Tree Planting

[dbltree]

My son helped me catch up on my own tree planting and we finally finished up planting 100 Norway Spruce and 250 red cedars. The Norway Spruce we planted as both a screen and for looks along our driveway

2 rows staggered so eventually they will screen the field

The red cedars we planted around the edge to screen the timbered areas

As a screen only we planted them 3-4' apart

I was concerned about Phomopsis blight but these seedlings have been heeled in the garden for 2 weeks now and appear to be in good shape.

Most are a healthy color

It's common to have some look like this but usually they recover

Increasingly I notice cedar screens along fields exposed to the road as more and more landowners make an effort to protect their deer from poachers and to just make them feel safe on their property. :way:

 

[dedgeez]

speaking of tree screens. We are in the process of planting on the inlaws Christmas tree farm right now. So far we have put in 2500 fraziers, balsams, and scotch pine. I am going to save about 75 to plant along the road on the North farm for a screen. i am worried that if I plant any of these 3 the deer will pick them off as fast as I plant. I am open to ordering some red cedars if you think that would be a better option. I was thinking of putting in Scotch pine and just letting them get tall and narly. This is in Winneshiek county and the deer #'s on this farm are high so I am just worried about it being a waste of time. I need something that will grow fast and thick. Thanks

 

[turkeyriver]

"IN-LAWS"???? You head off to Vegas last month dedgeez? Planting soft needle pines in a deer wintering area is asking for trouble. Better cage'em. Cedars don't get hit as bad but deer WILL eat them in a tough winter. Red cedar doesn't grow quite as fast as other pines so there is a trade-off. Better let FB have their way until all your plantings are above browse height.

 

[ILBowHunter]

Hi guys, what's the most economical method for caging 3-4 yr old spruce transplants? I've got about 100 new plantings that I was considering caging, but after my first round of pricing 3-4' woven wire type fencing, the cost seems prohibitive. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong location.

Thanks

 

[bryan]

Hi guys, what's the most economical method for caging 3-4 yr old spruce transplants? I've got about 100 new plantings that I was considering caging, but after my first round of pricing 3-4' woven wire type fencing, the cost seems prohibitive. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong location.

Thanks

You would be suprised how much fencing is laying around in line fences on farms you just have to keep your eye open... I got lucky and talked to my girlfriends dad about the price of fencing and he told me he want to take a pasture down so i took it down for him am caged in about 60 pines this year...:way:

 

[dbltree]

You would be suprised how much fencing is laying around in line fences on farms you just have to keep your eye open... I got lucky and talked to my girlfriends dad about the price of fencing and he told me he want to take a pasture down so i took it down for him am caged in about 60 pines this year...:way:

That's the ticket right there! I scavenge rolls of woven wire pulled out of fence rows being replaced with 5 strand barbed wire or to open up crop fields. Not as common in ares with no cattle but in southern Iowa cattle and fences are everywhere!

I am open to ordering some red cedars if you think that would be a better option.

RC have proven the best option for me and actually grow faster then spruce although slower then pines. Plant a strip of Egyptian Wheat or sorghum to screen the property while the trees are growing. :way:

 

[letemgrow]

Hi guys, what's the most economical method for caging 3-4 yr old spruce transplants? I've got about 100 new plantings that I was considering caging, but after my first round of pricing 3-4' woven wire type fencing, the cost seems prohibitive. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong location.

Thanks

As others stated, keep any eye open as there is old woven wire laying around all over the place in cattle country. I got 3 rolls myself, but now am out so I am looking for more!!

Eyed a roll on my uncles farm, now I just have to talk him out of it.

 

[IQDM]

Yesterday I took to a new project that involved using cuttings to screen a new food plot. The food plot as seen in the drawing is the deadly Y shape food plot! The shape of this plot naturally brings cruising bucks to the center of the plot and within bow range. Using cuttings I am attempting to screen the view from one finger of the plot to the other fingers. With screening along the edges, the buck will not be able to just quickly scan the field and leave. He will be forced to come to the center of the plot in order to check for does in each finger.

