White Pine Seedlings

[chucker66]

I have a ton of white pine seedlings that are in the ground I have access too. I need to move them and don't have time to re-plant them on my land. Any suggestions as to how I could maybe stick them in the garden over winter and transplant them next spring? They are growing under several huge old white pines and would like to have a few hundred to plant.

Chuck

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I would leave them alone until early next spring just after the frost is out. Then pull them one day (keeping the roots moist of course) and plant them the next. I typically just fill up a few 5 gallon buckets with as many pulled seedlings as I can cram in the buckets and call it good. I've done that a lot with spruce trees and have had good luck.

I wouldn't try anything this time of year though. You might be able to make it work in mid/late fall when the weather is cool, but I've never done that. if you stick with the early spring plan you will likely have pretty good luck.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Why do they need to be moved now? Why not just wait until your ready to plant to harvest them? I ripped several hundred spruce trees out from under the power lines this year and planted them on my land. Worked awesome. I pulled and planted 3 different weekends going all the way to Memorial weekend. The earlier planted trees from the first weekend are the best, but most are alive. I am gonna try 25 or so this fall just to see what survival rate on them is like. Probably works great.

http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/will-these-survive.10863/


The deer hammer white pine by me. They need to be in cages or its a waste of time.

 

[chucker66]

I have to move them as we are selling the property they are on. I wish I had done some this spring but got busy with other things. I was just wondering if anyone had done this where you move a bunch of seedlings for a temporary home until you can get them where you want. I might just try to move some to my home vegetable garden and see what happens. Always fun to experiment.

Chuck

 

[BuckSutherland]

Make it part of the purchase agreement that you take some for transplant next spring. Or transplant them this fall. I don’t think transplant in the middle of summer will work good unless you put them somewhere they can be watered a lot. Might work in the garden with lots of water, but I would rather transplant them once instead of twice. Just talk with the buyers. They might not care and you could even do it mid September or later.