U and everyone else in the region with a variety of plantings & crops.
Buddy yesterday said his bean field yielded 12. We kinda laughing and said “ya, plants don’t seem to like no rain & 100 degrees for 2 months straight!”
. Was a bad one!!!
Buddy yesterday said his bean field yielded 12. We kinda laughing and said “ya, plants don’t seem to like no rain & 100 degrees for 2 months straight!”
. Was a bad one!!!
arm
Leg
This will be my 3rd tree planting this spring. I'm switching it up to quality over quantity, see how it goes. I'm doing a mix of only 200 oaks and I can't come up with a need to tube and cage them. I'm using matting or mulch and 60" tubes for sure. I don't think I REALLY need to cage them as well. Skip, don't yell at me for wanting to skip the cages in this scenario.
HorseDoctor
PMA Member
You should be OK. I get along fine with just 5' tubes on my oaks!
Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
Survival on oaks is tough unless you tube and cage them
arm
Leg
Explain? Will they rub tubes or browse over 5'?
Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Tree planting is my absolute favorite habitat project to work on - it's the one that yields the least results upfront compared to TSI/hinge cutting or NWSG but in the long run I think it'll be amazing habitat. And to plant an oak without a tube or cage in deer country... mind as well just throw the tree in the trash can in my opinion. Get you some tree tubes and good stakes (we use steel t-post, other use PVC or metal conduit) and use some good herbicide for at least the first two years. You'll thank yourself in the long run. We've planted tons and tons of trees/shrubs without cages... I can count on one hand how many survived. See the below results when we used tubes...
We have excellent luck with 5' tubes. They do get rubbed on from time to time which can damage the tube. But nothing you can do about that. It's better than doing nothing. We have only one time seen the deer browse trees with the 5ft tubes - the red oaks grew so fast they were about 3-4ft out of the tubes and hadn't developed a really supportive backbone yet. The top of the tree was bending over and actually hanging at, or below the top of the tube in the mornings when the leaves would get full of dew. The solution, I went around and used some 1/2" PVC pipe and cheap cotton cord and tied the trees up so they'd get some better backbone. After a month or two I could remove the added support and they were great!
Here's a video of me putting a tube back on a 6 yr old ~10ft tall red oak. This red oak grew a Y about 4.5' up and it broke the tube, like they're designed to do. Without the tube, this tree was a beacon for the bucks to come rub on. So I've been working on keeping the tube on the tree the best I can, need to tape it on for just another couple years, then the deer can do what they please with them.
It's amazing how fast those tree do grow! These pics below were from the trees 3rd growing season.
And here they were this past summer - growing season #6. They are well on their way past sapplings and turning into real trees!
This Chinkapin oak actually had acrons this year!
We have excellent luck with 5' tubes. They do get rubbed on from time to time which can damage the tube. But nothing you can do about that. It's better than doing nothing. We have only one time seen the deer browse trees with the 5ft tubes - the red oaks grew so fast they were about 3-4ft out of the tubes and hadn't developed a really supportive backbone yet. The top of the tree was bending over and actually hanging at, or below the top of the tube in the mornings when the leaves would get full of dew. The solution, I went around and used some 1/2" PVC pipe and cheap cotton cord and tied the trees up so they'd get some better backbone. After a month or two I could remove the added support and they were great!
Here's a video of me putting a tube back on a 6 yr old ~10ft tall red oak. This red oak grew a Y about 4.5' up and it broke the tube, like they're designed to do. Without the tube, this tree was a beacon for the bucks to come rub on. So I've been working on keeping the tube on the tree the best I can, need to tape it on for just another couple years, then the deer can do what they please with them.
It's amazing how fast those tree do grow! These pics below were from the trees 3rd growing season.
And here they were this past summer - growing season #6. They are well on their way past sapplings and turning into real trees!
This Chinkapin oak actually had acrons this year!
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LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
We tried that our first tree planting and it was ok. Mice loved to burrow under it in winter and then they loved to live in the tree tubes. That's probably the biggest struggle with the tree tubes - mice nest in the winter. They'll quicky girdle or even chew in half, a tree.
Honestly, I think you'd be impressed and surprised what a good mix of herbicides and a backpack sprayer can do for you! It's a one time a year application and goes really quickly. Just my $0.02. The weed mats can work as well, just not the route we've taken with our plantings.
Herbicides and tubes and/or caging are “cheap”!!!!! If ur time is worth any $ at all.... protect them from critters and trees. U could otherwise spend years and years replanting destroyed trees which just makes no sense. Spend a little coin. LHA’s posts above are awesome!!! Well done, looks fantastic!!!! Post more if able and any updates on them. Really impressive!!!
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Yup - we learned that the hard way - tried to cut corners the first few plantings. Waste of time. FYI - I'm not calling tree matting cutting a corner or a waste of time. It can work. I just prefer herbicide. Once season is over I'll be up in that planting cleaning out any mice nest and pulling tubes on trees that didn't make it. I'll be sure to take more pics!
