Favorite tree varieties

[westonwhitetail]

I have been planting chinkapin oaks at the Tickranch. They are highly preferred, right at the top of the list. Okay, so tied with swamp white oak. The advantage for the chinkapins is that they will start making acorns at a younger age. Also turkeys like the small size of the acorn. If we are including shrubs, you should consider black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa). I have some on high ground and some low and as long as you have full sun they will do well. Deer love them so they need some protection for a couple of years. They are a two season plant as deer eat the leaves in the spring and the berries in the fall. Another good one that is under appreciated is nanny berry. My avatar photo is of nanny berry. You might have some growing naturally in Wisconsin. If you find one while out this fall give it some love. It is worth planting if you don't have any.

Thanks do they use the nanny berry similar to the choke berry?


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[westonwhitetail]

I'm a big hazelnut fan and have had great luck with them here. I have only planted American hazelnuts, for me they have been pretty quick to start making nuts 3-4 years and the deer don't bother the trees much. The nuts must get picked up by wildlife within minutes I never see them on the ground.
Second favorite nut producer would be pin oak, grows and produces fairly fast...both hazel and pin oaks are zero maintenance for me. I didn't originally have any hazelnuts on the farms but did have pin oaks along with all our other local native oaks in the woods. My shrub strip additions of both of them I purchased from Cold Stream Farm out of MI.

Chinese chestnuts would be my third favorite in my top three nut trees to plant.

From what I’ve been reading hazelnut sounds like a good one to try. Hopefully they will do OK in WI. I ordered some seeds and am planning on planting them. Thanks


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[rocksnstumps]

If the hazelnut seed route fizzles, try some bareroot american hazelnuts from Cold Stream Farms. They grow decent but would suggest weed mats and a cage. Planted in grass without a weed mat, they seem to struggle more than say a typical crabapple. Oh yeah, if you use a 4 ft tube like I did years ago, they munch the crap outta them when tall enough. Even 5 ft tubes probably aren't the best for these since they can grow more in a clump if you have a decent size cage.

About a week after Labor day for these, if you wait too long they are gone! These have a pretty heavy shell but still more meat than say a beechnut.

 

[cavey]

From what I’ve been reading hazelnut sounds like a good one to try. Hopefully they will do OK in WI. I ordered some seeds and am planning on planting them. Thanks

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Your hazel nuts will do fine, they have done relatively well on my land... maybe a little slower to establish than I had hoped but they are producing nuts. Once established you can easily dig up some of the clumps and split them out and transplant. There is really zero issues with growing them in our neighborhood. We have two WI native types(filbert's) - your standard american hazel nut and beaked hazel nuts. If they are hybrid seeds I think you have to watch out for European hazel nuts which are a less tolerant of cold temps. Beaked hazel nuts I believe are more common to the south of us. I have the standard american hazel nut.

WestonWT if you look at the part of this link that shows the age year class sizes of growth, its pretty much what you can expect to see with hazel nuts on your land up here. They really dont do much till about 8 plus years:
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/f...talks/PDFs/Hazelnuts_in_the_Upper_Midwest.pdf

 

[Tickrancher]

Yesterday at 5:48 PM
#21

Tickrancher said:

I have been planting chinkapin oaks at the Tickranch. They are highly preferred, right at the top of the list. Okay, so tied with swamp white oak. The advantage for the chinkapins is that they will start making acorns at a younger age. Also turkeys like the small size of the acorn. If we are including shrubs, you should consider black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa). I have some on high ground and some low and as long as you have full sun they will do well. Deer love them so they need some protection for a couple of years. They are a two season plant as deer eat the leaves in the spring and the berries in the fall. Another good one that is under appreciated is nanny berry. My avatar photo is of nanny berry. You might have some growing naturally in Wisconsin. If you find one while out this fall give it some love. It is worth planting if you don't have any.
Thanks do they use the nanny berry similar to the choke berry?


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The nanny berry came with the farm and it is established. Its a viburnum and they hit them all hard in NE Missouri. There is a big area of it on an east facing hill. Deer are in it all the time and they hit it hard. Because there is so much and because it is so thick it stands up to the pressure. I'm at the southern end of the range and it does fine for me. It might be an easy grow for you. With shrubs like hazelnut, black choke berry, nanny berry, black haw, and arrow wood you can change the habitat in a relatively short time. If feels good to have some success while waiting for oak and chestnut trees to mature.

