New conifer plug option

[john volkman]

i received a flyer from Chief River nursery this week and they now offer multiple Conifer species in plugs. The prices are a bit higher than what ive paid in the past but its good to see another option out there. I had a bad experience with another nursery and i was having a hard time finding another source for plugs. I sent them a note asking if they would ship in the flat since i like to plant them as i have time and not all in one day.

 

[Diesel5610]

Interested to hear their response regarding the flat. I was thinking about ordering Norway Spruce plugs from them, they look to be out of stock at Itasca and our state nursery doesn't have them this year. I am not sure what other options are even out there anymore.

 

[john volkman]

Chief river got back to me and unfortunately they dont offer the plugs in the cells or flats, they will only sell them extracted and wrapped. It sounds like they are receiving these form somewhere else and reselling them but i cont be certain of that. I asked if pick up was possible since they are in eastern wi and they said they arrive to their facility already extracted form the cells.

 

[PoorSand]

I planted plug grown red pines one spring on an especially problematic sandy field. I had planted that field three times before with regular bare root seedlings and pretty much all of them died every time. The survival rate with the plug grown pines was 90+%. It was a night and day difference.

 

[buckdeer1]

HAve you checked arborgen,I haven't used them but they had plugs I believe

 

[rocksnstumps]

i received a flyer from Chief River nursery this week and they now offer multiple Conifer species in plugs. The prices are a bit higher than what ive paid in the past but its good to see another option out there. I had a bad experience with another nursery and i was having a hard time finding another source for plugs. I sent them a note asking if they would ship in the flat since i like to plant them as i have time and not all in one day.

John,
Believe you are from WI.

Check out stores.lodholznursery.com and search under containerized trees instead of plugs. Pics look like they still ship in flats.
I have only bought bareroots and transplants from them but nice stock and they have a big refrigerated area that allow them to ship later if that helps with your schedule but still keep stuff dormant.

 

[john volkman]

John,
Believe you are from WI.

Check out stores.lodholznursery.com and search under containerized trees instead of plugs. Pics look like they still ship in flats.
I have only bought bareroots and transplants from them but nice stock and they have a big refrigerated area that allow them to ship later if that helps with your schedule but still keep stuff dormant.

thanks for the tip on this! they do and they are at a lower cost than the others that remove from the flat and i can actually pick these up if i prefer.

 

[CrazyEd]

The other downfall about Chief River is they ship (or allow pickup) super late. I usually like to plant first week of April, I think I finally got my trees in May sometime. Quality stock, but it was later than I prefer.

 

[Diesel5610]

I thought I would update this thread. I ordered white spruce plugs from Chief River last winter. I would have liked a containerized plug but these were the only option when I was looking to order. They are not cheap but the plugs I received were by far some of the best quality plugs I have seen. I have had plugs from 3 other nurseries over the years and these were much better quality. The plugs being removed and wrapped was not an issue, the plugs were intact and in excellent shape. They arrived on my doorstep on March 25 as I was leaving for a golf trip. I stuck them in a large cooler in my garage and instructed my wife to spray them down once during the week while I was gone to keep them moist. I arrived home and nervously checked them, they looked just like I had left them and I immediately got them in the ground.
I checked my trees in the last few weeks and my survival rate is well over 90%. These plugs didn’t just survive, they put on some good growth and look fantastic. We had a very dry summer and I feared I had probably lost a good portion of them but was pleasantly surprised. I have these in a couple goldenrod fields and also in some wood settings. Survival was over 90% in both settings. This picture is what most look like after 8 months in the ground.

 

[bigboreblr]

NYSDEC nursery sells plugs, but they sell out very quickly after jan 1st.

 

[Diesel5610]

Yep, I have planted some of theirs. They don’t always have them and if they do you better get them as soon as their sale starts or they sell out. I actually forgot about them and didn’t include them in the 3 other nursery plugs I had previously tried. They would make 4 nurseries. They were good plugs. I am ordering another batch from Chief River for this spring and will post pictures of the plugs when they arrive so people can see what they look like. Hoping the quality is the same.

 

[Buckly]

I’ve planted around 2500 plugs. 500 we’re extracted and I found there were no problems or difference from the ones shipped in containers. You can easily plant 500 in a day so I don’t really see a problem if they’re extracted. Either way they come I always get them in the ground ASAP regardless.

 

[bigboreblr]

Everything from the NYSDEC has been great except 1 bag of white spruce I got 2 years ago. Plants were dry in the bag.