Tree Planting

[dbltree]

May 16th, 2012

I have been planting trees from Oikos Tree Crops for 20 years or so and have always had outstanding success with their container grown oak and chestnut seedlings along with corns and chestnuts for seed. Most of their oaks are not just ordinary trees but selected from trees with outstanding traits including hybrids that grow quickly and produce acorns at an early age. Many of mine produced as early as 8 years with no tubes, no herbicide or fencing, given the very best care however some trees can produce in as little as 3-5 years. Not a place to buy 5000 seedlings to re-forest an area but rather a source for small quantities of hybrid or special trees and plants. I get their email news letter and take advantage of last minute sales and recently purchased 25 Ashworth burr oaks, 5 Schuttes Oak and 5 ‘Sweet it Is’ burr oaks (check the "sale items")

Oikos Tree Crops

I like the container grown trees because they can be kept for a month or so if kept watered and out of hot drying sun, I just set them in a 5 gallon bucket and water daily until planted.

I gathered up the bucket, shovel, 4 # hammer, Miracle tubes and stakes and got them in the ground

Mike Hamilton at Timber Management has the best price I have found on Miracle tubes and stakes and Mike also sells tree seeds of all kinds.

Timber Management

The tubes come in 50 tube bags, 5 tubes inside each other

Of all the tubes I have tried these are absolutely the easiest to install with zip ties already in the tubes, simply slip the stake thru

Drive the stake in and pull tight!

If using tubes you can leave the paper pot on the seedling but otherwise I have found it best to remove it simply because animals are intrigued by it and will pull the entire seedling out of the ground to investigate

Because I was using tubes I left the pot intact

I prefer to pre-treat the areas with Oust and glyphosate but not knowing I would be purchasing these seedlings I planted into sod but first scrape the sod and debris away

Plant the seedlings, which in this case were pretty good size

and then place tube and stake over seedlings...the loosened soil allows me to press the tube firmly into the soil

and if any areas are uneven I can close the gap at the bottom of the tube to seal it

These tubes do not require assembly and are very smooth and rigid making it impossible for animals to climb or chew on them or at least unlikely.

Once trees were planted and tubes installed I went back and sprayed a combination of clethodim, simazine, prowl and crop oil to both burn down existing vegetation and control weeds and grasses for the season. I try to kill a band or circle 2-3' in diameter.

I planted all of them in a cedar thicket taking advantage of any opening, some of which we'll enlarge this winter.

The combination of red cedars and sweet low tannin acorns from these oaks will some day make an already great haven...heaven for whitetails. The opportunity to purchase a few seedlings and tubes makes this affordable for almost any budget and can help the landowner transform an area with few or no oaks into a whitetail mecca.... :way:

 

[dbltree]

Plantra Tubes

Don't like these tubes, not even a little! Critters love to climb the serrated surface and repeatedly tear every single one of them down.

These tubes are soft sided and just begging to be chewed on

Young coons love to play on these things and tear them down

I don't like the "mouse sized" holes in these things either

Not wanting to waste the tubes I fixed some up with double stakes and duct tape

Time will tell if this will work or not?

Protex

I tried using a longer zip tie on the Protex tubes and while it helped, they still tore them apart.

So I used duct tape on these also...top

and bottom and double staked some of them as well

The other problem is deer chewing on the tie ends...so clip them off!

It's enough work putting tubes up the first time but to have to repair them time and again plus lose trees that were left exposed, becomes frustrating and tiresome. Hopefully the duct tape and double stakes work...if not I'll replace them with Miracle tubes!

 

[dbltree]

Over the top herbicide

Whenever possible I prefer to spray around rather then over the top of non dormant trees but with 1600+ red cedars to spray we elected to go over the top with an ATV sprayer having put shutoffs on so we could use just two center nozzles. I mixed 1 quart simazine, 1 quart prowl, 10 ounces clethodim and 1 quart crop oil per 5 gallons of water and drove roughly 4 MPH with the ATV.

Weeds are either dead or dying and the cedars look fine!

A number of people contacted me with concerns about using the aforementioned herbicide mix over the top of cedars but as long as cedars are not stressed it appears the mix is safe and effective! :way:

 

[SWBUCKHNTR]

I have some norway spruce I would love to spray over the top but they seem to be a lot more susceptible to herbicide damage. Have you had any luck spraying norways?

 

[dbltree]

I have some norway spruce I would love to spray over the top but they seem to be a lot more susceptible to herbicide damage. Have you had any luck spraying norways?

