Norway Spruce Planting after logging

[wiscwhip]

Absolutely! Death is likely! Or at the very least a severe setback.

 

[BJE80]

Going to be tough to spray new growth around it and not hit the trees is it not.

 

[wiscwhip]

Cleth for grasses will be fine. You may have to use a weed eater to keep the broadleafs down around them.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

If you want to spray around the new seedlings, get a piece of black, corrugated drain pipe ( about 12" diameter ) and cut it about 3 ft. long. Stand it up over your seedlings and spray away, then move to the next seedling.

I believe the guys that recommended going with what's already growing there nailed it. Being there naturally tells you something. I've seen balsam fir, hemlock, white cedar grow in some pretty soupy areas - ( big swamps in Maine. ) We have no black spruce in my hunting area, but research shows it does well in wet spots ..... ( No personal experience with it ). Red maple is a good grower in soggy places, and if cut for sunlight, will make stump sprouts that make good browse AND some cover.

 

[SD51555]

If that ground is wet anyway, I'd just wait until everything is greened up and emerged, and then torch it with gly. Then plant your trees. We had fantastic growth on our black spruce in low ground this year. We planted as soon as we could sink our dibble and came back a short time later and hinged out about a third of our sparse canopy.

Here's what our blacks looked like when we planted them, maybe 2' tall and 4" wide. Very spindly.

Here's what they looked like 2 months later. Also take into account we've had premium growing conditions for a third year in a row up here. They were about 5" taller and 8" wider.

 

[*Hawaii5joe*]

I believe black spruce would be a very good choice to mix in the low spots. They are one of my best growing trees. I like whites for future screening and cover, I like the look of norways, blacks for lower areas, balsams firs for shaded areas.

 

[sandbur]

If that ground is wet anyway, I'd just wait until everything is greened up and emerged, and then torch it with gly. Then plant your trees. We had fantastic growth on our black spruce in low ground this year. We planted as soon as we could sink our dibble and came back a short time later and hinged out about a third of our sparse canopy.

Here's what our blacks looked like when we planted them, maybe 2' tall and 4" wide. Very spindly.

Here's what they looked like 2 months later. Also take into account we've had premium growing conditions for a third year in a row up here. They were about 5" taller and 8" wider.

Is anyone else not seeing these pictures?

 

[SD51555]

I'll try uploading vs pasting...

Planting


2 months later

 

[sandbur]

I think I will order some black spruce from Itasca greenhouse for next spring. Jim also had good growth.

 

[dipper]

I wouldn't worry so much about grass or broadleafs. Your gonna have a flush of blackberries and woody plants to deal with

 

[BJE80]

I wouldn't worry so much about grass or broadleafs. Your gonna have a flush of blackberries and woody plants to deal with

I think they might be a bit easier to deal with with my stihl trimmer with the saw blade. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[BJE80]

If that ground is wet anyway, I'd just wait until everything is greened up and emerged, and then torch it with gly. Then plant your trees. We had fantastic growth on our black spruce in low ground this year. We planted as soon as we could sink our dibble and came back a short time later and hinged out about a third of our sparse canopy.

Here's what our blacks looked like when we planted them, maybe 2' tall and 4" wide. Very spindly.

Here's what they looked like 2 months later. Also take into account we've had premium growing conditions for a third year in a row up here. They were about 5" taller and 8" wider.

I kind of like that idea to wait until green up and then nuke everything and then plant. Anyone else agree?

 

[SD51555]

Dipper has a point. Now that I have proposed the idea of wiping the slate clean with roundup...

If you decide to go the herbicide route, that's how I'd do it. I should also mention that we did not do any herbicide treatments on ours. We have plenty that have been consumed by ferns and grasses for the time being. They have put on very similar growth as the one shown. It just may take a little longer for them to shoot up in May/June before they get covered again. My assumption is they will get above that stuff in another couple years if they keep going.

You have to assess the risk of setting off an apocalypse of thistles. There are many places I've got things planted I won't kill the grass because I know the bank is loaded with thistle seed.

 

[BJE80]

Man I love this stuff.

 

[SD51555]

The first food plot I ever did was in the woods next to my dad's after we had a bunch of basswoods uproot in a storm. After I got it cleaned up in the spring, a pure 5' mass of that itchy broadleaf weed took over (not sure what to call it). I zapped it with gly and a pure stand of blackberry filled in nicely and quickly. So sometimes it works out.

 

[Jim Timber]

I'm dealing with thistle apocalypse on the site I cleared and planted in clover/ptt the first year, and let go the 2 following that. It's damage control now, and I'll likely burn the whole thing down with gly before too much longer.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

We have some previously logged areas ( 20 years ago ) that we planted with white spruce, Norway spruce and white pine. ( A North slope ) The natural succession brought up lots of black birch, white birch and hemlock. The birches started to shade out the spruces, so some chainsawing was in order to open up the canopy for sunlight. By doing this with a plan of sorts, we created a " patchwork " of cover. This gave the deer lots more " edges " to prowl & investigate and still get light to the spruces and pines. Blueberries and blackberries moved in on their own to complete the cover. It's now our best area for holding deer.

 

[BJE80]

One thing that is important for me being in northern Wisconsin is not only holding deer. But helping them with thermal cover in the winter which we typically have hard winters. Keeping that snow down with the evergreens and keeping those deer as warm as possible is the goal while having them close to food we provide. I hope it works.

 

[BJE80]

From the looks of the naturally occurring balsams...you shouldn't have a problem growing thermal cover. If you want the best, fastest evergreen growth I'd be tempted to treat the maple stumps after they're logged. Each of those maple stumps will send up loads of new growth (which is good when you want to feed deer). If you have high deer densities, they will likely keep much of that new growth in check for a couple of years. However, at some point it is very likely that new growth will out-pace deer browsing and you'll have a thick, maple jungle.

Tell me more about treating the maple stumps. What do you use. How often. That type of thing.

 

[wiscwhip]

From the looks of the naturally occurring balsams...you shouldn't have a problem growing thermal cover. If you want the best, fastest evergreen growth I'd be tempted to treat the maple stumps after they're logged. Each of those maple stumps will send up loads of new growth (which is good when you want to feed deer). If you have high deer densities, they will likely keep much of that new growth in check for a couple of years. However, at some point it is very likely that new growth will out-pace deer browsing and you'll have a thick, maple jungle.

I would agree stu, this does bother me a bit when I look at the photos. The new growth, not just from the stump sprouts, will be competition for any conifer planted in that area and I don't think getting in there to mow or keep the competition down will be an easy task with all that water around.