BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Here is a few pics from planting this spring.
ABP Norway Spruce for Jimmy G
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BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
And here is what they look like when I bud capped first week of OCT. Planted fishing opener.
Very nice! They look great. Thanks for the pics...I've had varying success with bare root spruce from the county. This last spring I was very disappointed with our counties trees, when I got them they were half dead. Only 5 of 25 survived. I've planted now 3 years in a row and i feel like I'm still at the starting line. Those look so much better, I'll have to check into them.
When did you order them?
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When did you order them?
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BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Order them now before they are gone if you want to plant next spring.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Nice job. I do the flag thing too - it helps to locate them later. You got some good new growth this year. Watch what happens in the next 2 years !!
weekender21
5 year old buck +
Best place to order? I'd like to plant 100 or so in April 2019.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
I ordered my trees from Itasca Greenhouse in Cohasset, MN. They have a minumum order of $250. Shipping and boxing charges are extra. They are only about 25 mins from my land so I just drive over there and pick them up.
I like the photo showing them clustered together-I’d like some clumps adjacent to my fencerow strips to provide some thermal bedding cover for late winter. I planted small plugs from Chief River this May, 500 total, only lost a few this year, we’ll see how they survive the winter. Some stayed small, but by and large most of them almost doubled in size.
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g squared 23
5 year old buck +
What are you capping them with?
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BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
My problem is I planted 500 white pine seedlings randomly throughout my land, in groups of 5-7 trees. i remember where I planted some, and have accidentally stumbled upon a few others, but for the most part, I think the majority have been eaten already, or have died. I should have drawn out a map of somesort, but I didnt. Oh well, if there are survivors out there, they will have to defend for themselves, and I will try to babysit the next batch I plant better.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
This is the same route we took for many years. What a worthless waste of time and effort it ended up being. I listened to people who I thought were smarter than me and they all said to plant 100s-1000s of smaller trees versus fewer big ones. In just 5 short months my tress I planted last spring have already surpassed the ones we grew 3, 4 and 5 years ago. The hell with these dibble bars and plug tools. Get the biggest plugs you can find, plant them with a shovel (its way easier than I thought), mark them with flags, then bud cap them first week of OCT.
I have the following ordered for next year from Itasca Greenhouse:
75 Norway Spruce ABP
50 Cannan Fir ABP
50 White Pine ABP
15 Swamp white oak RR32
Total order is around $450. I expect better than 95% will survive. Our survival rate on the small plugs is under 5% from what I have seen.
Last year I planted about 200 Norway and White spruce with the shovel and flagged them and it took a total of about 6 hours. A few times this summer I searched for them and knocked down the ferns and grasses around them. Took about 6 hours. Then in the fall when I bud capped I did about 300+ trees total and it took about 6 hours. If I could ever get some f*******g help it wouldnt take near as long and we should have 500 trees getting good growth all summer. 3 years from now I hope they are all on their own getting good sunlight year round.
Ditch the small plugs, they are a huge waste of time and just too damn tender for the deer not to eat.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I have been digging up, and re planting some native trees where I want them to be. For some reason I must have a huge seed bank of white pines in the driveway of an old campsite. They are growing in groups of 50 plus in a small area of about 20x20, so each year I thin them out, and they seem to come right back up.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
BuckSutherland - post #12 ……… HELP - the one thing everyone says they want to do on any project, but the thing with the least follow-through !!! Guys at my camp wanted better cover, better food plots, apple, crab, and pear trees to make deer hunting better. But when it came down to brass tacks, only about 4 or 5 guys out of 28 did about 98% of the work. I FEEL YOUR PAIN. There are always big talkers, but very few do-ers.
Nice variety of trees for this spring !!
Nice variety of trees for this spring !!
weekender21
5 year old buck +
How critical is the bud cap timing? I'll be able to plant some trees in April for sure. I'm not really sure when I'll be out to potentially cap them. Can you cap them earlier than October?
Bill
Administrator
I have not planted a few larger ones yet but I agree planting 100's and 100's of small ones turned out to be a bust for me. My last attempt was about 650 seedling NS. I could give you cooridinates to the exact location in the field where they were planted two years ago and offer $1000 for each one found alive.
