so!
SDHunt24/7
New Member
I just finished reading this entire thread and I have one word to say. Amazing!!! I am new to tree planting, having planted 600 trees on our property last spring. I have ordered 425 trees to plant this spring. I learned a couple hard lessons about protecting trees last year, as the number of deer on the property has swelled with the establishment of food plots. This year i have ordered 4 ft protex tubes to protect the hardwoods and shrubs. Last year i used some homemade 3 ft white pvc drain tile tubes with holes drilled in them. They protected the trees from deer, but I had trouble with mice and voles chewing the seedlings off. My question here is, if i leave the tube up off the ground around 1-2 inches will this prevent them from building nests in them. Last year I had the tubes placed flat with the ground and they must have came and burrowed in under them. The weeds are well controlled and the area around the trees is black dirt.
Also has anyone used deer repellent of any kind on their evergreens. The deer were very hard on my col. blue spruce and ponderosa pine.
Thanks again to doubletree and letemgrow and to all others who posted this useful info.
Bryan
Also has anyone used deer repellent of any kind on their evergreens. The deer were very hard on my col. blue spruce and ponderosa pine.
Thanks again to doubletree and letemgrow and to all others who posted this useful info.
Bryan
letemgrow
PMA Member
I NEVER have rodent problems in my tubes once I started keeping a 4 foot circle of bare dirt and they won't mess with crossing that opening to get inside the tubes.....the risk is not worth the rewards for them. I did have problems before as mice would haul in hickory nuts to the tubes and also girdle the seedlings inside the tubes...it was a nice little hang out for them. :grin:
Ideally it should look like the picture below around the seedlings for a couple reasons...faster growth (no competition) and no rodent problems. South Dakota may be different, but that has worked wonders for me in northern MO. Also, the taller the tube, the more likely they rodents are to find it a nice place to setup shop.
White oak:
You have any pics of your setup?
Last edited:
SDHunt24/7
New Member
Wow thanks for the quick reply. I don't have any pics available right now, but I will take some when I get back to the property. My dad lives near our property and does the majority of the upkeep. I will be going home in a few weeks to start spring work and can take some pics then. I planted a 6 row shelter belt last year and just planted trees in several different spots on our property in hopes to fill in open spots and keep prying eyes out in the future. This spring I will plant another shelter belt and also plant some other small stands for bedding areas down the road. Last year I planted red cedar, col blue spruce, pond. pine scattered around the property. The shelter belt consisted of caragana row, red and white oak row , american plum and midwest crabapple row and 2 rows of evergreens. The trees the mice bothered were the caragana and the oak.
SDHunt24/7
New Member
letemgrow: I used a gas post hole digger to plant most of my trees. It seemed to loosen the soil well and allow me to control the depth I needed to accommodate the roots of each tree. Our sod was too hard and thick for the tree planter we borrowed from pheasants forever. How well does a dibble bar work? I was looking at maybe buying one this year. Also what about the deer repellents to protect the spruce trees. It is a huge job caging 300-400 trees with wire.
letemgrow
PMA Member
Dibble bar works great for seedlings with small roots, I have one, but never use it as a shovel works much better IMO.
If you have a pile to plant, the dibble bar will make the planting go pretty fast. Is the ground prepped for the planting already?? A shovel makes quick work on areas that have been sprayed and the sod is dead....works up like sugar and the shovel can be used just like a dibble bar. Here is a pic of what I do the year before, spray 2-3 times with gly from spring thru fall so the site is prepped for the planting. After planting in green sod one year, that was the last time I will ever do that again.
SDHunt24/7
New Member
Some of the sites are prepped already and some are not. I plan to put down 3 mm weed mats around many of my new trees this year, so I need to get out soon and do some spraying when the snow is gone and the ground is thawing. I plan to do herbicide spraying this year upon the emergence of weeds and grasses. Last year I just hand pulled some and used a small 4 wheeler pulled disk to keep larger areas black. I saw all the info dbltree posted on different sprays, what should I use and do I need to cover the trees I planted last year when spraying this year? What about my new trees I plant this year? Can I get spray on them before they bud and be safe controlling grass and weeds?
letemgrow
PMA Member
If they have not broke dormancy, then you can spray over top. If they have (by the time you spray), you will need to spray around them and not let any drift hit the new growth. I just keep the wand about 6 inches high or so and its pointed away from the seedling as I circle it.