Using willow cuttings from nearby plants, we cut them at 8" to 12" pieces and put them in buckets.

I am no expert in the world of cuttings, so I did some different things to see what works and what does not. I tried some cuttings with the rooting hormone and some without.

I tried some with black plastic weed protector and some without.

We will see if there is any difference in growth rates or survival rates among the different techniques. I would bet however that because they are willow and very hardy to begin with, there won’t be much difference. I had a pail of cuttings that had been in my garage for couple weeks waiting to go in the ground and look what they looked like when I opened them yesterday! :shock: The pail was filled with water and the cuttings had all sprouted new roots and had new growth coming out of the tops! Seeing that makes me thing that the hormone may not be needed with willows. :way:

Either way, hormone or not, plastic or not, we stuck a ton of new cuttings in along the edge of the new food plot and I am excited how it affects deer movement once the cuttings get up to screening height!

Also, we tried sticking in some larger cuttings to see if that works. If it does, we could possibly sick in 3' tall plants and in 2 years would have a pretty nice screen already!

 

[dbltree]

Interesting stuff on the cuttings! :way:

Root Trapper Bags

I have some Kazak apple seedlings that I started last year in Root Maker cells and over wintered in the garden and I want to grow them this summer in the Root Trapper bags

They already have a nice root system established from the RM cells.

I mixed up a concoction of potting soil and top soil

This is what the inside of the bags look like

I sealed the top with some black clay loam and then topped that off with straw to hold moisture

This my first time using the bags so if you have experience with them please share problems or concerns to watch out for...

 

[dbltree]

Conifer Candling

What does new growth look like on conifers? Spraying many over the top herbicides can severely damage or kill conifers when they are candling so it's helpful to be aware of the new growth.

White pine

You can see where the "candles" will appear but they have not yet started on this tree

Norway Spruce

barely starting on this tree

but on these smaller Norway spruce candling is clearly evident

and I would avoid spraying anything over these trees until the candles have hardened off by early summer

The red cedars are less obvious but this one has new growth on it

While the more dormant recently planted seedlings do not

This hybrid oak from Oikos has already broke bud

While this one has not

I sprayed carefully around them with gly and Oust XP using a back pack sprayer to direct spray

We didn't get this area prepared last fall but it would have been far better to kill tough fescue and brome the fall before with 2 ounces of Oust XP, 1 quart of glyphosate and 1 quart of crop oil.

Then the following spring we can use simazine, Surflan and Prowl H20...all safe, pre-emerge, residual effects herbicides without having to worry about trying to kill tough grasses at a time when they are hardest to kill. This is going to be a nice red cedar screen around a food plot with sweet low tannin acorns dropping right behind them!

Plan ahead when at all possible and if unable to spray in the fall, plan on directing spray carefully before bud break/candling in the spring ASAP after planting.

 

[dbltree]

Dwarf Chinkapins that I started in Rootmaker cells last spring and then planted in late summer

We had these small/short tubes handy so just used those to protect the seedlings from browsing during the first winter and the little seedlings are up and growing already! Almost no expense in the seedlings themselves because they were started from acorns.

These are examples of "odd areas" that cannot be farmed/planted to food plots that can still be utilized for tree orchards

We already have a fruit tree orchard established so this corner is an excellent place to get some hybrid oaks and chestnuts established right adjacent to the main food plot

Consolidating year around food sources, fruit and but trees all in one place insures that over time deer will adapt to coming there year around using the same well worn paths that are easy to funnel. Those deer will then become amazingly easy to kill....

 

[dbltree]

I bought an assortment of crabapple trees from Cold Stream Farm about 7 years ago and snapped a picture of them blooming the other day

I ordered 25 'Magenta' crabapple's from CSF to plant this spring to go along with the Norway Spruce screen...pretty and functional for wildlife as well...

 

[letemgrow]

Planting trees on proper sites can yield amazing results!!

Its official, shumard oaks can handle the winters up here. This past one had several days of single digits or below....no die back on this Shumard. This is exciting news as the Shumard oaks will provide even more diversity for the creek bottom red sector.

