Raspberry/blackberry varieties for screen?

Hey Charles, did they allow you to say when you want them delivered? I would probably want mine next spring (maybe even a bit later like early May-ish....
They allow you to pick a date, but says it is subject to change due to weather
 
If you are ordering from cold stream they also have a Midwest crab. They grow as shrub and make a great screen. If you Mix them with the hawthorn you will have a screen you can’t see or walk through. I have a ton of hawthorn and I am going to try an experiment next year. When the fruit is ripe I am going to cut them down and drag them into a line. My hope is they will self plant a screen in the dead tops. No one will walk through that. Hawthorne is a nasty tree.
 
If you are ordering from cold stream they also have a Midwest crab. They grow as shrub and make a great screen. If you Mix them with the hawthorn you will have a screen you can’t see or walk through. I have a ton of hawthorn and I am going to try an experiment next year. When the fruit is ripe I am going to cut them down and drag them into a line. My hope is they will self plant a screen in the dead tops. No one will walk through that. Hawthorne is a nasty tree.
I will check into that...how wide/tall does it get? right now I have planned for 14 hawthorns about 10 feet apart...but I guess I could intersperse it with the midwest crab (7 or so of each maybe?) does it get fruit? that would be cool, as this screen is going to hopefully be used to let the deer bed in it out of sight of my stand and food plot
 
I will check into that...how wide/tall does it get? right now I have planned for 14 hawthorns about 10 feet apart...but I guess I could intersperse it with the midwest crab (7 or so of each maybe?) does it get fruit? that would be cool, as this screen is going to hopefully be used to let the deer bed in it out of sight of my stand and food plot
I would plant a row of each. 10' apart won't be a screen. I would put the Hawthorne 2' apart and Midwest crabs 10'apart. MC will get to 20' tall and 10'wide. They get pea size fruit which the birds love.

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I would plant a row of each. 10' apart won't be a screen. I would put the Hawthorne 2' apart and Midwest crabs 10'apart. MC will get to 20' tall and 10'wide. They get pea size fruit which the birds love.

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my only issue with 2' apart is I have about 60 yards to cover so that would be a whole lotta plants...I saw at maturity that they get 25' wide, so i might even cut the difference with like 15' between each and just let them grow together...see below for an idea
IMG_5476.jpg
Red would be hawthorns, blue hybrid poplars, black black hills spruce, grey white pine, green norway spruce and yellow midwest crabs. I have a couple layers so I don't need that tight of a screen, just want it to be brushy and a good bedding area. I understand that it will not be a huge wall right away, but I am hoping that as things grow, spread out and mature that it will fill in pretty nicely. Really the only question would be how far to space them out top to bottom (of the diagram), as the field is L-R on this diagram. I will also have about 1.5 acres of a hayfield that if below the norway spruce that I am going to let just grow up this year and the field slopes away from this screen down to my food plot so it is not able to be seen unless you are right on top of it. Just want those deer to feel safe coming into the plot to feed and giving them a safe area to get away from the tons of pressure that is around me.
 
Just a thought on the hawthorns - once they get established, they'll produce red berries that'll drop and sprout new seedlings for you UNDER the parent hawthorns. We have lots of FREE seedlings under our haws and they can be left to thicken the original planting area - or transplanted to wherever. Birds will also spread them for you - I find baby haws in places that aren't near the parent trees. They're pretty tough trees, with many benefits.
 
Just a thought on the hawthorns - once they get established, they'll produce red berries that'll drop and sprout new seedlings for you UNDER the parent hawthorns. We have lots of FREE seedlings under our haws and they can be left to thicken the original planting area - or transplanted to wherever. Birds will also spread them for you - I find baby haws in places that aren't near the parent trees. They're pretty tough trees, with many benefits.
thats good to knowBows ..might even go with a 20 foot spread on those...i have tons of little birds that I know spread the existing raspberries...I found one growing out of my deck this year...
 
thats good to knowBows ..might even go with a 20 foot spread on those...i have tons of little birds that I know spread the existing raspberries...I found one growing out of my deck this year...
Just saw that the PA Game Commission is offering Hawthorne's this year in their sale if you're interested. Ordering starts January 10.

https://www.pgc.pa.gov/InformationResources/GetInvolved/HowardNursery/Pages/TreeSeedlingIndex.aspx
 
Just saw that the PA Game Commission is offering Hawthorne's this year in their sale if you're interested. Ordering starts January 10.

https://www.pgc.pa.gov/InformationResources/GetInvolved/HowardNursery/Pages/TreeSeedlingIndex.aspx
thanks Pat! I put in a monster order from Cold Stream last week and included some hawthorns on it....have you ever ordered from the PGC before? When does their stuff typically come in if so?
Thanks!!
 
thanks Pat! I put in a monster order from Cold Stream last week and included some hawthorns on it....have you ever ordered from the PGC before? When does their stuff typically come in if so?
Thanks!!
It's been a while since I ordered from them. I want to say you can pick the date when you want them. I can't remember for sure though. The seedlings are decent and are a pretty good price.
 
