Norway Spruce experiment

[John-W-WI]

I need to line the driveway of the future building site with some evergreens to keep the snow down in the winter.

Like most of my projects, I'm a month or two behind. Today I finally got around to transplanting some ST45 Norways from Itasca into bigger containers to grow for a season or two (more?).

Jake and I put the rootmakers together in the garage:

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And 15 giant bags of soil-less mix later we had them filled up and full of trees:

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They are stressed because they were in the foam block too long (my fault). But they should spring back soon now that they have more room and plenty of food.

I hope to grow these out to a fairly large size before they are moved into the wild.

My thought process (not sure it's right) is if I were to buy bigger trees later, they will go through the stress of being transplanted, and if I put these little guys out in the wild they will have it much harder than they will with me pampering them for a season or two.

Eventually when I do move them to the wild, I will use an auger on a skidsteer. So hopefully they will experience very little transplant shock.

We'll see how it goes. I hope I need the skidsteer to move them in a couple of years :)

-John

 

[Bill]

That whole job just looks like work.

I see why they stayed in styrofoam a little to long.

 

[bat man]

I bought and planted a bunch of 3 to 5 foot spruce that were in 1 gallon pots. Tall and skinnny. I lost one to the deer rubbing so far and this is their 2nd summer in the ground. They are growing well and stay over the weeds around them.

I gave some to a buddy here in town on sandy ground and they did not fare near as well, even with no weed competition.

 

[sandbur]

Weeds might be the key for survival ins some situations in my view. shade on the south and southwest.

Rye might be better than weeds.

 

[dipper]

John what are u going to do w those trees come winter? I've left pots out above ground and the tree is freezer burnt come spring, roots and all

 

[West Branch]

John what are u going to do w those trees come winter? I've left pots out above ground and the tree is freezer burnt come spring, roots and all

I have a pile of trees in gallon pots right now. I plan on buying a few straw bales from dairy farmer I know and using them to insulate the pots so they hopefully don't freeze out the whole tree. I also live in town and my backyard is fenced in which should help with the cold winds. Not sure if it will work, but I will try to remember to report back next spring.

I have elderberry, ninebark, hybrid poplar and norway spruce. So should be a nice variety for an experiment.