Wouldn't cost me a dime, because they are not there!
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Hi weekender. I actually emailed with John loggering from the video I posted above. He told me bed capping should be done whenever you can do it from September-December.
I did mine first week of October cause I had time, our growing season is finished by then, they were easier to find than September, and we were probably just getting to the point when deer would start to browse them, and it was about a full month before I would be back to hunt.
weekender21
5 year old buck +
Thanks! A big window like that makes it much more likely to happen!
I've also considered protecting some with a less expensive (less than my fruit trees) fencing method. Maybe chicken wire and a single rebar. I just can't imagine evergreen trees would be nearly as desirable as apple or chestnut. I'll probably experiment with a few different methods this year.
I've also considered protecting some with a less expensive (less than my fruit trees) fencing method. Maybe chicken wire and a single rebar. I just can't imagine evergreen trees would be nearly as desirable as apple or chestnut. I'll probably experiment with a few different methods this year.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
After planting Norway spruce and white spruce for some 27 years now, I can say that the most damage I've seen to our spruce trees is from bucks rubbing them. For the last several years, I've planted spruce in areas that I hope they survive without fencing, and in areas I definitely want them to survive - so I fenced those. The fencing is more up-front money at planting time, but the cost is negated by no browsing or rubbing and not having to buy more replacements. Time and labor are things I add into the equation. I hate having to do things twice. For insured spruce growth - I fence them.
We have white pines, pitch pines, and hemlocks here in big numbers naturally. Those just don't get browsed. I know some of you guys say your pines get wiped out by deer. We just don't see that here. More available & desirable food sources ??
We don't have poor soil or extreme climate fluctuations, so those don't affect us as it might guys in other locations. We do get some tops nipped off by deer in winter if the spruce are not fenced and are "fending for themselves", but thankfully not many. We have other food sources - plots, hardwood browse supply, acorns, etc. - that probably take the pressure off the spruce as a diet interest. Adding more browse species and food plots may help, and if you have enough woods - try cutting some browse right after hunting season for deer to eat in the winter. Those actions may not eliminate all the nipping, but will help with browsing of your evergreen trees.
We have white pines, pitch pines, and hemlocks here in big numbers naturally. Those just don't get browsed. I know some of you guys say your pines get wiped out by deer. We just don't see that here. More available & desirable food sources ??
We don't have poor soil or extreme climate fluctuations, so those don't affect us as it might guys in other locations. We do get some tops nipped off by deer in winter if the spruce are not fenced and are "fending for themselves", but thankfully not many. We have other food sources - plots, hardwood browse supply, acorns, etc. - that probably take the pressure off the spruce as a diet interest. Adding more browse species and food plots may help, and if you have enough woods - try cutting some browse right after hunting season for deer to eat in the winter. Those actions may not eliminate all the nipping, but will help with browsing of your evergreen trees.
Diesel5610
5 year old buck +
Rubbing is far and away the number one issue with our planted Norway Spruce. Nothing more aggravating than waiting 5-7 years for a tree to grow and really start to look like a tree and then have a buck rub it to shreds overnight. Like Bowsnbucks I have learned to fence the trees I really want to make it, like in a visual barrier project.
I have had good and bad luck with plugs. Most of my bad luck has been the same as others have indicated, planting them hundreds at a time and then walking away and being disappointed a year later when I checked and a majority were dead. Smaller plugs are no different than ABP other than they are cheaper and guys have a tendency to just plant them and walk away from them hoping for the best. Give them the same attention you do an ABP and it will grow just as well. Hard to give several hundred plugs the same attention you would a larger ABP.
I have had good and bad luck with plugs. Most of my bad luck has been the same as others have indicated, planting them hundreds at a time and then walking away and being disappointed a year later when I checked and a majority were dead. Smaller plugs are no different than ABP other than they are cheaper and guys have a tendency to just plant them and walk away from them hoping for the best. Give them the same attention you do an ABP and it will grow just as well. Hard to give several hundred plugs the same attention you would a larger ABP.