I have not but I but I think if you spray when they are not candling you'll e fine...always best to mix up a small batch and do a test spray on a couple trees and see how they react to be safe though.

 

[DH1]

- It looks like those ties on the tubes from Timber Management can be loosened after they are tightened on?
That makes it a lot faster to clean out the old leaves versus cutting off a tie and putting a new one on, if it can’t be loosened. I have not been able to find those type of ties in the hardware stores around here.
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[DWilk]

- It looks like those ties on the tubes from Timber Management can be loosened after they are tightened on?

Yeah they can be loosened up; very handy!

 

[x26zcc]

Does anyone have any experience plantind Cedar seeds? I am wondering if I can spray round up and atrazine mix and after burndown plant cedar berries or will the atrazine kill the trees that sprout.

 

[dbltree]

Does anyone have any experience plantind Cedar seeds? I am wondering if I can spray round up and atrazine mix and after burndown plant cedar berries or will the atrazine kill the trees that sprout.

Red cedars spread easily and rapidly via seed carried by birds who eat the berries so there is no reason you ca not do the same, although I have not personally tried it. I doubt atrazine will affect germination of the cedar seed but again this is something I have not tried so please let us know how it works if you give it a shot :way:

 

[dbltree]

June 10th, 2012

In July 2010 I planted some Dwarf Chinkapin oak seedlings that I had started in Rootmaker cells in March. Normally July would not be a great time for this but we had steady rains all summer that year and the seedlings thrived in the 4' tubes.

Two years later they are still growing rapidly

and literally bursting out at the seams

growth is so much more robust from trees with the Rootmaker systems then those conventionally started seedlings...this is a fall DCO planted in 2010 that for whatever reason has hardly grown at all (and not indicative of all trees started from acorns)

These trees are a mix of DCO, BurXEnglish and BurXGambel hybrids planted in 2009, tubed in spring 2010...doing great but the Rootmaker grown seedlings are out performing them by a full years growth.

Starting 10 or 20 seedlings in Rootmaker cells, tubing them and keeping them weed free will provide far greater results, much quicker then planting large numbers of poorly care for seedlings.

Monitoring weed control of trees treated with the following mix...

1 qt simazine
1 qt prowl
1 qt crop oil
8-12 ounces of clethodim

In a 3 gal BP sprayer or per every 5 gallons of water in an ATV sprayer

A little rain helped the herbicides into the soil and finished off any thing not killed by the clethodim/crop oil mix

even hard to kill sedges are dying

while young trees and shrubs remain healthy

I sprayed that mix over the top of several thousand red cedar seedlings and found that it had no ill effect on them either

Then simply because most of the red cedars are planted for screens and we use Egyptian Wheat screens as an interim screen...I also sprayed over the top with 3 qts of atrazine per acre (approximate) and that also had no effect on the young seedlings

The mix I used in the BP sprayer could actually be higher where a steady pace is used....where I took my time to spray around trees (in effect applying a higher amount) weed control is better...where I walked and sprayed at a faster pace, some tough weeds like marestail have popped up.

One could easily and safely use 2 quarts simazine and 2 quarts prowl with 8-12 ounces clethodim and 1-2 quarts crop oil per 3-5 gallons of water and not harm trees and shrubs, especially on heavy clay or clay loam soils, sandy soils may require less and in all cases rainfall or lack of it will have an effect on residual herbicides that need to be pushed into the top few inches of soil....

 

[dbltree]

June 29th, 2012

In most cases I get pretty good weed control with the simazine/prowl/clethodim/crop oil combo but simazine and prowl are residual type herbicides that to some extent depend on rainfall to move them into the root zone. In the bales you will find cautions that excessively cold, wet, dry or hot conditions may delay germination and thereby reduce the effectiveness of said herbicide.

This spring we seem to go for weeks with no rain and that often allows seeds to germinate with the herbicides not yet incorporated by rainfall and then some of the tougher weeds like pigweed, marestail and others to get beyond a point where the herbicides can have any effect on them.

Some places then look like this and this strip of trees also received atrazine as well....looks like I didn't spray a doggone drop!

In some cases then I have re-sprayed the combination using crop oil to burn down emerged plants and then hope for rainfall to move the herbicides into the root zones...this year the prospect of rain has been more hopeless then hopeful however. Clethodim can of course be sprayed with crop oil at any time to kill emerged grasses and atrazine or simazine with crop will usually burn down emerged broadleaves, so while it is a bit of a pain...weed control is still possible even if it was not fully effective the first time.

