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Tree Planting

Nontypcl1 said:
Good advice on the Protex tubes.

I recently purchased some of the rigid mesh tubes from Ben meadows for this fall's tree planting and I sure regret it now. In about 3 days time the deer either knocked over or shredded 1/2 of the 200 tubes I put on. This is right along a road and close to a house! After fixing those I decided to check on the shrub planting I did this past spring in my sanctuary where I used the mesh tubes as well. I hadn't been in there since spraying for weeds this past spring and man was I disappointed. Out of the 300 I put on only 50 or so were still standing. Talk about frustrating:mad:

I had questioned on whether or not to use the rigid mesh tubes after seeing dbltree's results with them. Well, I wasn't able to afford the solid tubes this year so I went the cheap route and used the mesh tubes. I will certainly never do that again. Now its actually going to cost more money and a lot more time to redo all that the deer ruined.

Darn deer anyway. I think I might just spend rest of the season hunting over top of my tree plantings and shoot every deer the even looks wrong at them;)
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Use the rigid on top of 4 foot tubes and you may see less destruction.

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Nontypcl1 said:
LoessHills,

If you don't mind me asking what did they quote you for the Pro Tex tubes?
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We got the 60" tubes and they are priced on the website at $2.40 for 300+

But you can request a quote and we got 750 tubes for $1.91 each plus $110 shipping. Ended up being about $2.06 a tube. We've got a bale of electric fencing wire we need to use up so didn't have to buy any of that extra. But we will have to buy zip ties to hold them together, which will add slightly to the cost but I'm guessing we shouldn't pay but another $30 for zip ties. So in the end we saved a few hundred bucks and hopefully will get another planting out of the tubes 7-10 years down the road!
 
sadam said:
Anyone have pictures of a cedar planting that is around 5 years old? I am curious to see growth over that time span. Thanks in advance if you have any.
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here is a photo of a 7 year old cedar row next to some native grasses, great area for pheasants and there are deer bedding it in now
 

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I tested the staples in the ProTex tree tubes and they did not work at holding up to a lot of force. I would NOT suggest using them as a primary source for holding the tubes together. We will put a staple on the tops and bottoms so the tubes 'hold their form better' so to speak, but a buck could easily take a tube apart if staples were the only tool used to hold them together. Just wanted to clarify what we found when working with these tubes!

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With the first big snow fall on its way and temps in the mid 50s today, I took to the one final item on my "fall list"... "Winter list" starts this weekend!
In the outlined section below I have an area that is mainly Reed Canary Grass with scattered Red Osier Dogwood. The house is not mine...
My goals for this area is to create bedding along the river and screen the view of the neighbors house. I will be planting Norway Spruce/Red Cedars for thermal cover, and cuttings of cane willow/poplar trees to help fill in the area as well as screen the neighbors view.
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Pictures of the area
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My task for today was to go in and mow the RCG down and thin out some of the more dense areas of ROD.
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A few of the ROD I just mowed the tops off so that the shrub is back down to browse height and can be easily reached by any deer.
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I tried to mow areas perpendicular to the view of the house so that the neighbors do not have "lanes" to look down while sitting on their deck.
I will be planting the trees and willows in these same perpendicular mowed paths this next spring.
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The planting will look something like this.
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We will visit this area again in the spring... Now on to the "Winter List" :way:
 
CP17A-Living Snow Fences

On land with cropping history the living snow fence option can be a great way to establish a 120 ft NWSG/conifer/shrub buffer and...get paid for it!

Typically plans call for the NWSG from the fence/ditch inward and then 1-3 rows of trees, usually a combination of conifers and shrubs. NRCS will plan the layout but usually you can request some chances, for instance i wanted 2 rows of conifers and 1 row of shrubs to create a better screen. The rows may also become a travel corridor for whitetails and the whole thing is great for both small game and whitetails.

Couple links on the subject:

Planning Windbreaks

Selecting Shrubs and Trees in Windbreaks

http://www.mda.state.mn.us/protecting/conservation/practices/snowfence.aspxhttp://www.mda.state.mn.us/protecting/conservation/practices/snowfence.aspxhttp://www.mda.state.mn.us/protecting/conservation/practices/snowfence.aspxLiving Snow Fence
 
Tree tubes

Ok... so for the not so obvious question of the day. I just recently purchase 5 foot solid tubes from Timber Mgmt. Great products and the service was excellent. The tubes have ventilation holes. I assume these are placed closest to the ground to allow air movement from top to bottom??? A few pictures posted here do not look that way. I am planting Chinkapin oak seedlings. Once the tubes are anchored to the bamboo poles are you annually removing the tubes to trim suckers and prune as needed or will that be necessary? Thanks for the help in advance
 
SoDakarcher said:
Ok... so for the not so obvious question of the day. I just recently purchase 5 foot solid tubes from Timber Mgmt. Great products and the service was excellent. The tubes have ventilation holes. I assume these are placed closest to the ground to allow air movement from top to bottom??? A few pictures posted here do not look that way. I am planting Chinkapin oak seedlings. Once the tubes are anchored to the bamboo poles are you annually removing the tubes to trim suckers and prune as needed or will that be necessary? Thanks for the help in advance
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Here are Timber Management's install tips found on their website:

