Pride of Bucky
Buck Fawn
I am taking several acres out if crop production. I would prefer to plant groupings of spruce instead of rows. From experience what would be the distance between trees in the grouos and how many trees in the groups?
Spruce tree planting
- Thread starter Pride of Bucky
- Start date
scott44
5 year old buck +
I usually plant them 12-15' apart, 4 or 5 paces.
Diesel5610
5 year old buck +
I usually do 5-6 paces between trees.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
For good bedding areas, I've done groups of 10 to 15 trees ( finished plantings ). I make room for weeds, grass & briars to grow in between. I plant at 8 ft. apart with the idea of cutting the middle ones if necessary to give me a final spacing of 15 to 20 ft. I may start with 15 to 20 at initial planting to get to 10 to 15 when a few years down the road they grow and start to crowd each other. I figure some may not survive, so I plant enough to allow for growth and losses.
I like clusters of several trees to allow room for does and fawns to feel secure & stay out of hot sun and winter wind. Wind shifts, so they may want to lay facing in various directions. I got the idea from a natural grouping of white pines and hemlocks in an otherwise open hardwoods. I happened to see 5 or 6 deer get up and walk out of that cluster, feeding on acorns as they went. They never knew I was watching - wind was in my favor. That was about 25 years ago. Copying that grouping with our spruce tree plantings has worked so far. FWIW.
I like clusters of several trees to allow room for does and fawns to feel secure & stay out of hot sun and winter wind. Wind shifts, so they may want to lay facing in various directions. I got the idea from a natural grouping of white pines and hemlocks in an otherwise open hardwoods. I happened to see 5 or 6 deer get up and walk out of that cluster, feeding on acorns as they went. They never knew I was watching - wind was in my favor. That was about 25 years ago. Copying that grouping with our spruce tree plantings has worked so far. FWIW.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
I don't see any info on your name, where are you located at?
Pride of Bucky
Buck Fawn
Waupaca county in Wisconsin
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
I think that guy, P&Y, that used to be on here was from Waupaca. He was the big champion for Norways. I pretty much followed his preachings, but my deer eat them like crazy. If I tried it again, I'd be better off planting them the same as a cornfield, at 30,000 plants per acre spacing. The spacing I did was 12'x12'
I'm in wc WI and took p+y advice to plant a ton of the little 8" Norways. Out of 500 or so trees theres about 65 alive. I learned to plant the biggest size you can afford and less trees. I now cage every single one and bought a tank I use to water them throughout the summer. The bucks by us rub the trees until they look like little twigs. I will take pics this week, some are really starting to take off after 3-4 yrs.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Boone ^^^^ - I see the same thing here. Year 4 is when they really start to take off. I think the first couple years they're getting their root systems established. Usually by year 5 or 6 I have a 6' to 7' tree ( to the top of the leader ). Cages = insurance ………… not from browsing, but rubbing here. Deer don't browse our Norways much at all. But we do lose some of the un-caged ones to rubbing.
Diesel5610
5 year old buck +
Rubbing is the biggest killer of Norways here as well. About year 5 they start to take off and then get hammered by the bucks. Trying to come up with some half way affordable way of caging a bunch of them for a few years during those vulnerable years.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Deer will browse the new buds, if they don't the rabbits will. I went out in late Dec early Jan this year and over 125 new 2-3 year old transplants were over browsed.
If you have deer population over 20 dpsm, your trees will be browsed. Rubbing is a whole different issue.
John-W-WI
Administrator
That's interesting... I'm in Western Wisconsin, and I've planted quite a few norways. Zero evidence of browsing. Seems like the trees that grow out on their own get rubbed. Most of them left alone. My biggest planting was in reed canary grass. They took an extra 4 or 5 years to win the battle, but they are doing so well now, that I'll be thinning them this winter. Finally.
-John
-John
Pride of Bucky
Buck Fawn
I am planting white spruce and have planted 1000’s of them in the past for screening. Never had issues with deer eating them occasional rubbing and I am in a very high deer density. Planting my new trees in an open field around a 10 acre tag alder/willow marsh to provide additional bedding that is dry.
ChadS
A good 3 year old buck
I just added 18 acres of crop field that adjoins our 77acres. My dream is to create whitetail heaven. It is a blank slate and I am going to plant a ton of native brush and fruit\nut trees (Red Osier Dogwood, Button Bush, Ninebark, Elderberry, Pussy Willow and Sumac). The biggest hurdle is going to be deer pressure. My thoughts are to make little "PODS" and fence them in until they are big enough to survive the deer browse. I will have small food plots scattered as well ( Clover and the occasional Oats and Brassicas) I am going to put in some crab apples and cage them in and a bunch of nut trees ( Turkey Oak, Chestnut, Red Oak) in tubes. The biggest need is cover, and I would truly love to get a number of pines going as fast as possible for screening and thermal cover. My only chance is to fence them in.
The area in Purple is the new fields. The Blue area is a real wet spot that I hope to dig a pond. Look forward to any ideas.