For oaks, oust is a great option, but it can be hard on shrubs if dosed too high. Prowl is a good one for basically all seedlings, sunflowers, beans, peas and you name it. Both can be added to roundup, but add the roundup last since it has the surfactant in it....always add the surfactant last.
SDHunt24/7
New Member
Great, thanks again and looking forward to keeping up with the forum.
letemgrow
PMA Member
Paul (dbltree) also uses a simazine/surflan mix for shrubs with good success in case either of those is an option for ya residual wise.
dbltree
Super Moderator
The Iowa State Forest Nursery is one of the least expensive places to order seedlings from (and they do sell out of state after February 1st) and I choose them because I can get large size seedlings at a low cost.
Iowa State Nursery
Last winter the nursery lost nearly all of their large sized red cedars to deer because of heavy snows in northern Iowa that lasted for months, so I either had to take shipment the following year or take more of the smaller 8-16" plants, so i chose the latter.
All in all they survived well with little mortality and should take off well this spring.
Most put on 6-8" of growth this past year.
The unprotected oak seedlings
get browsed pretty heavily
Although I hate weeds in many cases the pigweed actually protected the seedlings
The tubes....large and small however protected the seedlings
None of the Protex tubes (from Forestry Suppliers) came open despite temps to minus 10 and brutal bitter winter winds
The makings of a new oak savanna!
The Rigid tree protectors did not exactly "protect" too well and were in fact like waving a flag in front of an angry bull! Hormone charged bucks love to rip them to shreds!
They did tip over a few tubes but none were damaged nor were the seedlings so I simply set them back in place.
Tree tubes can be a little expensive but they certainly enhance rapid growth and protect against winter browsing. Federal and state cost share programs along with grants from the NWTF can help defray expenses and allow you to grow better quality trees that will produce mast at an earlier age. Hybrid oaks combined with tree tubes are a heckuva combination.... :way:
Iowa State Nursery
Last winter the nursery lost nearly all of their large sized red cedars to deer because of heavy snows in northern Iowa that lasted for months, so I either had to take shipment the following year or take more of the smaller 8-16" plants, so i chose the latter.
All in all they survived well with little mortality and should take off well this spring.
Most put on 6-8" of growth this past year.
The unprotected oak seedlings
get browsed pretty heavily
Although I hate weeds in many cases the pigweed actually protected the seedlings
The tubes....large and small however protected the seedlings
None of the Protex tubes (from Forestry Suppliers) came open despite temps to minus 10 and brutal bitter winter winds
The makings of a new oak savanna!
The Rigid tree protectors did not exactly "protect" too well and were in fact like waving a flag in front of an angry bull! Hormone charged bucks love to rip them to shreds!
They did tip over a few tubes but none were damaged nor were the seedlings so I simply set them back in place.
Tree tubes can be a little expensive but they certainly enhance rapid growth and protect against winter browsing. Federal and state cost share programs along with grants from the NWTF can help defray expenses and allow you to grow better quality trees that will produce mast at an earlier age. Hybrid oaks combined with tree tubes are a heckuva combination.... :way:
dbltree
Super Moderator
I use fiberglass fence posts that costs a buck a piece at TSC that last forever or you can buy bamboo stakes that last roughly a year or so...
letemgrow
PMA Member
Those things have crazy huge root systems...not fun to plant!
Pretty sure these were the last 25 hazelnuts I will be planting from seedlings so they are getting good fence around them. From now on, the actual seeds is all I want to put in the dirt from those things.
