New Place-Fruit Tree Ideas

As Telemark pointed out above, allowing young trees to blossom and put energy into producing fruit can stunt your trees' overall growth. For most wildlife purposes, we want our trees to grow taller and get heavier/woodier before putting on heavy loads of fruit.
 
As Telemark pointed out above, allowing young trees to blossom and put energy into producing fruit can stunt your trees' overall growth. For most wildlife purposes, we want our trees to grow taller and get heavier/woodier before putting on heavy loads of fruit.
I pinched off those and any subsequent blossoms and the tree is now leafed out and already appears to be getting bigger..
 
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Just (almost) finished planting the above tree species/varieties in the field below my house.
The only ones I didn't plant yet were the 2 small wild apple seedlings and they should be going in this weekend.
I used Bowsnbucks'/Appleman's/others strategy of installing window screen around the base, putting down landscape fabric, then covering with ~3inches of limestone screenings with a ~3 foot diameter of 5 foot high remesh cage around all of the fruit tree plantings (the willows were left to fend for themselves). It has been a ton of work but I am hoping in a few years there will be lots to show. Total of 24 fruit trees and 10 willows. Also planted the field to the left of the willows with 25lbs of buckwheat/80 lbs of oats and ~7 lbs of crimson clover after burning the field, haring, then spraying 2X with gly to get rid of the weeds.
 
I pinched off those and any subsequent blossoms and the tree is now leafed out and already appears to be getting bigger..

You actually saw it grow? Mine never grow when I stare at them :emoji_grin:
 
You actually saw it grow? Mine never grow when I stare at them :emoji_grin:
it may have just straightened up a bit...but the top of the central leader definitely seemed to be higher...
 
So I have run into another issue...all of my fruit trees are doing well, but I now have a neighbor building 2 houses and shed above my house adjacent to my 3 acre field (actually one of the structures will be ~20 feet from the property line)....I definitely want a permanent screen in place there....any suggestions are welcome, but I don't really want to do MG due to the spraying requirements and am open to trees/shrubs/patches of impenetrable briars/etc....they would be planted in an established hay field....I am leaning towards blue spruce or any other kind of screen that would grow quickly and prevent the neighbor from seeing into my field (I intend to make it a plot someday and would like to avoid unnecessary temptation, on his part).
In this picture, my property line would come up from the bottom point of the woods straight up to the top section of woods, just behind the tractor and bailer. I own the triangular field to the right as well as the woods and home with the solar panels. The closest of the neighbors structures would be just over the border in line with the tractor. The total distance from the point of the woods to the upper woods is about 85 yards, but I would probably only screen about 50-60 yards of it.
Thanks again for all your input.
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Blue spruce are pretty slow growers. White pine and arborvitaes grow faster....pine will shed its lower branches as it gets older though. Any trees will take years to fill in good, so if you want faster screen plant bigger trees. And you need to protect them or deer will eat and beat up on them.
 
Blue spruce are pretty slow growers. White pine and arborvitaes grow faster....pine will shed its lower branches as it gets older though. Any trees will take years to fill in good, so if you want faster screen plant bigger trees. And you need to protect them or deer will eat and beat up on them.
I was looking into white pines...I was thinking of alternating rows of white pines and arborvitaes that way even if the pines are slower the ABVs will get big quick...I might just have to step back a little from the property line so if a bad wind happens my trees wont fall on the neighbors new house!
 
I would plant a corridor of trees, (hybrid poplar (very fast growing), pines, spruce) from top (north?) to bottom (south?) giving a safe, concealed travel corridor from forest on top to your land. If you don't plant spruce to cover near the ground then autumn or Russian olive will thicken it in. 50' wide of Cave-in-rock switchgrass wood thicken it the fastest.
 
Norway spruce are the fastest growers - especially if they get a lot of sun. As for hybrid poplars - Prof Kent is correct, they grow fast. The one problem with them is they send out root runners that'll sprout new poplars all over the place. My neighbor had some for a property screen and they ruined the properties bordering him. It took years to get rid of all the root-sprouted poplar trees that grew where nobody wanted them.
If you want quick, Cave-in-Rock switchgrass, combined with a double row of white pine and Norway spruce would get the job done. The white pines will grow faster than the spruce, but as the spruce get high enough, you could cut the pines down if preferred - since they'll lose their lower limbs as time goes by. It's just what pines do ....... self-prune their lower limbs.

If I were to plant a quick screen myself, I'd plant Cave-in-Rock switch closest to the border, then a row of Norway spruce, then a row of Washington hawthorn trees. The hawthorns grow fairly quickly and there's no need to cut them down later. They get about 15 to 18 ft. tall, are very "limb-y and twiggy", and produce lots of red berries for all kinds of birds, turkeys, & grouse. They get very dense, so even after leaves drop, they make a good screen ............ with big thorns. A little 10-10-10 spread around them will speed the hawthorn growth. I've got hawthorn seedlings that went from seedling to over 6 ft. in 3 years at camp (not far from your location!) using a bit of 10-10-10. Sun is also hawthorns' friend. No shade for good growth.
 
