LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
These trees are on their third growing season and have all put on 2-3’ of growth this spring already. The third year they really take off it seems
Sugar maple
Red oak
Shellbark hickories have shot up since getting the larger tubes properly stabilized, excited to try this on our farm for the wildlife!
Red bud
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Sugar maple
Red oak
Shellbark hickories have shot up since getting the larger tubes properly stabilized, excited to try this on our farm for the wildlife!
Red bud
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LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
This weather has been great for growing things as long as you’ve avoided the hail and wind on any young trees. Trees are pretty resilient once they get about three years we do I’ve found though. Here’s some in our yard on their third growing season.
Biggest shellbark hickory of them all - they're exploded with these better supported expanded tubes though
Sugar maple from May 1
.
To July 1
Japanese beetles have been bad the past few years and this year is the first I’ve noticed them on the red oaks and shingle oak in our yard. Spraying with sevin works great but it’s toxic to bees so I’m very careful about not spraying near any flowering plants.
Some great growth on these red oaks!
And lastly, some red oaks on our farm that are less babied than the ones in our yard. They’re 7 years old now and some over 15’ tall!
Tree planting is hard work and takes some time to care for them the couple years after planting but it’s well worth it and anyone can have a successful tree planting! There’s some great advice buried in this thread that will help anyone out!
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Biggest shellbark hickory of them all - they're exploded with these better supported expanded tubes though
Sugar maple from May 1
To July 1
Japanese beetles have been bad the past few years and this year is the first I’ve noticed them on the red oaks and shingle oak in our yard. Spraying with sevin works great but it’s toxic to bees so I’m very careful about not spraying near any flowering plants.
Some great growth on these red oaks!
And lastly, some red oaks on our farm that are less babied than the ones in our yard. They’re 7 years old now and some over 15’ tall!
Tree planting is hard work and takes some time to care for them the couple years after planting but it’s well worth it and anyone can have a successful tree planting! There’s some great advice buried in this thread that will help anyone out!
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Last edited:
arm
Leg
Been driving by these trees for a while and finally decided to get down and clean out the tubes. Planted this spring. Silver maple clearly the quickest out the gate. Most oaks look good, some the leaves have started to brown. Really like the cypress, just for fun to see how something does in this wet area, cool tree
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LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Awesome, looking nice and healthy for sure!!
deep woods goat hunter
PMA Member
I have 100 persimmon seedlings on their way in March, What kind/sized tree tubes do I need to be using with these?
cybball
Well-Known Member
Going to plant a bunch of white oak saplings in my timber this spring. How should I protect them? Cages? Tubes? Both? If cages, how high and wide? What kind works best? Really want to baby them and would rather plant 50 and protect them than plant 1000 and walk away. 
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Both be best. As long as u able to check on em - be great. Figure some might have an issue so go a little higher on rate. But ya, I know exactly what u mean by quality over quantity. Tubes &/or cages - I’ve seen a lot of scenarios work - just watch em and correct anything as needed. Good luck!!Going to plant a bunch of white oak saplings in my timber this spring. How should I protect them? Cages? Tubes? Both? If cages, how high and wide? What kind works best? Really want to baby them and would rather plant 50 and protect them than plant 1000 and walk away.
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cybball
Well-Known Member
Ordered some of the blue protex tubes. 60 inchers. Sounds like some pros and cons with each style, but some on here have had success. I've seen where some have drilled/punched their own holes in to add ventilation and also for closing up tubes better with zip ties. For those using protex, what would you recommend on adding holes? Along the edges for ties? Random throughout for vents? What size works best. Looks like 3/8 was used before by DT and some others. I'm also shopping for supports. I'm weighing between 1/2 inch conduit and the fiberglass fence rods. I'd like them to last so I can use them again. I wondered about T-posts, but I'm worried the roots will get messed up some when I pull the posts out. I'll be planting white oak mainly. I did order some walnuts too, just to increase them on my place.
I think you got it!! Drill some holes & with persimmon - I wouldn't go bonkers - just enough so ventilation can harden the trunk of tree with airflow. Just make sure those tubes stay shut, in tact & just periodically check on them. I'd personally do fiberglass or rebar. I agree on the T-posts being a lil risky on roots. So, you got it figured out- as sturdy as you can go while minimizing root damage. After that - just be a cost issue. Like anything... check up on em, baby them & replant the losses you will have over the years. Good luck & post some pics!
cybball
Well-Known Member
Awesome. Thanks. I wondered about rebar. I looked and conduit at Menards was like $1.60 for ten foot 1/2 inchers, but they were really flimsy. Rebar would work well, even if I have to cut them to length.
Going out this weekend if there are some gaps in the rain and spray marking crop trees and junk in a couple areas. Then the fun will begin.
