Recent content by Oaknut

And I like to prune the the lower branches off pretty aggressively, trying to push them up and out of reach of the deer & elk.

Great questions. Not sure I’m really qualified to answer them. These didn’t grow as vigorously as I had hoped. But it was so darned dry the last half of the summer, that probably didn’t help. Seems like I read somewhere not to remove more than 1/3 of the tree in any given year. But I’ve...

It was aggressive. That ladder is a 6 footer. The trees in those last 3 shots are really struggling, and they all produce 1/4-3/8” bird-sized fruits that drop in September. I took the fences down to work on them, and decided to chop the old gnarled limbs off, and see if I couldn’t get them...

Posted those last 3 shots by mistake. Not sure how to remove them.

Signal Fire was still holding some fruit on May 6th last spring, after it’s blossoms had opened. Probably 4 or 5 months longer than ideal.

For conifers I really like Norway spruce. Fast growing once established, and they seem to hold their lower branches better than Red, Jack or Scot’s pine.

I agree, you should not have any sprouting from your pine stumps. At least I have never seen that.

I have been cutting my Scot’s pine down. My grandfather planted them almost 70 years ago, and they are spreading and filling in my openings. In Michigan they are considered invasive. They have acted as a wonderful nursery for both red & white oak, though, I believe that Blue Jays hide acorns...

Signal Fire has lost most of it’s fruit, but it is still holding some on April 7th. And it’s buds are starting to open.

Teeder, Once you pot your acorns and put them under lights in your basement, do you leave the lights on 24-7, or do you go 12 hours on and 12 hrs off? Thanks!

Another Signal Fire photo.

Bows, Signal Fire is a roadside find from the Northern tip of lower Michigan, and it is full-sized in the last two photos I posted, ~1.25 to 1.5” in diameter. It usually drops too late for hunting, although deer do visit it during the fall and early winter to take the low hanging fruit. I...

Someone just asked if that Signal Fire fruit is full-sized yet. Not nearly!

Signal Fire is on track for another heavy crop this year, even though it blossoms early and withstood 3 late, hard frosts. And the new fruit is already coloring up.