Tree Shelter Installation Tips
Timber Management and Seed Company, LLC.
385 Northhaven Drive
Robins, IA 52302
(319) 573-0615
• Always use a ventilated tree shelter for heights 48'' and greater.
• Always center the seedling's trunk where it comes out of the ground in the middle of the tube
before driving the stake into the ground.
• Ventilation holes allow the interior of the shelter to stay cooler than some other shelters.
Consequently, the seedling will go dormant in the fall and not suffer dieback.
• The shelter protects the seedling from rabbits, deer, and herbicide splash.
• Each shelter needs a support stake.
• Zip ties are already attached to each shelter.
• Stakes should be placed on the North side of the shelter to prevent shading of sunlight.
However, always place the stake on the opposite side of the direction that the seedling is
leaning or it may grow into the zip tie on the inside of the tube.
• The vent holes start about 18'' above the ground.
• Bird netting is provided and is to be placed over the top of the tube. Birds sometimes think the
shelters are posts and enter through the top of the tube.
• Bird netting must be removed prior to the terminal bud growing out of the tube. Failure to
remove the netting will result in a poorly formed tree as the bud will grow at an angle if it makes
contact with the netting.
• Remove the netting prior to the main leader grows out of the tube. This will vary from species to
species as the growth rates are different.
• Recommend using a seedling between 17'' and 24 '' in height.
• Tubes can stay on for 5 to 7 years.
• Remove the tubes before the butt swell of the seedling starts to grow close to the side of the
tube. Moss will grow and create too wet of an environment which retains water, loosens the
tree bark, and once the tube is removed the tree will dieback due to a girdling effect.
• Deer populations and species selection will dictate the height of the shelter used.
• A great book to help with tree identification in Iowa is Forest and Shade Trees of Iowa by Peter
J. VanDerLinden and Donald R. Farrar
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* A more specific response to your question on the vents is to keep them at the top of the tube. At the bottom creates windflow issues that basically suck the moisture away from the seedlings.
 
SoDakarcher said:
Ok... so for the not so obvious question of the day. I just recently purchase 5 foot solid tubes from Timber Mgmt. Great products and the service was excellent. The tubes have ventilation holes. I assume these are placed closest to the ground to allow air movement from top to bottom??? A few pictures posted here do not look that way. I am planting Chinkapin oak seedlings. Once the tubes are anchored to the bamboo poles are you annually removing the tubes to trim suckers and prune as needed or will that be necessary? Thanks for the help in advance
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The ventilation holes should be on top, the bottom is solid to allow you to spray around the seedlings without getting any herbicide on it.
 
Thanks for the help! Are you intermittently removing the tubes to prune? The tubes I used in the past seemed to attract mice later in the Fall. Is that a problem? Thanks in advance.
 
SoDakarcher said:
Thanks for the help! Are you intermittently removing the tubes to prune? The tubes I used in the past seemed to attract mice later in the Fall. Is that a problem? Thanks in advance.
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Keep it bare dirt in a 4' circle around the tubes and that should do away with the mice problems. It has for me anyways, I used to have problems with mice making a nice home inside the tube and girdling the seedlings. That has not been the case anymore.
 
Conifer screens and trainers

The IDNR booth at the Iowa Deer Classic as always was an eye opener as it never ceases to amaze me the lengths that people will go to in attempts to put a whitetail rack on the wall. Poaching has always been a problem but now with new technology they have taken it to a new level and in doing so, steal from all of us.

In this case nite vision scopes and silencers enabled these people to kill deer without even buying a license, that is of course....until they got caught! This same thing goes on day and night wherever our property perimeter is exposed to roads and in some cases even the interior of our property. All of this makes the case for permanent conifer screens to keep our property and wildlife safe!

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A friend passed on a link to a nursery offering conifers in "styroblocks" (container/plug) which ups survival and makes planting easier then trying to stuff a root system down a hole!

North Central Reforestation

Red Cedars are as low as .26 cents a piece for 500 or more and they carry other great screening conifers such as Norway spruce as well.

Conifers make excellent trainers for hardwoods as well and encourage them to grow straight, betting the odds of veneer quality trees then if they are open grown. The following are a few examples of black walnuts grown in between red cedars

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It doesn't take the trees long to out grow the conifer as they reach for the sky!

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Conifers provide tremendous bedding along with their screening value and can be inter planted amongst the downed tops of hinged trees to enhance bedding areas. Red Cedars are my favorite because they are less vulnerable to damage by rubbing and browsing then most other conifers but regardless of which you choose...they can be an extremely valuable asset to your habitat program.... :way:
 
Hi guys,

We planted about 125 new pines last spring, but didn't do very well with the grass/weed control. The survival rate was pretty good, but the grass packed in around the trees over the winter.

Aside from pulling the laid over grass back, any suggestions for maintenance? Wait for the grass to green up and spray around the trees?

Thanks


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