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Marking new tree plantings?

Boll Weevil

Boll Weevil

5 year old buck +
ChrisA’s thread got me thinking so figured would post it here for feedback. Planting a few thousand 12-18” hardwood seedlings in an otherwise way over mature hardwood stand with virtually zero understory. Clean as a highway in there.

Was thinking spray paint the seedling stems hot pink or blaze orange upon shipment receipt to id a sapling for a growing season and help avoid and protect? Anyone try something like this with any success?

Tubing and or flagging is totally out of the question with this many stems.
 
Are you planting randomly or in a line? I have used bamboo or PVC marked with flagging tape to mark the ends of a row. If the row is long I will also put a marker in the middle. This obviously won’t work if you are planting randomly.
 
Yes randomly.
 
I am not sure the spray paint idea is going to work like you think. Try it with paint and some small tree limbs to see if you can see the marked limbs. I have used surveyor’s orange marking paint to mark large trees along an old fence row and six months later it was hard to see the paint. A small seedling will probably be even harder to detect even when the paint is fresh.
 
I don’t like to admit this.

But I’ve planted as many as 7,500 cuttings in a spring. (not trees, cuttings which are better)
Didn’t work so well short term. But not deadly long term. All told I’ve put at least 20,000 cuttings or more.

short term. 3-5 years it sucked. 10 years later. I’m seeing some of the survivors. It’s getting interesting. But I was (am) impatient.

impatient in this game is just frustrating...
 
I hope you have better luck than most planting in the timber.I heard a saying once "the only thing ever produced by planting a tree in the timber was sweat"
 
Ive used surveyor flags , but the fade in color rapidly

bill
 
buckdeer1 said:
I hope you have better luck than most planting in the timber.I heard a saying once "the only thing ever produced by planting a tree in the timber was sweat"
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Same.

Not to poo on a parade, but are you worried that the reason the understory is so bare of growth is that it doesn't have enough sunlight to support life ??

Just curious as we have all been there, and had the same idea :)
 
bigeight said:
Same.

Not to poo on a parade, but are you worried that the reason the understory is so bare of growth is that it doesn't have enough sunlight to support life ??

Just curious as we have all been there, and had the same idea :)
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Yep. Lack of enough sunlight. That's exactly why we logged off about 25 acres about 6 years ago. It's amazing to see what things sprout once you get sunlight on the ground. We marked the oaks, hickories, and maples with surveyor's tape we wanted to save from the saw, and most of the rest came down. We planted some Norway spruce, witch hazel, and ROD in the cut areas. We put concrete remesh cages around some of the maple and oak stumps to protect the FREE new stump sprouts we got. FREE browse and cover!

It wasn't a clear cut, but rather a select cut where we left some mature, seed-producing oaks, maples, birch, hickories, and white pines. The sunlight is the kick-starter.
 
I am also in the camp of "you can't plant trees in the forest"! If yo have a dense canopy and sunlight is so choked that there is no understory....the ONLY way those plantings make it beyond deer food is it you plant them and then plan on cutting off the mature timber....which some of that process is going to destroy some of your planting as well. I have also found that by marking where the trees are....this simply helps the deer find them! No way I go to the effort of plant 1,000's of trees without there being some plan of opening up the canopy! There is no understory because they is no light and/or the deer eat everything that does try to grow.

You want understory...at least do a selective harvest. Trees are like any other crop...they need to be harvested so the next crop can begin to grow. This was a tough concept for me to grasp, but 2 timber cuttings later it is one of the best things I ever did for my habitat. It will look rough for a while, but the majority of the wildlife will thank you. Heck just do a test in an area of an acre or so and you will be surprised what a little sunlight can do.
 
Agree with everything that’s been said about the necessity of sunlight for this to work. This stand of timber has been picked through so there’s plenty of penetrating sunlight. Between storm salvage and removing low quality stems throughout the stand over the years it’s in a stage of being a mature stand, but with ”holes” in the canopy where ample sunlight gets to the ground.

Some of ya’ll may not have this issue like we do down here but some of the most aggressive early succession growers in a hardwood stand range between lower value species and plain old pure junk. Sweetgum, ash, and elm will make logs one day but I’d way rather have poplar, red oak or white oak. Ironwood, hornbeam, myrtle, privet, cedar and on on are just straight junk. The idea is to quality saplings off to a head start as more of the mature wood comes out.
 
It sounds like you are trying to walk a thin line between timber management and wildlife management. I was always told that by trying to play both sides means you get only 50% results of either at best.
 
You have to remember with holes in the canopy that the sun will probably only shine through certain times of the year as sun moves and hopefully this is during growing season
 
If you have no understory, mature canopy and lack of sunlight is one reason. Those seedlings will need at least 5-6 hours of sunlight a day to support the photosynthesis process which is key to their growth. There are trees that are shade tolerant that may not need as much sun exposure.

I have planted over 30,000 seedlings. So many factors work against their survival the first 3-5 years. I was once in the camp of thinking that if I overwhelmed are area with seedlings, it would be reasonable to expect more would survive than I lost. The only ones i have actually seen survive past the first 3-5 years are ones I have tubed. From the time I went from planting 1500+ seedlings a year unprotected, to planting 150-200/yr protected, my survival rate went up dramatically.

The fact that there is zero understory suggests other issues such as soil chemistry, moisture, competition, browse pressure, etc.; however, sun exposure still critical.
 
The Fishman said:
Are you planting randomly or in a line? I have used bamboo stick or PVC marked with flagging tape to mark the ends of a row. If the row is long I will also put a marker in the middle. This obviously won’t work if you are planting randomly bamboo stick.
Click to expand...
I use bamboo too... It is a very strong plant....
 
We bought 37 acres in the fall of 2017. It had been select-cut a couple years prior. I started "filling the holes" in 2018 with a variety of oaks. Some of the more shade tolerant oaks are just out of the 5' tubes. Some look like the day I planted them. What I've found is, even though the holes where fairly large, most weren't wide enough east to west to get sun in there for a long enough duration. They need more than the 3-4 hours most were getting. I've since been replacing the ones that didn't make it and have been widening the holes by either cutting firewood trees, girdling junk or in some cases hinge cutting. The sun is key!
BTW, the trees that have done best in these conditions for me have been Schuette's (swampbur), Northern Red, and Northern Red / Shumard hybrid.
 
Its hard enough to get saplings to make it in straight up, open country ... good luck is all Im going to say and wish ya well with sticking in under trees. I have a feeling in a few years you'll be giving out the same advise as others just did.
 
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