I have planted thousands of bare roots with a dibble bar over the years. Somewhere between 10-15 years worth of trees and shrubs in the ground. I just recently started planting plugs due to the ease of planting. This will be my third year planting the plugs. I am sold on the plugs after planting them just due to the ease in planting them and they seem to have just a bit better survival rate.
The Norway are pretty dense and the deer really gravitate to Norway plantings, especially in the winter. I assume much of it is due to their ability to break the wind and insulation properties. They keep their lower branches and the deer do not browse them. I have never had a problem with deer nipping the seedlings either. We have high deer densities and the shrubs I plant get hammered if they aren't protected. Interested to hear others experiences on that.
The Norways grow pretty quick and start to come into their own about year 6 or 7. They are usually at least as tall as the deer then and with the weeds and grass between them the deer feel pretty comfortable and they are a beginning to be a good bedding area for me. 10-12 years and you have legitimate Pine thickets depending on how tight you space them. I usually space them about 12 feet apart in mass plantings and don't worry about the few that don't make it unless I lose a bunch. This last summer we went through a good drought and I am waiting to see how many I lost. A bunch look sick and I am not sure if they are going to make it. I will probably buy plugs to stick in last years planting due to the uncertainty of those plantings. I don't have any pictures and will have to take some.
