Trees in a swamp

[Native Hunter]

Has anyone here ever tried planting conifers or other trees in a swamp?

I have a swamp that is probably 6 acres before the swamp plays out and goes to more dry ground. This is near my east property line (which I have fenced) and I was there today clearing brush along the fence so that I could easily walk and check the fence from time to time.

This was logged two years ago, and tree regeneration is very slow coming back. I'm seeing some swamp grasses, briers and a few weeds, but its slow.

The thought hit me that if I could plant some good trees here it would be great for screening the property and making a little more habitat.

The thing is that this is such a bad spot to get to that it's going to have to be pant them and forget them. I'm not going to get snake bit or scratched up going back to check on trees and trying to baby them.

Any thoughts welcome.....

 

[bueller]

Hybrid willows?

 

[Native Hunter]

Hybrid willows?

They would be fast for sure. I hadn't even considered that. Eventually, even if I do nothing there will be lots of trees come up. Probably a mixture of soft maple, a few oak, black gum, sweet gum, service berry, etc. What I would really love is some evergreens. Pin Oak would probably be okay too, and the leaves staying on all winter would be the next best thing to evergreens.

 

[chummer]

I am doing the same thing this spring. I ordered red dogwood, arrowood, and tamarack. Plant it and forget it, I will not be going back in.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

The guys from further north say black spruce does well in wet, swampy ground and they don't mind wet feet. I have no experience with black spruce or planting in swampy ground, but I remember what the upper-Midwest guys recommend for such an area. Maybe they can jump in on this question. It sees to me Sandbur, Wiscwhip, Badgerfowl and some of those guys have spoken about black spruce. FWIW.

I posted right behind Chummer. He's right on the red dogwood - red-osier dogwood. That stuff sends up suckers from the roots and eventually the area will look like a hairbrush. I'm having some arriving for my camp in a couple weeks - for the same " hairbrush " look !!

 

[Native Hunter]

I will mention one more thing:

I have another spot nearby that is wet, but not quite as bad as this one. It's also near the property line, but I can get my truck close to that spot and also mow it with a DR walk behind mower. In the middle of the summer I can also go over it with a bushhog.

Yesterday I took a shotgun approach to screening there. I have two rows of mixed plants to see what takes the best. Below is a list of all the stuff I mixed up:

Pin Oak
Sawtooth (on the very driest spots)
Red Cedar that I dug up
Holly that I dug up from the woods nearby
Wax Myrtle (ordered from Wildlife Group)
Norways (put out last fall and probably 1/3 still alive)

The red cedar was also put out last year and most made it. We will see how this experiment goes.

 

[huntall]

Does Nuttall or over cup oaks grow in your zone?

 

[Native Hunter]

Does Nuttall or over cup oaks grow in your zone?

They aren't native in my woods, but they will grow here. I actually have a large number of overcups that were mixed in with the white oaks I bought a few years ago for my first tree planting. Some of those overcups are close to 20 feet high now and doing fantastic.

 

[Native Hunter]

Here is a picture from last spring that shows how my oaks have grown out in that planting. This is on drier ground but near the swamp. I would have to look up the exact date these was planted, but around 11 or 12 years in the ground.

 

[Native Hunter]

Does anyone have experience with deer eating overcup acorns? Mixed reviews when I search on the internet....

 

[shawnv]

The guys from further north say black spruce does well in wet, swampy ground and they don't mind wet feet. I have no experience with black spruce or planting in swampy ground, but I remember what the upper-Midwest guys recommend for such an area. Maybe they can jump in on this question. It sees to me Sandbur, Wiscwhip, Badgerfowl and some of those guys have spoken about black spruce. FWIW.

I posted right behind Chummer. He's right on the red dogwood - red-osier dogwood. That stuff sends up suckers from the roots and eventually the area will look like a hairbrush. I'm having some arriving for my camp in a couple weeks - for the same " hairbrush " look !!

Correct, our Northen WI swamps are full of Black Spruce.

 

[Native Hunter]

Correct, our Northen WI swamps are full of Black Spruce.

Thanks. I just checked a couple of web sites that says it grows well in my zone if in a very wet spot. This may just be what I'm looking for. I'm going to be looking for some seedlings to buy and give then a try.

 

[Native Hunter]

How about this? Anyone know of a better deal?

http://www.coldstreamfarm.net/black-spruce-picea-mariana.html

 

[sandbur]

I have my black spruce ordered from Itasca greenhouse. They are plugs and easy to plant. Last I heard they are sold out.

Here is Jim's planting bar with some of the spruce plugs from last year.

 

[sandbur]

I was under the impression that black spruce might not do well in warmer climates, but might be wrong.

How about native tamarack or some of the tamarack/larch crosses. Seems like Itasca had some of those. Itasca is now under new ownership and selection might change.

I don't know if you have reed canary grass down there, but it is a struggle to get trees growing in an RC swamp. My plans for this year is to get some black spruce into a black ash swamp in anticipation of logging or the emerald ash borer entering the area. I want to have these trees started before the reed canary grass takes over (after the ash are gone).

I see a few red cedar in swamps if they are not too wet.

 

[Native Hunter]

I was under the impression that black spruce might not do well in warmer climates, but might be wrong.

How about native tamarack or some of the tamarack/larch crosses. Seems like Itasca had some of those. Itasca is now under new ownership and selection might change.

I don't know if you have reed canary grass down there, but it is a struggle to get trees growing in an RC swamp. My plans for this year is to get some black spruce into a black ash swamp in anticipation of logging or the emerald ash borer entering the area. I want to have these trees started before the reed canary grass takes over (after the ash are gone).

I see a few red cedar in swamps if they are not too wet.

Sandbur, I'm probably close to the southern end of the Black Spruce range, but according to what I found, they should grow here.

I don't know much about Tamarack, but I did plant a few Bald Cypress, and they grow very well here.

I have dug up some red cedar from a nearby fence row and planted at some fairly wet spots as an experiment. I did this last spring and most of them have lived so far.

 

[Shedder]

I would think Cypress would be way more likely to do well lin KY vs. black spruce.

 

[Native Hunter]

I would think Cypress would be way more likely to do well lin KY vs. black spruce.

Bald cypress does grow well here for sure. I'm probably going to experiment with a few Black Spruce just to see what happens - maybe 25 to begin with.

 

[Shedder]

I would throw some SWO in there, too. They can handle a lot of water.

Black spruce is common here and does grow in wet bogs mostly because nothing else can.

Good looking oak in the pic.

 

[bwoods11]

I've seen some darn nice tamarack plantings on swamp edges in our area of MN.

Prompted me to order 100 plugs this spring. I'm anxious to see how they do.