Fall rip & relocate spruce
- Thread starter SD51555
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chummer
5 year old buck +
I got lucky last year. We had a really late start to winter with a fluke warm up mid December so I pulled some bigger ones out of the ditch. The ditch is the best place to get them because they pull out easier. This was 12/17, all lived and had lots of new growth this year. I caged the pine because they don’t survive winter without a cage.
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tlzkaasen
5 year old buck +
Chummer, You're pulling Balsams? I try to get rid as man y of those as possible because they lose their lower limbs become top heavy and the wind up roots them here in northern WI. Also, are you really pulling from the ground or you digging those? I generally dig, but if you have a better method I'm all ears.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
You dont NEED a shovel, but that probably works best. Most of us just grab onto the ditch trees near the ground and yank the sucker out and take what you get. I've probably done close to 2,000 trees this way. After the D3 drought last year my survivability went way down. After years of doing this you lose some to dry weather, some to deer and other critters, and some to winter. I think I would have 75-80% survive after 5 years in the absence of a major drought. If you wanna start caging, weed matting and maybe even watering you can get to nearly 100% survival from the rip method. Some species transplant WAY BETTER then others. 24" tall is about the max height I am looking for to transplant. Much taller then that and you will blow your back out yanking on them and survival starts to drop.
chummer
5 year old buck +
I am fortunate the ditch I pull them out off only has a couple inches of topsoil then rock. Up to 2’ pull out pretty easy. 3’ I might have to use the shovel to chop the main root. Every now and then you pull on one and it pulls back. Those suck but I just move to the next one. I am not sure what species they are. I am using them for screening so they should keep their branches as long as I am alive. Their roots grow horizontal so they are easy to transplant. You need a very shallow hole to stick them back in.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
^^^^ Yours sure look like white spruce other then that pine in the cage. They would have round stiff needles and feel prickly to the touch. The bark eventually become scaly. If they are balsam fir they have soft flat needles and would not feel prickly if you stroke a branch. Their bark remains smooth. Firs have flat needles, spruce are round. Here some of the white spruce I did in Spring of 2019. I like to get them in water immediately. Next season I may try root gelling them the night before I plant them.
chummer
5 year old buck +
I would guess the biggest in these photos was done 5 years ago. Most of them in the last 2 years. All were ripped out by hand. My problem is digging new holes in my rocky soil. The town left me 5 dump truck loads from cleaning out the ditches so I will be planting in mounds going forward.
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sandbur
5 year old buck +
I would guess the biggest in these photos was done 5 years ago. Most of them in the last 2 years. All were ripped out by hand. My problem is digging new holes in my rocky soil. The town left me 5 dump truck loads from cleaning out the ditches so I will be planting in mounds going forward.
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I planted some apple trees on mounds . Time will tell how they do.
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chummer
5 year old buck +
My fear is they blow over at some point.
chummer
5 year old buck +
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Cool stuff. I have way more success planting in fall here, but it’s all about summer survival here. I know you deal with different issues.
SD51555
5 year old buck +
Fair oak
5 year old buck +
Not really ripping I suppose but I spent 1/2 hour digging these 11 conifers from my home ground this morning. Mixture of spruce and balsams from 3’ tall to about 6’ tall just to experiment. It will be pretty awesome if the bigger ones survive. Very easy digging around home but not so easy digging where they will be going tomorrow.
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SD51555
5 year old buck +
Fair oak
5 year old buck +
Got to the property yesterday to plant the 11 spruce and balsams I dug up Tuesday. Something uprooted the best spruce within 24 hours. Lol. And the POS camera never triggered. Picked up another roll of fencing and 5/8 rebar today.
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bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
Chummer,
I never even heard of red spruce before. I've only planted white spruce purchased from the spring DEC sale.
Saw this online how to ID what kind of spruce you got.
www.wikihow.com
Anxious to see if my fir trees I ripped up and planted alongside stillwater rd to blind out a small plot survived. We had that febuary -35 deg cold snap. There was mayb 6 inches of snow up there at the time.
Was going to ask you what apple tree varieties you prefer. I panted some whitetail crabs 30-06 and droptine on anty rootstock. I grafted a bunch of kerr, some signal fire, redfield, and all winter hangover. They're in my nursery for this year, maybe next. Got some coffee stirrer thick dolgo and transcendent crabapple seedling from willis orchards in my nursery too. will graft about 1/2 of them, the other will leave ungrafted.
Wanted to try some noza-ezgrow up there. Was debating grafting some franklin cider and putting it up there. They say zone 4, but franklin VT is like 30 miles from the Canada border. Could see it working up by old forge ways.
I never even heard of red spruce before. I've only planted white spruce purchased from the spring DEC sale.
Saw this online how to ID what kind of spruce you got.
3 Ways to Identify Spruce Trees - wikiHow
Spruce trees are robust evergreen trees that grow in cooler climates and are often used as Christmas trees during the holiday season. There are about 40 species of spruce trees worldwide, with several including the Colorado Spruce and the...
www.wikihow.com
Anxious to see if my fir trees I ripped up and planted alongside stillwater rd to blind out a small plot survived. We had that febuary -35 deg cold snap. There was mayb 6 inches of snow up there at the time.
Was going to ask you what apple tree varieties you prefer. I panted some whitetail crabs 30-06 and droptine on anty rootstock. I grafted a bunch of kerr, some signal fire, redfield, and all winter hangover. They're in my nursery for this year, maybe next. Got some coffee stirrer thick dolgo and transcendent crabapple seedling from willis orchards in my nursery too. will graft about 1/2 of them, the other will leave ungrafted.
Wanted to try some noza-ezgrow up there. Was debating grafting some franklin cider and putting it up there. They say zone 4, but franklin VT is like 30 miles from the Canada border. Could see it working up by old forge ways.
