I would really appreciate advice on planting oaks

[Angus 1895]

Or you need to restake them so tube is not rigidly held. Best with two stakes IMO with some line between like how I see trees planted on city streets. I never see cages in town on streets. Never.

But doing this for two decades I have plenty of spare stakes and tubes besides to add or replace as needed. YMMV

Edit: cages work, just not a requirement. And if I already have a tube and a stake, adding a second stake and a bit of cord is cheaper than removing tube and adding a big cage

I fully understand it as I have planted over 1000 trees in tubes. I have planted over 25k-30k trees the last 25 years so I have seen & tried many different approaches. The growth in the tube comes at a cost, loss of proper stem fiber structure development. It's not about top growth that is important, it is about good root development the first couple years.

You could say I have been there and got that t-shirt

I will consider using tubes the first year to be able to spray and kill competing plants. I am not saying no to tubes, just making sure the OP understands the downside to them also.

I agree, I am not seeing much upside to what tubes do after a few years.

I am leaning to using short tubes, if they make it over that tube……cage em.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I am going the route of a dibble bar and freshly harvested acorns spread over several years… it only costs me time, and if I end up with a 2-3% success rate, I reach my savannah density goals.


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I built this to plant acorns and hazelnuts with:

The pvc tube is pretty damn helpful for not bending over constantly. It was still a bit slower than I was expecting. It is much faster if you are not planting them into sod.

 

[Ikeman]

I built this to plant acorns and hazelnuts with:
View attachment 65544
The pvc tube is pretty damn helpful for not bending over constantly. It was still a bit slower than I was expecting. It is much faster if you are not planting them into sod.

Now that is slick… I might have to do the same this fall.


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[Oaknut]

The 4 acres of pnes, what kind of soil and whats the pH of it?

Earyl succesional forest is what I would go after.

Far as pine tops / stumps, what kind of equipment do you have? You could put the tops into piles and burn. Cut up a corner well with a chainsaw, like 2ft lengths, so the pieces get close to each other. This will make them start to burn much easier.

Could just make new mixed forest too. Some spruce, some oaks, some faster growing stuff like willows. Maybe rake underneath certain shrubs and spread the soil.

Im gussing once you cut the pine down, it might not sprout back. You can pour some diesel or tordon rtu on the stumps close to the time they get cut. Can't really recall a pine tree growing back for me in NY.

I also suggest a selective harvest is the mixed hardwoods. You cut a mature oak down, the stumps will regenerate a new young tree usually. Clearancing lesser quality trees around better ones is worth your trouble. Even if the logger doesn't take it, girdling certain trees can help others. Definitely helps with acorn production.

I agree, you should not have any sprouting from your pine stumps. At least I have never seen that.

 

[RGrizzzz]

Having planted trees 100 ways til Sunday, here is my advice.

1. Quality over quantity. Planting well and protecting fewer trees is better than planting a lot of trees in a mediocre fashion.

2. Plant potted seedlings if you can find them. They've done better for me than bare root trees.

3. Auger a hole if possible vs using a dibble bar. I like power planter augers. Bonus if you can match the auger size to your tree pot size. (One hand drill augers, not big post hole augers)

4. Find friends/family to help

5. Protect trees. Use 5' tubes. Deer will eat the tops off of trees in 4' tubes. If price is a factor, look for used tubes in various classifieds. You can find them.

6. Look for free trees/shrubs and tubes through state and federal programs. 10 million trees is an example.

 

[RGrizzzz]

Now that is slick… I might have to do the same this fall.


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Looks similar to "The squirrel" acorn/nut planter.

 

[Belo]

Well I started all my oaks and chestnuts in tubes this year and even in one summer have been thoroughly impressed. Now yall making me nervous. My goal was 2 to 3 years... mostly just to keep them safe from rubbing/browse. The cost to cage the few dozen trees I have planted will be insane. Tubes are cheap.

 

[rocksnstumps]

^^ now that trees have a good start and the tops will beyond browse soon when you finally cage you can use a much smaller diameter cage than if starting in a cage from day one. Saves some dollars as cage at that point just prevents rubbing.

 

[Belo]

^^ now that trees have a good start and the tops will beyond browse soon when you finally cage you can use a much smaller diameter cage than if starting in a cage from day one. Saves some dollars as cage at that point just prevents rubbing.

What about deer that would browse the tops? I have 4', 5' and even 6' fences. Would a smaller 4' fence still allow for them to just chew the tops off? Does that happen?

 

[Hoytvectrix]

What about deer that would browse the tops? I have 4', 5' and even 6' fences. Would a smaller 4' fence still allow for them to just chew the tops off? Does that happen?

I think you will want at least a 5 foot cage/tube. Occasionally they will still nip some buds as they come out in the early spring, but at 5 feet you are normally pretty good.

If you don't want to use caging materials to prevent rubbing, you can always downgrade to hardware cloth. This is what I have been doing until the trees get woody enough to resist rubbing.

 

[b116757]

Just leave the tubes on until the tree is about to out grow it then wrap the tube horizontally around the tree to farther protect against rubbing until it’s a large enough diameter to not worry about rubbing any longer. Cages are great but not practical for every situation. I’m not going to cage hundreds of oaks but tubes, weed mats and stakes I will use. Oaks lend themselves to tubing much much better than fruit trees. You do no need to cage oaks in my opinion in my area.

 

[Lucky_P]

I'm in Christian Co. KY. Have not traveled the state extensively, but I've never seen a SCO growing anywhere around here... only one I 'know' is (was) growing at the UK Livestock Diagnostic Lab in Lexington. AL State Champion SCO grew on the farm I grew up on, in Lee Co., so I know SCO when I see it.
I'd definitely prefer SCO over chestnut oak - and wildlife probably will, as well.
Bur oak has been, far and away the youngest bearing and most productive of the oaks I've planted here in the past 30 years. I'd certainly recommend including some of them in this planting.
I would not expect stump sprouting from any pines, but deciduous hardwood/softwood species will certainly stump-sprout, if they're harvested along with the pine timber.

 

[TreeDaddy]

I'm in Christian Co. KY. Have not traveled the state extensively, but I've never seen a SCO growing anywhere around here... only one I 'know' is (was) growing at the UK Livestock Diagnostic Lab in Lexington. AL State Champion SCO grew on the farm I grew up on, in Lee Co., so I know SCO when I see it.
I'd definitely prefer SCO over chestnut oak - and wildlife probably will, as well.
Bur oak has been, far and away the youngest bearing and most productive of the oaks I've planted here in the past 30 years. I'd certainly recommend including some of them in this planting.
I would not expect stump sprouting from any pines, but deciduous hardwood/softwood species will certainly stump-sprout, if they're harvested along with the pine timber.

Pines will not resprout from stumps

I believe the same can be said of cedars

bill

 

[Belo]

Just leave the tubes on until the tree is about to out grow it then wrap the tube horizontally around the tree to farther protect against rubbing until it’s a large enough diameter to not worry about rubbing any longer. Cages are great but not practical for every situation. I’m not going to cage hundreds of oaks but tubes, weed mats and stakes I will use. Oaks lend themselves to tubing much much better than fruit trees. You do no need to cage oaks in my opinion in my area.

So 2 of my chestnuts have already grown over the top of my 4' tubes in year 1. Would you say cage next year, because I was leaning towards that but wasn't sure if I should leave it on for another year.

 

[Teeder]

I'm a big fan of tubes for oaks, but my chestnuts seems to like open air better. I'd cage the chestnuts.