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Those would be my second choice cybball but they work! Look back at previous pages in this thread and you'll see many pics of ProTex tubes I've used. I would highly recommend using small zip ties to keep them together. I actually used the "holes" that are already there from the tabs and zip tied them together that way. I used a zip tie at every tab, the tubes I tried to be cheap and skimp on zip ties ended up not having enough back bone and getting mangled later on. I did use T-post on all of our plantings and have removed a few dozen post from trees, I do it during the dormant time and have had zero issues with root damage. We also didn't drive the post super deep, we didn't go beyond the T on the post so roots would be limited on what they would grow over/around. I like the t-post because they provide the most support for the tube and tree. We have not noticed an issue with our oaks or walnuts being over supported and not growing a strong enough back bone to ultimately support themselves. I have used 3/8" rebar, 1/2" metal or PVC conduit to stake trees. I like metal vs PVC. With the trees in my yard I tried something new this year and I placed the stake inside the tube and attached it to the stake yet. I did this vs the normal way of having the post on the outside of the tube because I was having issues of animals chewing on zip tie ends and also zip ties breaking as tubes would be pulled away from them, from both wind and wildlife. So place the stake inside the tube seemed to cure two things, the zip tie could be more hidden and also was subject to less stress now that the stake would absorb some of the pulling force vs all of it being on the zip ties. If that makes sense? I did notice when using metal conduit or rebar post that they don't have the holding power a T-post does so when trees got larger in higher winds those post would wiggle loose and if a tree wasn't ready to support itself it'd lean over and get into the deer browse line or grow tilted. I could come up with a 100 different things that could go "wrong" or what to watch for when it comes to planting trees and using trees tubes. But honestly, it is my favorite habitat project, I love it! Things will go "wrong", I'm just trying to give you a heads up on what we've had go "wrong" and how we fixed them and what you can do to help prepare for those situations.
Here's some pros and cons to those tubes:
Pros:
-cheap
-mice seem to stay out of them vs the Miracle ProTubes, possibly because they move around more in the wind? This is huge IMO
-trees do grow extremely very well in these
Cons
-they are more flimsy and can get torn apart and wind blow them around more. When trees are young they can be blown off the small tree. This can be addressed by putting a short second stake on the opposite side to really support
-the top edge is sharp, when trees get large enough it can damage the bark, we haven't had any trees die because of this but I keep an eye on it and assess the situation as needed, tape on the top edge is a good solution to this as needed, you wouldn't want to do all of them IMO
-when trees get larger and catch wind these tubes get put under even more stress, if they break away they crumble if the tree isn't able to hold it's self up. At least the Miracle Tubes are rigid enough the tree can still stand somewhat. There isn't anything you can really do about this, it's not like it happens to every single tree, just some. I guess what I've done is put a piece of electrical fencing wire around the tube and post to help keep it attached to the post, this is one advantage I can see to putting the post inside the tube.
-these need put together, takes a couple extra hours, not a huge deal
-holes should be drilled in a stack of flat tubes to allow for air flow when the tube is assembled, not a huge deal but something I'd highly recommend doing
Here's some pros and cons to those tubes:
Pros:
-cheap
-mice seem to stay out of them vs the Miracle ProTubes, possibly because they move around more in the wind? This is huge IMO
-trees do grow extremely very well in these
Cons
-they are more flimsy and can get torn apart and wind blow them around more. When trees are young they can be blown off the small tree. This can be addressed by putting a short second stake on the opposite side to really support
-the top edge is sharp, when trees get large enough it can damage the bark, we haven't had any trees die because of this but I keep an eye on it and assess the situation as needed, tape on the top edge is a good solution to this as needed, you wouldn't want to do all of them IMO
-when trees get larger and catch wind these tubes get put under even more stress, if they break away they crumble if the tree isn't able to hold it's self up. At least the Miracle Tubes are rigid enough the tree can still stand somewhat. There isn't anything you can really do about this, it's not like it happens to every single tree, just some. I guess what I've done is put a piece of electrical fencing wire around the tube and post to help keep it attached to the post, this is one advantage I can see to putting the post inside the tube.
-these need put together, takes a couple extra hours, not a huge deal
-holes should be drilled in a stack of flat tubes to allow for air flow when the tube is assembled, not a huge deal but something I'd highly recommend doing
cybball
Well-Known Member
Awesome advice. I’ve seen you use these. Just got them today. I can tell ill be using zip ties to close them instead of the tabs, which is fine.
If you had to pick one pole/post for these knowing all you do, what would it be? I’m really ok with any options. If t-posts, are you using normal barbwire fencing type?
Thanks a million. Your experience will save me a lot of time and trial and error doing this.
Also, when drilling vents, should I avoid bottom ends so I can spray herbicide?
Thanks!!
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LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
I like t post because they support the tube the entire way up, sometimes they do go up past the tube which is an issue because the tree will rub on the steel post when it grows to the top of the tree and killing it if not addressed. People have used metal conduit and rebar with good luck too tho!
And you are right on not drilling holes on the bottom so you can safely spray herbicide like round up any time of year. You’ve got a solid game plan!
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And you are right on not drilling holes on the bottom so you can safely spray herbicide like round up any time of year. You’ve got a solid game plan!
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cybball
Well-Known Member
Thanks. All the help is appreciated. I’ll share my progress and results when I get to that point!
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LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
You’re welcome, Paul and others helped me so much. Just passing on the info
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northcedar
Well-Known Member
Hey LoessHillsArcher, was it you that put a short video on here maybe a couple years ago showing the digging up of small cedars and replanting? If so, can you direct me to it again? I found a bunch of tiny ones and wanted to put them in a better spot. Wanted to make sure I wasn't missing any good tips! Thx
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
It was! I’ll have to do that for ya tmrw, I should take some pics of those cedars now, they’re growing well!
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