Norway Spruce Screen Decisions
- Thread starter Wind Gypsy
- Start date
sandbur
5 year old buck +
Maybe I can get a picture later. In one area, I put the bhs on the exposed, southern side. There are scattered white spruce behind them and some whites on one end.
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sandbur
5 year old buck +
40 plus years ago, I pulled some white cedar out of ditches and from under some power lines. I had fairly good luck. Pull them as soon as the frost is out and plant them with their roots in the water. I even had some six footers make it.
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tlzkaasen
5 year old buck +
I just spent the last couple hours reviewing this gold mine of information. Couple questions if you guys dont mind?
1. I'm curious how well the index card stapled on the leaders works? Do you generally take them off around greenup, or?
2. 2021 I planted( 25-30) 2-5 gallon trees (White Spruce and BHS) - I also use weed mats, but didn't cage (Poor/out of time from buying the property in year 1. My bio will till you more) Sounds like folks mentioned a spring fertilizer of 10-10-10 (Few handfuls?) 2022 I have on order 200-300 BHS, WS and BS). Really want to keep fertilizing simple.
3. Wolverine Spade... Where has that been all my life? Its in my basket to order now. How deep are you digging when your transplanting the 16-24" spruce/Pine? The north end of my property is loaded with them as well as some beaked Hazelnut I want to transfer.
Thanks in advance.
1. I'm curious how well the index card stapled on the leaders works? Do you generally take them off around greenup, or?
2. 2021 I planted( 25-30) 2-5 gallon trees (White Spruce and BHS) - I also use weed mats, but didn't cage (Poor/out of time from buying the property in year 1. My bio will till you more) Sounds like folks mentioned a spring fertilizer of 10-10-10 (Few handfuls?) 2022 I have on order 200-300 BHS, WS and BS). Really want to keep fertilizing simple.
3. Wolverine Spade... Where has that been all my life? Its in my basket to order now. How deep are you digging when your transplanting the 16-24" spruce/Pine? The north end of my property is loaded with them as well as some beaked Hazelnut I want to transfer.
Thanks in advance.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Definitely not balsam firs. Balsam firs have very soft flat needles if you were to stoke a branch. The white spruce will be stiff and prickly with round needles. Balsam also keeps smooth bark while white spruce develops scaly bark. I would say with 80% certainty they would most likely be white spruce. If they were norways they would have likely been browsed pretty hard and never allowed to get that big. They look identical to the white spruce I pulled out from under the power lines by me. Crush some needles with your fingertips and stroke a few larger branches. If they smell like shit and prick you its most likely a white spruce.
The needles are round, if your run your hand on a branch, and pull the needles seem pretty soft, if you push, the needles are stiff. If you break the needles and smell them, it smells like pine-sol. I have thousands of them, there is a large tree fairly close by, and the needles felt the same, and the needles when tore in half still smelled like pine-sol. I just wandered around my land, and I have many patches of the same thing, all throughout my land, all smell like evergreen, or pine-sol. I didn’t notice any browse at all on them.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
The 10-10-10 spring application was me. I don't put it on the year I plant my spruce, since they're overcoming "transplant shock" and trying to establish their root systems. I start in year 2 and toss 2 light handfuls around the young spruce - NOT piled right around the trunks - spread out in a 2 to 3 foot circle. That makes the roots want to grow out toward the fertilizer. I keep fertilizing up until about year 7. By then the spruce are usually about 6 to 8 ft. tall and are well-established. I don't fertilize past year 7 in our location and situation - but you could if you wanted to.
I put the fertilizer on in mid-to-late April. I hope that helps.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Index cards shield the main leader from sun and can harbor insects. A better option are mesg bud caps...
Mesh Bud caps
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
tlzkaasen
5 year old buck +
Thank you - Ordered and perfect
Brian662
5 year old buck +
Looks like a great idea but at $7-8/per its simply not cost effective. A tree can be fenced for that price, IMO.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Brian662
5 year old buck +
Ahh hell, I see that now. Almost cheaper than index cards after all
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Thats correct ... price is $7 per bundle of 100.
Been using those for past three years on white and red pines….work great!
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Been checking in on the Meeker county SWCD website pretty regularly. Kandiyohi is selling 1 gallon BHS and Norways for $8.50. The trees you've shown pics of look great but those Kandiyohi prices are enticing!
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
This is what the 2022, order form looks like for Meeker. It’s not up on their website yet. Likely next week. Meeker and Kandi almost certainly get their trees from the exact same place so you can’t really go wrong with whatever you do.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
Meeker county now has the 2022, form up on their website. Some really nice big black hills spruce and 2 gallon white pines that are new this year. If there is something additional requested Joe might be able to help you get it. He is getting me 2 gallon white cedar, 2 gallon austrian pine, and a dozen red pines. Im gonna get a few more BHS, some crab apple, and maybe a bundle of dogwood.
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4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
Just search your local county, and add “tree sales”. All of my local counties sell trees. They aren’t as cheap as the state tree sales, but you also won’t need to pay for shipping, and you can pick them up locally.
