Potting conifers at home... planting them on your land later

[BuckSutherland]

I want to buy 25 smaller seedlings and grow them in 1 gallon pots at my home. Who has experience doing this?? My neighbors let me take a couple seedlings growing under their ponderosa pines. I put them in 1 gallon pots and they seem to be doing ok. 2 of them look good and the other 2 are ok. Think I used a mixture of peat moss, sawdust, and some dirt.


I'd like to grow some small stuff at home for hobby and then transplant later. What would I do with them in winter if I purchased spring 2024 with intention to plant in spring of 2025?? I might buy fall of 2023, if fall planting works. I will have to protect them from rabbits and deer in the winter here.


Here's the ones I am growing now. I'd like to keep them around here for the winter but not sure what to do with them.

 

[Angus 1895]

I pot a lot of oak seedlings. A few pine trees ( mostly blue spruce)

I mix potting soil with my native dirt 1/2 and 1/2. I like deeper pots for more root growth than you have pictured.

I have a shaded fenced in against rabbits/ deer nursery my wife designed. It’s livestock panels and chicken wire down low.

I have overwinter ped in my heated garage but mostly plant them early fall.

I water the ones I overwinter occasionally.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I buy seedling apple trees in the spring that I graft and pot so I can baby them for 6 months before transplanting them in the fall. If I don't get the growth I'm looking for that first year, then I'll keep them potted over the winter.

I don't do anything too special to get them to survive winter, I keep them well watered in the fall before they go dormant and then I put aluminum screen around the trunks to prevent girdling by voles. I keep them in a fenced off section that rabbits rarely enter, so I've never had any issues with them. This area is usually covered with a foot or two of snow in the winter and I think that helps insulate the young trees a bit. But that's all I do and the trees do great.

I will recommend putting something rigid under the pots. I put an old sheet of plastic under the pots and this prevents the roots that grow out of the pot from touching the soil. If a piece or root grows out through the hole in the pot and touches the soil then it will grow like crazy and you will have to break off that root when you transplant. I learned that when I potted red osier dogwood for future use. I let them grow a couple years until they were probably 5' tall. When I finally had the ambition to plant them, I found out the pot was completely anchored to the ground by the roots that grew through the holes in the pots. I had to chop off a lot of roots to pick up the pots. Coincidently, the next year those roots in the ground sprouted and now I have red osier dogwood growing there.

 

[bwoods11]

Good luck with the project !

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Buck -
I've got several balsam fir and Norway spruce growing in pots here at home for the last 2 years. I planted them in pots because they were really small. I let them right outside all winter - no problems. The potting "dirt" mix is real soil, compost, and some bagged "potting mix" - more real soil than the other 2. I just keep them watered. I'll just have to dig a bigger hole when I plant them at camp, to spread out the roots a bit. No deer / rabbit problems here at home. FWIW - don't know if that helps at all.

 

[BuckSutherland]

My seedlings arrived from U of Idaho yesterday. I ordered 15 ponderosa pine, 5 Austrian pine and 5 western white pine. They arrived in excellent condition. Put them in the fridge overnight and I potted them up this morning. I have 21 of them in 2 gallon pots and 4 in 1 gallon pots. Hoping to transplant them onto my land towards the end of Sept next fall.


I used some miracle grow potting mixture w/ moisture control, sand, top soil, and a bag of some other stuff. I mixed it all together and threw the plugs in. They are 20 cubic inch plugs. They are currently stacked in the mulch around my house waiting for it to finally start raining. Total investment of about $140 and 2 hours of my time so far.

 

[BuckSutherland]

My new seedlings had a great first 24 hours. Currently sitting around 2.8" of fresh rain for the weekend at my house. Not near as much at my hunting land or where I grow corn and soybeans 10 miles to the west. I have them stashed in the mulch around my house. Nothing ran off here. Think we are still in D3 drought.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Thought I would provide a little update on this project. Took these photos about 20 mins ago. Its February 11th, and I have not used a snow blower one time this year (west of Minneapolis 50 miles). I have these trees sitting on the west side of my house. Like the field in the background the soil in the pots is all thawed out.


They soaked up approximately 1/2" of rain this week. Since planting they have been watered two times. Once around Halloween, and then again right before Christmas. Other than that I have not touched them. They look good. Hope to water them several times through the summer and then fall plant in 2024 (moisture permitting). Should be looking at a total cost of approximately $6 per two gallon pot. Other places I see are $18-30 per pot.