Permanent 'Scrape' Trees

[soavejas]

So after reading a bunch of Bartylla's stuff, I've become a huge fan of his idea of cutting scrape trees and 'replanting' them in food plots. I've used them the past couple years and they've been awesome for camera locations and for positioning deer for shots as I'm sure most of you know.

I've had the best luck with young bushy oaks but they look pretty sad after the first year. And it just seems kind like kind of a waste to keep cutting new ones down every season or two. Which has gotten me thinking a little bit.

I've got some volunteer northern red oaks coming up in places that aren't going to be very beneficial to me in the future. For example in the middle of my young plot screens consisting of Norways/Red Pines and a few rows of Miscanthus (that will be planted in the spring). Currently the oaks are anywhere from 18" to maybe 72". Even if they do survive all the competition, they likely won't have much in the way of crowns down the road.

So I'm thinking of carefully digging maybe a half dozen of them up and potting them for a couple seasons. From there I could try to train them to hopefully have a few horizontal branches around chest height and maybe even trim the central leader since vertical growth wouldn't really be important. Once they reach 6-8' or so with some good scaffolding branches I'll replant them back in the plots.

I know I could just throw a round cedar post with a few new branches every year and it would probably seem the same amount of usage, but this just seems like a fun project to me.

Anybody ever do anything like this? Any advice?

 

[Barndog56]

I've moved a dozen or so northern reds that came up in bad spots. Only about a 50% survival rate. You'll be amazed how long the taproot is on those small trees.

 

[Tap]

Oak do not transplant well from what I've been told. The deep tap root makes them difficult to dig successfully. Better get them while they're pretty young.

SW Pa

 

[Buckly]

Whatever makes you happy. I use a maple limb with a horizontal limb sticking straight out. I just zip tie a bunch of new branches on every year. I've found that beech works the best but also use maple branches and just plain old brush. These main limbs are 4 years old and still going strong. Takes about 5 minutes to put on new branches every year.

 

[John-W-WI]

From my experience, the bucks will kill just about anything you put in a food plot for a rub/scrape tree. Red oaks are tough, but slow growing, making it even more difficult for them to survive.

It's probably worth a try, and I hope it works.. Just trying to share my experience.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Bill]

I haven't tried John's huge polar cutting yet but may.

I can say the longest lasting one I have is a cedar with a rope for the licking branch. It's been there at least 5 years and is still going strong.

 

[soavejas]

Yea it honestly wouldn't be a surprise if they got destroyed and/or didn't transplant well. Worst case scnerio I'd be out pretty much nothing but a little effort and a tree that wouldn't have ever amounted to much anyway.

And again I know I could throw a post and branch up and have the same effect, but the work itself and having a more natural look kind of appeals to me. Call me weird I'm fine with that.

The little looking around online I saw said they transplant relatively easily and grow fast when young (up to 2'/year). But you know how reading stuff on the net goes. Seems like you guys are saying the opposite.

If I do decide to go ahead with this:

When would be the best time to attempt to pull them and replant these (if they survive the process that is)? I'm assuming late winter/early spring before bud break for both.

How deep could I expect the taproot to be on a 2' tree? I know that's impossible to answer but a ballpark would be fine.

If left in a pot outside all winter, would I have to worry about the roots freezing solid and killing the tree? I've never done anything like this before, sorry if that's a stupid question.

Thanks guys.

 

[Barndog56]

I dug up trees from 6 to 18 inches tall and some had 2-3 foot long taproots. I suppose that could depend on the moisture held in your soil.

 

[ALwoodsman]

I planted some sawtooth oaks from seed several years ago that have unintentionally turned into some great scrape trees.