 

[NorthPotter]

The nanny berry came with the farm and it is established. Its a viburnum and they hit them all hard in NE Missouri. There is a big area of it on an east facing hill. Deer are in it all the time and they hit it hard. Because there is so much and because it is so thick it stands up to the pressure. I'm at the southern end of the range and it does fine for me. It might be an easy grow for you. With shrubs like hazelnut, black choke berry, nanny berry, black haw, and arrow wood you can change the habitat in a relatively short time. If feels good to have some success while waiting for oak and chestnut trees to mature.

Nannyberry prefers a moist area. They have thrived for me along the edges of creeks, marshes, wet areas where other browse plants can not make it. Not related to OP question but I utilize these as replacements when I remove invasives such as lonicera.

 

[bwoods11]

I would plant a few red oaks as well, they grow fairly fast in your area and will produce in (guessing 10-15 years). Red Oaks keep their leaves late, for good cover.

 

[H20fwler]

The nanny berry came with the farm and it is established. Its a viburnum and they hit them all hard in NE Missouri. There is a big area of it on an east facing hill. Deer are in it all the time and they hit it hard. Because there is so much and because it is so thick it stands up to the pressure. I'm at the southern end of the range and it does fine for me. It might be an easy grow for you. With shrubs like hazelnut, black choke berry, nanny berry, black haw, and arrow wood you can change the habitat in a relatively short time. If feels good to have some success while waiting for oak and chestnut trees to mature.

I'm going to have to look into nanny berry, I've got some ground that stays moist pretty well...is it easy to keep under control? You said you were at south end of it's range, what state are you in?

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

There are a lot of oaks in Dunn County, so the neighboring 100 year old oaks will have quite an advantage in deer attraction over the young ones you are planting. I planted a bunch of oaks though, but lately I've turned more towards fruit trees and shrubs so I don't have to wait as long for results.

For both food and cover a nice shrub patch with hazelnut, wild plum, and some crabapples and apples would be great for wildlife in general.

 

[westonwhitetail]

From what I’ve been reading hazelnut sounds like a good one to try. Hopefully they will do OK in WI. I ordered some seeds and am planning on planting them. Thanks

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Your hazel nuts will do fine, they have done relatively well on my land... maybe a little slower to establish than I had hoped but they are producing nuts. Once established you can easily dig up some of the clumps and split them out and transplant. There is really zero issues with growing them in our neighborhood. We have two WI native types(filbert's) - your standard american hazel nut and beaked hazel nuts. If they are hybrid seeds I think you have to watch out for European hazel nuts which are a less tolerant of cold temps. Beaked hazel nuts I believe are more common to the south of us. I have the standard american hazel nut.

WestonWT if you look at the part of this link that shows the age year class sizes of growth, its pretty much what you can expect to see with hazel nuts on your land up here. They really dont do much till about 8 plus years:
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/f...talks/PDFs/Hazelnuts_in_the_Upper_Midwest.pdf

Thanks there’s a ton of info on that site. I did get American Hazelnut as they were zoned for zone 5 atleast where the others were 6-7. Eight years is not bad for production. How to the deer like em at your place?


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[westonwhitetail]

The nanny berry came with the farm and it is established. Its a viburnum and they hit them all hard in NE Missouri. There is a big area of it on an east facing hill. Deer are in it all the time and they hit it hard. Because there is so much and because it is so thick it stands up to the pressure. I'm at the southern end of the range and it does fine for me. It might be an easy grow for you. With shrubs like hazelnut, black choke berry, nanny berry, black haw, and arrow wood you can change the habitat in a relatively short time. If feels good to have some success while waiting for oak and chestnut trees to mature.

Nannyberry prefers a moist area. They have thrived for me along the edges of creeks, marshes, wet areas where other browse plants can not make it. Not related to OP question but I utilize these as replacements when I remove invasives such as lonicera.

I have pretty heavy soil and some wetter areas, this might be an option when I try taking out my bush honeysuckle, thanks


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[westonwhitetail]

There are a lot of oaks in Dunn County, so the neighboring 100 year old oaks will have quite an advantage in deer attraction over the young ones you are planting. I planted a bunch of oaks though, but lately I've turned more towards fruit trees and shrubs so I don't have to wait as long for results.

For both food and cover a nice shrub patch with hazelnut, wild plum, and some crabapples and apples would be great for wildlife in general.

Good advice thanks for the thought, I plan to mix in some apple trees and pears in the future too


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