Northern Reds have put on a foot of growth already!!

So have the Concordia Oaks!!!!

 

[letemgrow]

Here is a cherrybark oak that is 3-4 years old...does not look like it had any dieback, other than heavy browsing. Unfortunately its right along the creek and no type of tube/fencing has stayed yet when the creek blows out.

It looks like they will also make it up to my zone and I sure hope so as that will be another type of red oak for the creek bottom. An ideal hybrid red cross would be a shingle or pin oak cross with a cherrybark, shumard or northern red. Where the seedlings get the fast growth of the "weed" oaks and maintain the timber value of the latter.

 

[dbltree]

Trees are looking good Phil! :way:

I sprayed around fruit trees and tubed oaks the other day...using 2 quarts simazine, 2 quarts Prowl 3.3EC and 1 quart glyphosate in my 3 gallon backpack sprayer which does roughly a 1/2 acre, so the rates would be double that on a per acre basis. Cut rates in 1/2 for light sandy soils.

On newly planted trees be sure soils have settled well and no cracks are present and in this case i used a degree of caution not to get to close to the root area of newly planted trees. Established trees are not a problem but keep in mind this is an "around the base" mixture and not over the top of leafed out trees!

Tubed oaks and chestnuts are easy to spray around even with gly in the mix without fear of getting it on the seedling

You can use clethodim and crop oil with this mix to spray around the base of leafed out trees to lesson the risk of injury from wind drift such as might happen with gly in the mix. Crop oil will assist in burning down weeds but could also cause injury if sprayed directly on the foliage of trees so I always use a BP sprayer and direct spray around base of trees.

This mix is pretty safe for most trees and shrubs where Oust XP might cause severe injury or death of many shrubs and apple trees and requires no license to purchase. Check with your local co-op and they should be able to order it for you.... :way:

 

[dbltree]

2nd year red cedars in mid May

Healthy and green...far different then from when first planted!

Now the new growth is apparent

and it is during this time period when we need to be extremely cautious of spraying any over the top herbicides that might cause severe injury. The use of crop oils, glyphosate and Oust XP are only a few that can severely injure or kill conifers when they otherwise might not, use only spray wands that allow you to direct spray around the base of the tree and in the future determine to apply these herbicides when trees are dormant....

 

[SDHunt24/7]

Dbltree I have been through the herbicide thread and the tree planting thread both a couple of times. If you wouldn't mind just want to be completely clear on what I can safely use to kill the weeds around my trees. The trees are east red cedar, caragana, Norway spruce, n red oak,swamp white oak, crabapple, and am plum. I have the same type of bucket cover system rigged up that you talked about. The oaks are all tubed with protex tubes. I bought a solo backpack sprayer as well. The weeds look to be mostly broadleaf and grasses. I will use extreme caution not to spray on the trees. What should I use? Thanks. Bryan

 

[dbltree]

Dbltree I have been through the herbicide thread and the tree planting thread both a couple of times. If you wouldn't mind just want to be completely clear on what I can safely use to kill the weeds around my trees. The trees are east red cedar, caragana, Norway spruce, n red oak,swamp white oak, crabapple, and am plum. I have the same type of bucket cover system rigged up that you talked about. The oaks are all tubed with protex tubes. I bought a solo backpack sprayer as well. The weeds look to be mostly broadleaf and grasses. I will use extreme caution not to spray on the trees. What should I use? Thanks. Bryan

if your careful...almost anything!

I like the gly/simazine/prowl combination but you can make that even safer by using the following mixture now that trees have leaved out.

8 ounces clethodim, 1 quart crop oil, 2/4 quarts simazine, 2/4 quarts prowl per acre. Use the lower rates on sandy soils, higher rates on clay...:way:

 

[waylonb19]

I know the answer is probably in here somewhere but what type of fertilizer should I use around my fruit trees?

 

[dbltree]

I know the answer is probably in here somewhere but what type of fertilizer should I use around my fruit trees?

It's in the apple/pear thread but any common 10-10-10/12-12-12 or such will work...a cup or two depending on the age/size of the tree. Check that thread for more detailed info...