Thanks
The area in Purple is the new fields. The Blue area is a real wet spot that I hope to dig a pond. Look forward to any ideas.
Thanks
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Chad - Pines are OK for a few years, but then they'll self-thin their lower branches and you end up with no screening or wind blocking. Plant some pines for quick growth, but you might want to add some spruce for long-term screening & wind blocking / bedding cover. Norway spruce are the quickest growers of the spruces. I'd cage them to keep deer from eating / damage from rubbing. We use concrete mesh that's 5 ft. tall. It stands on it's own.
We did this very thing at our camp to fill in where white pines lost their lower branches. I planted a double row of Norway spruce inside the pines to close off the open bottoms of the pines. Pines are fine for cover & screening for a period of time, but then they lose that advantage. Your location isn't that far from my camp's location. For additional cover, food source and nesting cover for all kinds of birds, plant some Washington hawthorns. They get very "limb-y" with lots of twigs and thorns, and put on loads of red berries each fall that grouse, turkeys, and all kinds of birds love. Berries will hang into winter for critter eats. They like sun, so plant hawthorns where they'll get lots of it. Ours are about 20 years old & they're about 15 to 18 ft. tall. One of the best all-purpose shrubby trees we've planted. Crab apples = can't lose. They're great to have.
We did this very thing at our camp to fill in where white pines lost their lower branches. I planted a double row of Norway spruce inside the pines to close off the open bottoms of the pines. Pines are fine for cover & screening for a period of time, but then they lose that advantage. Your location isn't that far from my camp's location. For additional cover, food source and nesting cover for all kinds of birds, plant some Washington hawthorns. They get very "limb-y" with lots of twigs and thorns, and put on loads of red berries each fall that grouse, turkeys, and all kinds of birds love. Berries will hang into winter for critter eats. They like sun, so plant hawthorns where they'll get lots of it. Ours are about 20 years old & they're about 15 to 18 ft. tall. One of the best all-purpose shrubby trees we've planted. Crab apples = can't lose. They're great to have.
ChadS
A good 3 year old buck
Yes, the plan was to get some White Spruce going along with a few White Pine (They are native).
I unfortunately am going to have to cage everything.
I forgot to mention the soil is not the greatest. it does not drain well, but is only wet in the fall and thru first part of spring.
I unfortunately am going to have to cage everything.
I forgot to mention the soil is not the greatest. it does not drain well, but is only wet in the fall and thru first part of spring.
sandbur
5 year old buck +
You have some potential funnels around that low area/ proposed pond. Keep that in mind when planting.
Got to agree, plant spruce and crab apples!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
ChadS
A good 3 year old buck
Any ideas as to how and where to plant stuff for a layout?
Heavy bedding to the east across the road, my prim spot is in the woods traveling from across the road to these fields.
Also heavy bedding to the west, but they get pressured hard and travel these fields a lot for escape (especially the big bucks).
Looking to create a hide out, not necessarily a bedding area.
Heavy bedding to the east across the road, my prim spot is in the woods traveling from across the road to these fields.
Also heavy bedding to the west, but they get pressured hard and travel these fields a lot for escape (especially the big bucks).
Looking to create a hide out, not necessarily a bedding area.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Are you looking to create good archery stand locations for ambush, gun season attraction or both ?? If you have deer traffic coming through the woods from the east / road, I'd plant some crabs in the northern end of that rectangular field, just SE of your blue pond area. Give the deer a reason to linger and feed there. You could place tree stands just inside the woods in that location for an ambush.
Assuming that green "striped" field is a neighbor's, if you want to close off some or all of the property line on the west side of the shaded area, I'd plant a row of Washington hawthorns facing the neighbor's field, and some spruce facing in toward your proposed pond. That'll make a good screen and give deer a safe line to walk along.
I'd also take that NE corner from your right-of-way (?) to the tree line that forms your northern border and plant some crabs, hawthorns, and a few spruce in that corner to make a food & hideout corner patch for deer to linger.
Keep in mind the growth of the spruce trees. Plant them so they won't shade out the crabs and hawthorns as they grow. Hawthorns don't get so tall or thickly canopied that they'll shade out a spruce.
Not knowing how much of your new fields you want to keep intact for food plots, that's where I'd start, if it were my piece of ground.
Assuming that green "striped" field is a neighbor's, if you want to close off some or all of the property line on the west side of the shaded area, I'd plant a row of Washington hawthorns facing the neighbor's field, and some spruce facing in toward your proposed pond. That'll make a good screen and give deer a safe line to walk along.
I'd also take that NE corner from your right-of-way (?) to the tree line that forms your northern border and plant some crabs, hawthorns, and a few spruce in that corner to make a food & hideout corner patch for deer to linger.
Keep in mind the growth of the spruce trees. Plant them so they won't shade out the crabs and hawthorns as they grow. Hawthorns don't get so tall or thickly canopied that they'll shade out a spruce.
Not knowing how much of your new fields you want to keep intact for food plots, that's where I'd start, if it were my piece of ground.
