Habitat Progress Pictures

[bueller]

What kind of tubes and where you do order from? I've been thinking about planting some white oaks in my oak wilt devastated areas. Seems like tubes could be a good way to get them established and out of reach without caging.

 

[scott44]

What kind of tubes and where you do order from? I've been thinking about planting some white oaks in my oak wilt devastated areas. Seems like tubes could be a good way to get them established and out of reach without caging.

I use the 5' Miracle tubes and ordered them from here.
http://www.treepro.com/

 

[bueller]

Being a cheapo and possibly only looking for 25 to start, the ones in Stu's links are quite a bit less money compared to Scott's. Thanks guys.

 

[scott44]

Might have to try some of these, thx Stu.

The first tubes I bought were the ones in Scott's link. I still have them and am using them...they must be 10-12 years old. The link I posted is a tube made by the same company and they look nearly identical. The new ones have a seam down the side so they split more easily when the trunk gets big enough, but that's the only difference I can see. They are also supposed to be lighter material, but I can't really tell the difference.

 

[SD51555]

On whether or not to take the tube off and cage it...

I'd leave the tube on for good unless you get problems. I'd watch out for too much branching within the tube that can create havoc with bugs or mold. I wouldn't stake your leader either unless it's really getting beat up. That natural swaying is what toughens them up. Also keep an eye on the area where your central leader meets the rim of the tube. If you're getting damage from rubbing, then I'd take some action to keep it from swaying so much. But it looks like you've got a smooth edge so you're probably going to be ok. I started pruning my trees inside the tubes and so far they seem to be growing a lot better.

 

[rocksnstumps]

With the oaks I used to pull tubes off in the late fall or sometimes spring and get rid of all the trapped leaves, trim back branches in the tube back to the central leader, and stuff the tube back on. I prefer the 5 ft tubes, started with 4 ft too short and 6 ft just promoted an even more spindly trunk. I think you'll be ok for another year or so, but once the trees are 4 ft or more out of the top, the thin diameter due to rapid growth from the tube starts to be a problem. You'll need to run your stake all the way to the top of the tube or you find the tree and upper 1 ft of the tube will kink over in a good wind when you have enough leaves to make a good sail. Looks like you might be using pvc for stakes. That might be enough flex to get them to work on some diameter once out of the tubes. My problem was I use t-posts which are free from old fencing removed but no flex so after trees are 8 ft or so I have to restake with two posts about 4 ft apart and a couple of lines back to a tube kinda tensioned in the middle for more movement. When trees are 2-1/2 to 3" dia you can get rid of any stakes but still gotta protect from all the critters.

 

[rocksnstumps]

yeah its a bit of a balance to have them flex enough so the tree adds some dia but not so much that they end up leaned over below that ever important 5 ft or so above the ground. Had a few trees bust free from some staking this year with really bad winds and found the darn deer got ahold of em and pulled down even more to eat all the leaves off. They grow back but still........

 

[Spiider]

If I had to pick a favorite tube, this would be it I think
https://www.treeprotectionsupply.com/tree-tubes/tree-pro/tree-pro-5-ft/

I'm using the same one's mentioned here ^^^. They've worked out great so far. They are easy to spray around, easy to take off, put back on, and attach to my pvc easily. They do flex in strong winds, but I'm not sure they flex enough to mimic a young tree in the wind (or close). Minimally at best, IMO. To keep mice out of the bottoms, when I'm packing my tree, I leave enough room to shimmy the tree tube about 2" into the ground. So the following spring, it doesn't take much effort to pull it out, but enough to keep the mice/voles out of it. Haven't found a solution for keeping bees out of them though... Easy enough with some screen when the tree isn't out of the top but not after that.

I think I'm going to plan on following suggestions. The first being that I'll shoot for around 3" diameter before I cage them. Second, is that I'm going to prune most of the lower branches when I clean them out early next spring. Thanks for all the input on this.

I'll also leave the Dunstan alone and not stake it.

 

[Spiider]

Not a great pic for compare and contrast, but... The Egyptian Wheat closest didn't get any Urea and is roughly 3' tall. The stuff in the background did and is roughly 6 - 7' tall.



Another view in the same spot:

 

[Spiider]

Took some pics this weekend. The days/nights are getting cooler now, fall is coming!

These are an update to my 3rd year Hybrid Poplars. Can't believe how tall these have got, in so little time!


Here is some Egyptian Wheat. Since I've started using the MxG, I won't be planting the EW any more :) So I used up my remaining, 4 year old EW seeds to screen a roadside field while the CIR Switchgrass comes in. I didn't do any ground prep, no fertilizer, no packing, just spread the EW and walked away. I did add some Urea when it was knee high.


Here is a view from the back of the field, with the road on the left side of the tree line.

 

[Spiider]

This is the shorter side of my 2nd year MxG.


The taller side:


Opposite end, same row:

 

[Spiider]

Here's a short row of 3rd year Speckled Alder:

Planted 17 Chestnuts (10 Dunstan and 7 Benton Harbor).

Planted 2 dozen Gobbler Sawtooth Oaks:
These are containerized so I roughed up each site with a spade, then used my larger tree plug tool for the hole, dipped the roots in Water Sorb, covered, then tubed them all.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Nice job, Spiider.

 

[Blitz]

Great looking place, Spiider!!! Enjoyed the pics.

 

[Spiider]

Been a while since I checked on my newer Norways, now on their 2nd year. Got them from Itasca as 77's.

Averaging around 4+' tall:


Tallest is 5.5'


I'll have to go check on some that I planted 3 years ago from Itasca as 6's.

 

[SD51555]

wow! How'd you manage so much growth so quickly?

 

[Spiider]

wow! How'd you manage so much growth so quickly?

Must be the soil, this spot was farmed until I got the land and planted trees. Before it was crops it was used for cattle. Sandy loam under the first 6" or so. Not all my soils are like this, but its nice to even have some! Other than that I dip most everything i plant in Water Sorb. Put a slow release fertilizer tab near the conifers, spray them with Deer Stopper concentrate a few times that first year, and pull the weeds occasionally. I'm sure it's more nature than my doing though :) The 77's I got were much fuller and healthier than the example they show in their website too.

 

[Spiider]

If you need short term screening, don't forget or overlook Egyptian Wheat or Sorghum (or a mix of them). I had posted a couple pics earlier this summer about the EW that I had hit with Urea and a section I didn't. While the section I did fertilize came up a lot faster, the section I did not has caught up.
This is that shorter row from earlier, post #35 from August 8th:




Updated pics from post #36:

 

[Spiider]

I got 14 chestnut burs this year. I took 7 of them and am about to see if they have any nuts. I left the other 7 to hopefully see if I can tell when they drop naturally.

 

[Spiider]

Hybrid Willow, 3rd year.