Concordia Oaks and Swamp / Bur Hybrids

[g squared 23]

This is the best concordia, it’s in an easy place for me to get to, so it’s gotten significant babying, hell I’ve even sprayed it for bugs a couple of times. It had a few acorns for the first time last year, and looks to have more this year.


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[Angus 1895]

This is an “average” Concordia oak planted spring 2018. Good but not great sun, 6’ weed mat and cage. I didn’t always mow around them, this one was on its own the first couple of years. No acorns that I noticed.


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How is the weed mat working?

 

[g squared 23]

It’s not doing much now, but for the first 3-4 years it was clean under the tree and I got better growth than the trees that weren’t protected. If you want early acorn production, weed care of some kind (mowing, spraying or a 6’ weed mat) were critical.


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[Angus 1895]

It’s not doing much now, but for the first 3-4 years it was clean under the tree and I got better growth than the trees that weren’t protected. If you want early acorn production, weed care of some kind (mowing, spraying or a 6’ weed mat) were critical.


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How do you prep area for a six foot?

Weed mat?

Thanks

 

[g squared 23]

Ideally I mow and then spray the location with roundup the fall before and plant the tree in the spring before things green up. My planning isn’t always that great, so I occasionally have to bring the weed eater on planting day. 1/10, do not recommend. If you can have your site prepped, cage made, and weed mat cut, you save a lot of hassle on planting day and can get a lot more trees fully protected. The ones where I skimped on the above mentioned steps, tend to lag behind. No cage, even for a day, and the deer or coons destroyed the baby trees or severely set them back.


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[Angus 1895]

Ideally I mow and then spray the location with roundup the fall before and plant the tree in the spring before things green up. My planning isn’t always that great, so I occasionally have to bring the weed eater on planting day. 1/10, do not recommend. If you can have your site prepped, cage made, and weed mat cut, you save a lot of hassle on planting day and can get a lot more trees fully protected. The ones where I skimped on the above mentioned steps, tend to lag behind. No cage, even for a day, and the deer or coons destroyed the baby trees or severely set them back.


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How do you fix the weed mat to the ground?

 

[b116757]

These are what I use

 

[g squared 23]

Yep, I use the same staples as above. I also typically staple some aluminum mesh around the base of the tree, normal office stapler. Then use a garden staple to keep the mesh flush against the weed mat so rodents don’t girdle the tree


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[g squared 23]

A couple of examples


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[Angus 1895]

A couple of examples


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What’s your brand of cloth?

WOW!

Amazing.

 

[g squared 23]

I normally shop around, but I think this is what I have ordered

Amazon.com

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[Angus 1895]

I normally shop around, but I think this is what I have ordered

Amazon.com

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So do you de root the ground below the weed mat?

Or lay it over the grass ?

 

[b116757]

I like to roundup spray the spots where I’ll plant trees the fall before I plant them killing all the competition. Then come spring it’s pretty easy to see the dead spots to dibble in the little trees.

 

[g squared 23]

So do you de root the ground below the weed mat?

Or lay it over the grass ?

You can lay it on top of grass and garden staple it down.

As mentioned above, it’s better to spray the spot the fall before with roundup so digging and planting is easier and there is less competition from the get go.


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[Angus 1895]

My next question is where does one get the mesh for girdles ?

How do you attach it around the tree?

Thanks

 

[Wind Gypsy]

My next question is where does one get the mesh for girdles ?

How do you attach it around the tree?

Thanks

This is a method you see frequently referenced for fruit trees so you can read more about it there if you search. I hadn't done it on oaks and my best growing bur english from acorn got wrecked this spring by bunnies or rodents so might need to start doing it on non-tubed oaks now as well. Typically just use a roll of window screen material. I buy off amazon but home improvement type stores should have it too. fold it around tree and staple it together. The staples will pull if needed as tree grows.

Amazon.com

 

[Angus 1895]

The rodents are unreal this year.

I have lost several oaks due to the gnawing sons a beaches!

Twigs kills about a dozen a day!

But I carried her on my quad a couple of times which scared her, so now she doesn’t follow me out to where I could really use her skills.

 

[b116757]

My dog loves to ride the tractor with me he thinks it’s great but the crazy dog has tried to jump off chasing vermin and I’ve had a close call with him just missing the rear tire so I hold onto him now if he jumps up there with me.

 

[Mozark]

Planted over 40 concordias this spring from MDC, think I have lost less than five. A very wet year hasn't hurt my feelings at all.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Planted over 40 concordias this spring from MDC, think I have lost less than five. A very wet year hasn't hurt my feelings at all.View attachment 67632

Are you keeping them in cages?

Mine from MDC have also been exceptional.