IQDM
New Member
Oust fried my shrubs
So I learned the hard way that Oust is tough on shrubs... you mentioned Prowl for shrubs as well as simazine/surflan? what rates do you guys use for those? and are you mixing them with RU? I assume that these are all all to be sprayed before dormancy break. ?
dbltree
Super Moderator
Prowl (I bought generic Stealth) is a pre-emerge herbicide so get it on early but (check the label) it's safe to spray over trees before bud break.
dbltree
Super Moderator
Shelterbelt's, Windbreaks and Living Snow Fence
Shelterbelt's and windbreaks were primarily designed to help protect farmsteads in the upper Midwest from raging winter blizzards and to help control soil erosion in the plains states but the concept is one we can also use to screen our properties and in many cases get paid to do it.
With another General CRP sign up under way and the Continuous CRP always available, you may wish to consider converting some land around the perimeter of your property to a tree planting. There are several options under CRP and several more with EQIP/WHIP cost share.
This link explains several options along with other Continuous CRP options
Continuous CRP Practices
CP5A Field Windbreak
2-8 rows trees or shrubs, Maximum width 200’, 10-15 year contract with 20% bonus, $100/acre incentive payment (one-time payment), and a $6 maintenance rate.
CP16A Shelterbelt Establishment
3 to 16 rows of trees and shrubs near farmstead or livestock, 10-15 year contract, $100/acre incentive payment (one-time payment), and a $6 maintenance rate.
CP17A Living Snow Fences
1-3 rows of trees or shrubs north or west of the road or lane, 100’ snow catch may be eligible, 10-15 year contract, $100/acre incentive payment (one-time payment), and a $6 maintenance rate.
If your property doesn't qualify for CRP there are still other tree planting options including Hedgerow planting and Shelterbelt plantings under EQIP/WHIP
You may choose to have a single row of red cedars along the fence/property line or a 200' wide "forest" but most will choose 4-8 rows that will effectively screen the property and also act as a travel corridor.
These are just a couple examples but of course the possibles are nearly limitless.
Here's a couple more links for additional ideas...
Pheasant Ecology: Shelterbelts and Windbreaks
Shelterbelts
Wildlife Habitat of Shelterbelts
If you can drive by your property and see anything but trees...you might want to consider a shelterbelt planting... :way:
Shelterbelt's and windbreaks were primarily designed to help protect farmsteads in the upper Midwest from raging winter blizzards and to help control soil erosion in the plains states but the concept is one we can also use to screen our properties and in many cases get paid to do it.
With another General CRP sign up under way and the Continuous CRP always available, you may wish to consider converting some land around the perimeter of your property to a tree planting. There are several options under CRP and several more with EQIP/WHIP cost share.
This link explains several options along with other Continuous CRP options
Continuous CRP Practices
CP5A Field Windbreak
2-8 rows trees or shrubs, Maximum width 200’, 10-15 year contract with 20% bonus, $100/acre incentive payment (one-time payment), and a $6 maintenance rate.
CP16A Shelterbelt Establishment
3 to 16 rows of trees and shrubs near farmstead or livestock, 10-15 year contract, $100/acre incentive payment (one-time payment), and a $6 maintenance rate.
CP17A Living Snow Fences
1-3 rows of trees or shrubs north or west of the road or lane, 100’ snow catch may be eligible, 10-15 year contract, $100/acre incentive payment (one-time payment), and a $6 maintenance rate.
If your property doesn't qualify for CRP there are still other tree planting options including Hedgerow planting and Shelterbelt plantings under EQIP/WHIP
You may choose to have a single row of red cedars along the fence/property line or a 200' wide "forest" but most will choose 4-8 rows that will effectively screen the property and also act as a travel corridor.
These are just a couple examples but of course the possibles are nearly limitless.
Here's a couple more links for additional ideas...
Pheasant Ecology: Shelterbelts and Windbreaks
Shelterbelts
Wildlife Habitat of Shelterbelts
If you can drive by your property and see anything but trees...you might want to consider a shelterbelt planting... :way: