Norway Spruce Bare Root Plantings

[Tree Spud]

I've planted LOADS of Norways over the years and most of ours never get browsed. I think it depends on your area. We have lots of other more preferable browse items ( oak, maple, poplar, aspen ) and winter food plots, so the Norways are very low on the list. I cage the Norways that I want to definitely survive in specific locations, just for insurance. Other randomly planted spruce, I don't cage.

It's funny how some areas get certain trees browsed, and other areas get no browsing on the same tree varieties. Guys on here get pines hammered - we never get pines browsed.

I have rows of norways planted 15 yards from a corn field and they get browsed. Which I could find a better solution other than caging but nothing else has worked. We have plenty of food sources, browse, etc.

I did have about 30 balsam fir reach 3'-4' a few years ago only to watch them get destroyed by bucks rubbing. The ones i did cage are now probably 15' high.

 

[Tree Spud]

I usually remove cap after 3-4 years. I got the idea from Brushpile on the old forum I believe. Seems they can grow fast enough then even with browse. They can handle browse as long as the main leader is preserved. If top does get browsed you can cap another upper branch and it will become the main leader and tree survives. Only time I see the heavy browse is late winter when food becomes more scarce. I originally planted Northerns because suppossedly deer dont browse them. Not true for many if you read up on them. They tend to be slow growing at start.
The only conifer I see no browse with is a scotch pine but they have survival issues past 20 years especially in the midwest due to blight.

Yes, you want the main leader to survive. PacForest which sells the buds cap mesh states the spruce will grow to a point that it will expand, tear, and grow out of the mesh screen cap. I have not had them on long enough to see that occur.

 

[Nova]

I just planted 40 more norway and white spruce as a screen. Everyone I planted last year got browsed nearly to death except the caged ones. I caged 4 of them last year as a test. Those 4 look great, all the others are nothing but a stem and some very low needles. I don't know if it's deer or rabbits, but I caged every single one I planted this year. 25 white pines got caged too, white pines don't stand a chance at our place without a cage.

 

[Mortenson]

I posted these pics on a different thread, but here they are again. I bud capped with an index card. Checked on them a few weeks later and many were still bitten off! Caging hundreds or thousands of spruce isn't an option for me, so looking for a better solution. I'll try both the window screen and the caps from PacForest.

 

[landlord]

I planted 300 last year and from what I saw this past week about 290 of them were browsed when there was 12" of snow. I hope the 300 black spruce I just planted don't have the same problem next winter. At $5.50 ea for the bud caps to protect a tree that cost .49 I cannot afford it. I know all the labor to plant is worth something but I cannot afford many trees at $6 ea.

 

[Mortenson]

I'm pretty sure 5.50 gets you 100. Hope that's correct.

 

[landlord]

I'm pretty sure 5.50 gets you 100. Hope that's correct.

If that is the case I will be ordering.

 

[Jayber]

I think the price is per bundle of 100 and 1 bundle is $7.

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[Tree Spud]

I planted 300 last year and from what I saw this past week about 290 of them were browsed when there was 12" of snow. I hope the 300 black spruce I just planted don't have the same problem next winter. At $5.50 ea for the bud caps to protect a tree that cost .49 I cannot afford it. I know all the labor to plant is worth something but I cannot afford many trees at $6 ea.

They come in bundles of 100 for $7 ... for 300 trees that is $21 ... or $0.07 per bud cap screen.

 

[H20fwler]

The deer don't browse them much here either but they will rub the shit out of them in the fall.
I've planted potted and bare root and they do great here, very low maintenance and drought hardy.

 

[Jayber]

I'm planning on caging all 50 of mine this weekend. Will give my 2 boys something to do.

Appreciate the info on the bud caps......and they seem reasonably priced if they do the trick. Might try that the next go, but for me cages will happen a lot faster.

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[shawnv]

If you are in the farmland area of Barron County, caging them in is probably overkill but if you are near the big woods then it's probably good insurance.

 

[Jayber]

I've got farm land and big woods. Cages for me will be peace of mind.

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[Bc4abc]

do any of you plant these Norways in forested areas or JUST out in the open?
If so how do they grow and fare under a canopy?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

The cages I put on our spruce at camp are more for rubbing protection than browsing. Bucks really do like to rub on spruce. When ours get from 3 ft. to 7 ft. tall, they are targets for rubbing. If I can get them to 6 ft. and taller, they stand a good chance of surviving the rubbing. We do lose a few though, but they are usually violent attack type rubbing events, not the usual " skin the tree " type rubs. The violent types look like the buck was trying to destroy the spruce entirely. Pretty rare here. Losing a few branches to normal rubbing will set the spruce back a few years, but they usually recover and thrive.

I just saw the above post, entered just ahead of this one.

We plant spruce in forested areas and in semi-open and wide open areas. Forested plantings take much longer to get growing because of the lack of sunlight and competition from big, established trees. Most of our plantings have been in areas that have been logged. There they get a good amount of sunlight and they take off pretty quickly. We have some that are planted along field edges, and they grow well from lots of light. The ones along field edges are the ones most likely to be rubbed with some regularity. ( at our place ).

 

[NWWI]

do any of you plant these Norways in forested areas or JUST out in the open?
If so how do they grow and fare under a canopy?

I have some planted under a canopy that have not grown much more than 2" in 15 years and are scraggly. They stay alive but do very little. The same ones planted in the sun are 15' and nice and full.

 

[rocksnstumps]

I have some planted under a canopy that have not grown much more than 2" in 15 years and are scraggly. They stay alive but do very little. The same ones planted in the sun are 15' and nice and full.

I could show pics of 50+ yr old white pine with only 3 inch dia trunks planted by my grandfather while the outside rows 40 ft away are 12 inch dia and 4x as tall.
Sure some will "survive" in shade but I learned the hard way trying to plant in small openings and finding 10 yrs later very very few make it as every thing taller and more established closes that canopy gap.

 

[tooln]

do any of you plant these Norways in forested areas or JUST out in the open?
If so how do they grow and fare under a canopy?

Like anything else they won't do much without sun.

 

[Diesel5610]

do any of you plant these Norways in forested areas or JUST out in the open?
If so how do they grow and fare under a canopy?

I have planted a bunch in both. My trees in forested areas actually do better than my trees in overgrown fields/openings. Less damage from deer and they are healthier. I am not sure what the reason is.

 

[Big Snow Man]

Ok Tree Spud I bit and ordered some of those protectors.