I have never looked at Cold Stream before, for a Michigan (zone 4?) they offer a LOT of what I thought would be warmer climate trees like Persimmon, Paw Paw and Pecans. A great variety of Oaks too, looks like a great source, particularly for the colder region habitat guys.

I put in a monster order from Cold Stream
I did that my first year, 480 trees and shrubs to plant all at once (equals 480 holes dug lol) I told myself I will never do that again by myself. I was extremely happy we got a good rain almost every week that year :) Good luck bud!!
 
I have never looked at Cold Stream before, for a Michigan (zone 4?) they offer a LOT of what I thought would be warmer climate trees like Persimmon, Paw Paw and Pecans. A great variety of Oaks too, looks like a great source, particularly for the colder region habitat guys.


I did that my first year, 480 trees and shrubs to plant all at once (equals 480 holes dug lol) I told myself I will never do that again by myself. I was extremely happy we got a good rain almost every week that year :) Good luck bud!!
well my monster order is only ~40 trees and shrubs and I will be planting them all at once this spring...so let the prep begin!
 
I have never looked at Cold Stream before, for a Michigan (zone 4?) they offer a LOT of what I thought would be warmer climate trees like Persimmon, Paw Paw and Pecans. A great variety of Oaks too, looks like a great source, particularly for the colder region habitat guys.


I did that my first year, 480 trees and shrubs to plant all at once (equals 480 holes dug lol) I told myself I will never do that again by myself. I was extremely happy we got a good rain almost every week that year :) Good luck bud!!
I was thinking about ordering 100 and it made my back hurt thinking about it. I can't imagine 480.
 
I was thinking about ordering 100 and it made my back hurt thinking about it. I can't imagine 480.
As I sit on my couch throughout the winter looking for trees and formulating a plan it was easy to want everything for the land I just acquired and had a clean canvas to paint.

Easy to order but reality hits hard when you have boxes of trees sitting on your porch that have an expiration date of sorts lol
 
As I sit on my couch throughout the winter looking for trees and formulating a plan it was easy to want everything for the land I just acquired and had a clean canvas to paint.

Easy to order but reality hits hard when you have boxes of trees sitting on your porch that have an expiration date of sorts lol
I planted 10 crabs earlier this year in November (with all the cages, fencing, rocks, etc) and it took me 2 days and about killed me....I will be getting some help with the screen of 40 trees I have coming...I'll also be doing alot less screening than with those wimpy fruit trees!!
 
PA Game Commission seedling sale went through a couple tough years where they had very few for sale. Their Howard, Pa. nursery went through some staff problems, some diseases got in, and budget cuts affected the nursery & what varieties they had to offer. I bought Washington hawthorn, Norway spruce, un-named seedling crabapples from them years ago, and they're still growing well at camp. Prices were always great - haven't looked lately.

I started ordering from Cold Stream a few years ago when the PA Game Commission nursery was having problems. Cold Stream stock has always been really good and NOT tiny stuff. They have a good variety of stock too. I have an order in place for Spring 2022 with Cold Stream again.
 
PA Game Commission seedling sale went through a couple tough years where they had very few for sale. Their Howard, Pa. nursery went through some staff problems, some diseases got in, and budget cuts affected the nursery & what varieties they had to offer. I bought Washington hawthorn, Norway spruce, un-named seedling crabapples from them years ago, and they're still growing well at camp. Prices were always great - haven't looked lately.

I started ordering from Cold Stream a few years ago when the PA Game Commission nursery was having problems. Cold Stream stock has always been really good and NOT tiny stuff. They have a good variety of stock too. I have an order in place for Spring 2022 with Cold Stream again.
the size of the trees/shrubs (along with multiple recommendations from folks on this site) were the reasons I went with Cold Stream..they had (almost) exactly what I wanted (some of the larger sizes of trees were sold out by the time I got to order)...also their customer service was really fast and willing to work with me (they got back to me in less than 24 hours even though it says online that their offices aren't staffed)...
 
my only issue with 2' apart is I have about 60 yards to cover so that would be a whole lotta plants...I saw at maturity that they get 25' wide, so i might even cut the difference with like 15' between each and just let them grow together...see below for an idea
View attachment 39098
Red would be hawthorns, blue hybrid poplars, black black hills spruce, grey white pine, green norway spruce and yellow midwest crabs. I have a couple layers so I don't need that tight of a screen, just want it to be brushy and a good bedding area. I understand that it will not be a huge wall right away, but I am hoping that as things grow, spread out and mature that it will fill in pretty nicely. Really the only question would be how far to space them out top to bottom (of the diagram), as the field is L-R on this diagram. I will also have about 1.5 acres of a hayfield that if below the norway spruce that I am going to let just grow up this year and the field slopes away from this screen down to my food plot so it is not able to be seen unless you are right on top of it. Just want those deer to feel safe coming into the plot to feed and giving them a safe area to get away from the tons of pressure that is around me.
Which way is South? I would take the sun and shading into consideration. If you want to plant that variety of trees, put the fastest growing tallest trees on the North side, and go biggest to smallest heading South. You wouldn’t want tall thick trees shading out your smaller trees years from now.
 
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