I like Bows formula.

As for arborvitae, they are so heavily browsed in my area, the bottom 5 feet are totally bare after one season. I love 'em, but so do the deer.
 
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I have two HP from the same source that I planted over 30 years ago. One throws out rootsuckers and one doesn’t.

I wonder if it depends on the soil type or if the two trees have different genetics.

The one on the lighter soil throws out the root suckers. Heavier/ thicker grass in the better soil location might make a difference.


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Thanks for all the replies! I found someone who has a few small white pines I can transplant and I might try to get ahold of some norway spruce...
Would the HP do ok on a hilltop pretty sloped field? Do they need more water than sun? I think the field gets decent water but I know it will get almost full sun (South facing slope).
About the switchgrass..is it hard to get established and will it standup under some snow? This screen will be in an old hayfield and I think I can get it pretty well prepped, but definitely want this screen in sooner than later.
 
Thanks for all the replies! I found someone who has a few small white pines I can transplant and I might try to get ahold of some norway spruce...
Would the HP do ok on a hilltop pretty sloped field? Do they need more water than sun? I think the field gets decent water but I know it will get almost full sun (South facing slope).
About the switchgrass..is it hard to get established and will it standup under some snow? This screen will be in an old hayfield and I think I can get it pretty well prepped, but definitely want this screen in sooner than later.
Derek,

Deer browse white pine up here in N. Michigan.
 
Derek,

Deer browse white pine up here in N. Michigan.
I was thinking about that...would my 6X6 remesh cages about 4 feet in diameter with some weed fabric inside the cage work to give them a start if I started with ~4-6 foot trees?
 
I was thinking about that...would my 6X6 remesh cages about 4 feet in diameter with some weed fabric inside the cage work to give them a start if I started with ~4-6 foot trees?
Derek,

White pine is not preferred browse, but they do work on it here when food is scarce in the winter.

Norway Spruce would be much better IMO, here in MI seedlings are available at many of the County Conservation District tree sales.

Correction: I just did google search and MDNR says that White Pine is a preferred deer food...
 
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Thanks for all the replies! I found someone who has a few small white pines I can transplant and I might try to get ahold of some norway spruce...
Would the HP do ok on a hilltop pretty sloped field? Do they need more water than sun? I think the field gets decent water but I know it will get almost full sun (South facing slope).
About the switchgrass..is it hard to get established and will it standup under some snow? This screen will be in an old hayfield and I think I can get it pretty well prepped, but definitely want this screen in sooner than later.

HP come in many different combinations. I am sure some do better in certain locations.


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Derek -
I've lived in Pa. all my life and I've never seen deer browse white pine HERE. Other states they do, probably because of tougher winters in those states? Lack of other food sources in winter?

The problem with pines is they lose their lower branches as time goes by. The lower parts of pine trees open up. It's just what pines do. Spruce, on the other hand, keep their limbs down to the ground, and thus make a better long-term screen. That's why we've planted so many Norway & white spruce at camp ............ they make a super screen / windbreak / winter shelter ........... and it's once and done for decades. Your location and my camp aren't very far apart, so climate and soil are much the same.
 
Derek -
I've lived in Pa. all my life and I've never seen deer browse white pine HERE. Other states they do, probably because of tougher winters in those states? Lack of other food sources in winter?

The problem with pines is they lose their lower branches as time goes by. The lower parts of pine trees open up. It's just what pines do. Spruce, on the other hand, keep their limbs down to the ground, and thus make a better long-term screen. That's why we've planted so many Norway & white spruce at camp ............ they make a super screen / windbreak / winter shelter ........... and it's once and done for decades. Your location and my camp aren't very far apart, so climate and soil are much the same.

I'm in SW Pa, and deer are extremely hard on young white pine. I’ve grown a few to maturity but I've lost a lot to deer damage, too. They have never browsed mine...UNTIL there is snow on the ground. Same with my hemlocks, rhododendron, and laurel. Just an inch or so of snow and they start to browse stuff that they would otherwise ignore.
The biggest threat to white pines is from buck rubbing. They love, love, love to rub white pines. One Ohio property that I hunt has white pine aging from new sprouts to fully mature. The amount of rubbing on trees up to 5 or 6" dia is mind blowing.
I could not grow a white pine unless I would cage it.
 
.........I am leaning towards blue spruce or any other kind of screen that would grow quickly and prevent the neighbor from seeing into my field (I intend to make it a plot someday and would like to avoid unnecessary temptation, on his part)......
Do not plant blue spruce! There is a disease that is decimating the blue spruce. You see dead and dying blue spruce everywhere you drive in this region. I've lost a few, and a few others are definitely sick and dying, but I also have a couple that are showing no signs of illness...I'm not sure why that is. Maybe a different genetic strain that is resistant to the blight??
But I would still consider it a low-odds, high risk gamble to plant blue (or white) spruce. Chances are you will eventually lose them.
 
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