Prowl 2EC label

Simazine label

If you purchase simazine in granular form apply 1-2#'s versus quarts and add 1 quart crop oil if burning down emerged weeds or adding clethodim to kill emerged grasses. No need to add clethodim however if you have only emerged broadleaf weeds...it is only effective when applied to the leaves of growing grasses

Clethodim Label

On oaks and conifers sprayed around not over the top you can use Oust XP/Spyder/SFM 75 at 1-3 ounces per acre....higher for pigweed control.

SFM 75 Herbicide

It's tough to find any one single herbicide that controls all grass and broadleaf weeds and is also safe on all trees and shrubs...so usually a combination will work the best...along with sufficient rainfall to incorporate residuals.

My friend Walt elected to use Gorilla tape on his Protex tubes...supposed to be better then duct tape

We'll certainly find out if this works to keep them from getting opened up by coons and high winds or....not...

A combination of BurXEnglish, BurXGambel and Dwarf Chinkapin oaks are doing great in the tubes!

growth is rapid in the tubes but it will be years before they can be removed...bucks would love to destroy the oak saplings if they could so the tubes will remain in place probably until the tree has literally filled up the tube interior...

A combination of hard and soft mast producing trees planted in and around our feeding areas helps insure whitetails will be paying a visit..even if weather related disasters destroy our plot crops....

 

[Buck1]

Are those 4' or 5' tree tubes in those pics Paul. How do the bamboo stakes hold up when pounding them into the ground, also to the weather and the critters? What size bamboostakes are you using dia. x length?

 

[dbltree]

Are those 4' or 5' tree tubes in those pics Paul. How do the bamboo stakes hold up when pounding them into the ground, also to the weather and the critters? What size bamboostakes are you using dia. x length?

The blue Protex tubes are 4' with 4' fiberglass electric fence posts, bamboo drives easily with a 2# sledge and have not had any splinter or break...we have went to 5' Miracle tubes and 5' bamboo stakes.

I like using the fiberglass electric fence posts but they are easy to push over...especially in high winds that often accompany summer storms

Fiberglass of course will last for decades but the heavier, 1"+ diameter bamboo stakes are much stouter and stronger under pressure

The lifespan of bamboo is certainly limited but most of them will last long enough to get the tree to a point where it will, by itself hold up the tube. Conduit may be a better option but I have not tested 1/2" conduit in open field conditions to see how it holds up against high winds but certainly an option to consider...buy 10' sticks and cut in 1/2 with a cut off saw. Purchased on sale they may be a more economical option then either bamboo or fiberglass....

 

[tmiler]

With red cedars, is there any need to protect them at all? Any need to stake them? Any need for a weed mat? Any need for a tube or cage? I'd be planting them 12-24" in SE Iowa along our gravel road as a screen. From what I've read, deer don't seem to touch them and they don't need much help to grow. They always grew up voluntarily and thick on my old farm without any help, but Murphy's Law says if something can go wrong it will...

 

[dbltree]

With red cedars, is there any need to protect them at all? Any need to stake them? Any need for a weed mat? Any need for a tube or cage? I'd be planting them 12-24" in SE Iowa along our gravel road as a screen. From what I've read, deer don't seem to touch them and they don't need much help to grow. They always grew up voluntarily and thick on my old farm without any help, but Murphy's Law says if something can go wrong it will...

Just use herbicide for weed control and that's it (Oust/Simazine/prowl)...in northern states with deep snow, deer browse them but that's rare in SE Iowa

 

[letemgrow]

Southern Red Oak:

Bought some of these off the MDC this spring. They have done better than anything in the rootmaker bags (I think it is because they were in a spot that recevied afternoon shade). Just keep putting on more growth and if they can survive up in northern MO....they will add some much needed diversity for red oaks on the high ground.

 

[letemgrow]

 

[Buck1]

I have some CRP ground planted in white pine trees and I've noticed that over the last several of years, I lose 10-15 trees each year. I think it is white pine weevil, does anyone have any expertise in this.

 

[dbltree]

I have some CRP ground planted in white pine trees and I've noticed that over the last several of years, I lose 10-15 trees each year. I think it is white pine weevil, does anyone have any expertise in this.

White pine is susceptible to many diseases and pests and now more then ever, I can't comment on what is killing yours but that's just one of the reasons I don't plant white pines at all anymore

 

[Sligh1]

I'd start NOW planting some new evergreens in there while you are trying to solve the problem. I too gave up on pines in IA. I'd be loading that area up with some cedars to take up the places of the pines but that's me. I am sure you could call the forester or some the vast amount of folks in urban areas that focus & have knowledge on tree diseases.