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Here's a sawtooth oak that I planted as an acorn - Goatman sent me a bunch of these acorns - got a few good sized trees out of them now. Its third growing season I believe
And some 6yr old red cedars. Planted at about 9" tall, now 5' tall. A couple more years and they'll really start providing cover.
And some 6yr old red cedars. Planted at about 9" tall, now 5' tall. A couple more years and they'll really start providing cover.
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Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
Looks real nice LH !!
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Anyone doing any tree planting this spring? Got 400 cedars and 250 oaks (red, chinkapin, and concordia) from the MO state nursery. Going around pulling tree tubes from a 6 yr old planting and wanted to share this. Three years ago I direct seeded some acorns and planted some oaks from rootmakers. Never got back around to treating the grass or weeds around them and figured most died but was surprised today to see there are quite a few alive yet but are severely stunted. Gonna use oust to knock out the brome and these trees should bounce up quick!!
Lesson to share, if you’re planning on tree planting a MUST is solid weed n grass control. Otherwise you’re wasting your time. Herbicides are by far the best means of weed control in my opinion. Oust XP aka Spyder XP on oaks and evergreens/cedars only. Simizine, atrazine, and prowl H2O are the ticket too. Good on all trees shrubs and fruit trees.
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Lesson to share, if you’re planning on tree planting a MUST is solid weed n grass control. Otherwise you’re wasting your time. Herbicides are by far the best means of weed control in my opinion. Oust XP aka Spyder XP on oaks and evergreens/cedars only. Simizine, atrazine, and prowl H2O are the ticket too. Good on all trees shrubs and fruit trees.
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I am helping a buddy. Totally agree!!! We doing shrubs and fruit stuff so no oust. 3 years of weed control is the plan. We use cocktail like urs - sometimes maybe add/spice up with lil panoramic & Surflan or whatever is laying around and it’s clean all year!!! Well done- free those rascals up and they will bounce right back!!
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
6yr old Chinkapin oak, had acorns last year. Good to get these quick sweet producers. Chinkapin or Concordia or dwarf Chinkapin are all great to add to any planting.
Need to decide what to do with that nasty crotch in this one, prune it for a central leader or let it go and likely split down the road at some point?
Tree plantings take possibly the most work of any habitat project but long term having diverse hardwoods with top desired mast producing trees will be worth it. This is my passion, growing trees!
Had a few that are well out of the tubes but the tops of the t-post are rubbing. Always something to check and keep any eye on.
Lots of pure white and red oaks in this planting. We have only bur oaks in our timbers so these are some “unique” ones for ya even though most of you guys likely have whites and reds in your timber already
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Need to decide what to do with that nasty crotch in this one, prune it for a central leader or let it go and likely split down the road at some point?
Tree plantings take possibly the most work of any habitat project but long term having diverse hardwoods with top desired mast producing trees will be worth it. This is my passion, growing trees!
Had a few that are well out of the tubes but the tops of the t-post are rubbing. Always something to check and keep any eye on.
Lots of pure white and red oaks in this planting. We have only bur oaks in our timbers so these are some “unique” ones for ya even though most of you guys likely have whites and reds in your timber already
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
Jordan are you mowing that area??
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
No, it’s too hilly. Just used chemical around the trees the first two or three years. Gonna spray again this year, brome keeps creeping back in and seems to be the worse for holding back tree growth
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Been a couple years since I planted any trees so took me a little while to get in the groove but could plant about 60 of these small cedars into unskilled brome grass in an hour. Would’ve been much faster if brome was killed. Those roots are tough!
I’ll let some rains (or snow) settle the dirt around these before I apply herbicide. I’ll use a bucket or shield of some sort when spraying since these trees are close to candling. They came from MO and I'm guessing it's been a bit warmer down there. A cedars form of breaking buds.
Dad and I planted some walnuts and oaks on this hillside about three years ago... oaks are nowhere to be found, I’m sure browsed to the ground since we didn’t protect the trees... thought we’d see if we could get away with out tubing them. Nope! Walnuts are there but pretty damaged, rubbed and browsed hard. Going to cage them this spring. Deer are hard on tree plantings!
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I’ll let some rains (or snow) settle the dirt around these before I apply herbicide. I’ll use a bucket or shield of some sort when spraying since these trees are close to candling. They came from MO and I'm guessing it's been a bit warmer down there. A cedars form of breaking buds.
Dad and I planted some walnuts and oaks on this hillside about three years ago... oaks are nowhere to be found, I’m sure browsed to the ground since we didn’t protect the trees... thought we’d see if we could get away with out tubing them. Nope! Walnuts are there but pretty damaged, rubbed and browsed hard. Going to cage them this spring. Deer are hard on tree plantings!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hardwood11
It is going to be a good fall!
I cannot get a planted oak or walnut to survive, without a tube/cage.