How to Promote Eastern Red Cedar Growth

[PrairieShadow]

@BuckSutherland

Here is a picture of what my fabric looks like. Not actually mine but a project I was working on last year.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

It's interesting how a lot of the IA/MO/KS/NE folks have red ceder infestations and see them as basically invasive. I haven't seen that in MN and I have a friend in central ND who i assume sees them much like @PrairieShadow as a great option to provide cover where it is severely lacking. He's planted thousands of them and I'm sure wishes they'd spread and grow faster.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

If everyone who hates their ERC, feel free to send them to me. They are the single best tree I have found for screens and winter cover out here on the prairie. They can withstand wet feet for a while. They can also go through extended droughts with no seeming ill effects once established. They don't spread like crazy here. Yeah I might find one now and then where I don't want it but no way are they taking over anything here.

Interesting. Yeah, like I said...they don't grow here and I have never even seen one. Sounds like some guys hate them, and some guys love them.

Do deer eat them? Or is it only good for cover and screening?

Seems like Dr. Woods destroys his because they create biological deserts once they hit a certain age/size.

 

[PrairieShadow]

@Natty Bumppo
Deer leave them alone for the most part. Might tear one up here and there in the fall but not crazy. Can’t say I’ve ever saw a deer eat one.

 

[PrairieShadow]

It's interesting how a lot of the IA/MO/KS/NE folks have red ceder infestations and see them as basically invasive. I haven't seen that in MN and I have a friend in central ND who i assume sees them much like @PrairieShadow as a great option to provide cover where it is severely lacking. He's planted thousands of them and I'm sure wishes they'd spread and grow faster.

There are actually government farm programs to remove ERC in some parts of the country.

I’ve also planted 1000’s and would give anything for them to start spreading. It just doesn’t happen here to any extent worth mentioning.

 

[Tree Spud]

Hey Tree Spud. Wouldn't liming them raise the pH? I don't have ERC's around here. Never even seen one. Whenever I watch Growing Deer TV Dr. Wood's philosophy seems to be "the only good cedar is a dead and burned cedar."

Yes, sorry I misspoke, they like acidic conditions, but lime is not a good choice.

 

[bwoods11]

Cedar are well liked by deer and pheasant in Minnesota. We have planted them in rows and blocks with good success!

In Western Iowas we have too many and they have matured and a bunch need to go !!

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Interesting. Yeah, like I said...they don't grow here and I have never even seen one. Sounds like some guys hate them, and some guys love them.

Do deer eat them? Or is it only good for cover and screening?

Seems like Dr. Woods destroys his because they create biological deserts once they hit a certain age/size.

Deer will occasionally browse on them. I have filmed a buck pulling their berries off in the fall right next to clover and oats food plot. Generally speaking, I don't think they touch them though.

 

[Tree Spud]

There are actually government farm programs to remove ERC in some parts of the country.

I’ve also planted 1000’s and would give anything for them to start spreading. It just doesn’t happen here to any extent worth mentioning.

My apprear naturally from seed dispersal. The seeds need to be eaten and go through the digestive track of a bird or animal for germination.

 

[Tree Spud]

Cedar are View attachment 48005well liked by deer and pheasant in Minnesota. We have planted them in rows and blocks with good success!

In Western Iowas we have too many and they have matured and a bunch need to go !!

B ... That looks like an outstanding bedding area!

 

[SD51555]

I've got 3 rows of ERC 1/2 mile long each on the west side of my property and another single row on the north side 1/2 mile long. Lots of trees. They are in tough alkaline soil, very little topsoil and lots of clay for the most part. I've used miracid in the past and that certainly seems to give them a boost but also seems to make the branches out grow the needles if that makes sense. What can I do to promote as much growth as fast as possibly from these trees?

Let's Discuss.

Sounds like you're in an arid area west of the Missouri River? For how many you've got, I might look around your area for a pocket where they're growing exceptionally well in the wild, and grab a soil sample. I'd run a real deal soil sample, one that should cost $30+ that will give you every data point the lab offers. Then I'd amend in that direction from where ever your soil currently sits. There are some outstanding red cedar shelter belts in western South Dakota, and they look like about the only thing that'll grow out there. I think there is a key to the soil being less than ideal, kinda the same way thistle can grow in otherwise awful soil.

If you do a conventional amendment program, you might make it even harder for those trees to grow. If you're in russian olive country, I might try to propogate those as well if you're after cover. In South Dakota, ERC is both an invasive and a government sponsored habitat plant. The difference is whether it's growing in the right spot, or the wrong spot.

 

[Jerry]

I've transplanted alot of them when small. They readily transplant and are easy. In my opinion reducing close competition would help them grow faster the best. Don't know about fertilizing and lime. They grow well, but slow here and I simply don't worry about them growing slow. If I leave a smallish one unprotected and in the open it is almost a guarantee it will be rubbed to death. So I let competition grow up around them so they are not exposed as I am not into protecting cedar. I am sure that competition slows them down but I don't worry about that.

 

[PrairieShadow]

Sounds like you're in an arid area west of the Missouri River? For how many you've got, I might look around your area for a pocket where they're growing exceptionally well in the wild, and grab a soil sample. I'd run a real deal soil sample, one that should cost $30+ that will give you every data point the lab offers. Then I'd amend in that direction from where ever your soil currently sits. There are some outstanding red cedar shelter belts in western South Dakota, and they look like about the only thing that'll grow out there. I think there is a key to the soil being less than ideal, kinda the same way thistle can grow in otherwise awful soil.

If you do a conventional amendment program, you might make it even harder for those trees to grow. If you're in russian olive country, I might try to propogate those as well if you're after cover. In South Dakota, ERC is both an invasive and a government sponsored habitat plant. The difference is whether it's growing in the right spot, or the wrong spot.

Close, East of the Missouri. Your last sentence couldn't be more true.

 

[Tree Spud]

I see just the opposite with my trees Buck. If I put anything on top of the fabric, weed seeds end up growing right on top of the fabric, the roots find there way down through the fabric and defeat the entire purpose of the fabric. I'm not in a wooded area at all. In fact the exact opposite being strictly prairie/farmland. Maybe that has something to do with our differing opinions on fabric.

Fabric and mulch are not a silver bullet answer. I see the same issues with fabric and weed/grass growth. Fabric can also cause rain run-off outside the root zone on newer seedlings.

In theory, black fabric exposed to the sun should create a condensation effect under the mat helping with soil moisture.

 

[TheGroveEstate]

I see just the opposite with my trees Buck. If I put anything on top of the fabric, weed seeds end up growing right on top of the fabric, the roots find there way down through the fabric and defeat the entire purpose of the fabric. I'm not in a wooded area at all. In fact the exact opposite being strictly prairie/farmland. Maybe that has something to do with our differing opinions on fabric.

No mulch on top here either…5 oz. barrier holds in plenty of moisture on its own.

 

[buckdeer1]

At my office I have a tower above one of the buildings and the blackbirds crap on the building the rain washes thousands of cedar berries out the drain.I have picked these up before and thrown out where I wanted cedars to grow either as a nursery or bedding area.I got some growth this way.Cedar berries have to be scarified through an animal or bird unless you use acid.But back to the question.Only 2 things I have seen to promote growth is water and age.It seems like once mine get about 4ft they really start to grow.If I plant rows of cedars I set up a drip system and can water 50 at a time with a 275 gal tote