Cages, weed mats and mulch
- Thread starter BuckSutherland
- Start date
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
This white pine was an ABP plug from Itasca greenhouse planted in the spring of 2020. It was probably about 12" tall at the time I planted it. It has received premium care since Day 1. White pine grows awesome in my woods. Red pine seems to struggle. Spruce struggle until they get about 5 years of age. Firs are damn near impossible to grow in my clay.
I have a bunch of conifers that are now approaching 8-12 feet tall. Keep the weeds down with a weed mat and keep them protected from the deer and some of this stuff grows really fast if its getting a good amount of sunlight. Also happy to report 6" of rain last week. It was desperately needed.
b
I have a bunch of conifers that are now approaching 8-12 feet tall. Keep the weeds down with a weed mat and keep them protected from the deer and some of this stuff grows really fast if its getting a good amount of sunlight. Also happy to report 6" of rain last week. It was desperately needed.
b
Telemark
5 year old buck +
For me it will ultimately reduce costs, but it increases time. I will just keep moving the cages around as things establish, but that limits how many I can do per year. Ultimately I think I will find the yearly limit on planting will just give me time for other things and be a benefit to my efforts. We live, we learn.
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BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
A few pictures from last weekend. I spent most of my time doing weed mats and clearing brush and weeds from around desirable trees. My woods is really taking off. A bunch of leaders on my spruce and pine are now getting out of reach for the deer. I might have a couple hundred spruce and pine that I am now able to leave alone for the rest of their lives. My work is done with them. 6 years ago I pretty much had none.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Mosquitoes were horrible, but at least ZERO ticks. Also very warm and humid with heavy dew in the morning and very little wind. Terrible working conditions but I take every opportunity that I can get.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Deer eat your white pines out there, don't they? Rub on them, too? WP don't get touched by deer here - eating or rubbing. Here, I prune the tops off our young WP to make them push more branches & make them thicker. Spruce here - deer nibble on the young tips and rub the H out of them.
Your trees look great Buck! Nice work. Do you not have many evergreens on your place naturally?
Your trees look great Buck! Nice work. Do you not have many evergreens on your place naturally?
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Deer would destroy any WP that's not caged. Norway and black hills spruce get browsed when they are young. As they age they leave them alone. White spruce and meyer spruce don't get touched by the deer.
I do have a little native balsam fir (only a few dozen). Pretty much the only conifers in my woods before I started planting. The deer like to browse them. Balsam fir are dying at an alarming rate all across northern MN. I think all of mine will be dead within a few years. If I wouldn't be planting I would have ZERO conifers left after the balsams all die.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Any idea what's getting the Balsams?
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Possibly eastern spruce budworm or balsam woolly adelgid. Either way its not good. I had a couple really good looking balsams that have suffered very swift deaths in the last 18-24 months. 30-40 foot tall trees that got sickly and within about 90-120 days they were dead and on the ground. They just fall apart.
This is widespread across northern MN from my travels. The balsams were dying all over the place in the boundary waters this year. So are the jack pines. Northern MN is gonna lose a lot of conifers and make plenty of tinder the next couple years. Tamaracks are suffering in some areas as well.
