What Are You Planting This Spring?

[BuckSutherland]

I headed 90 miles south this morning and picked up my 2 gallon white cedar and 2 gallon Meyers spruce. Trees are in transit from University of Idaho and arrive on Friday. Then Friday morning I head 45 miles west to pick up a bunch of one gallon white pine and 2 gallon black hills spruce. Gonna try to get all my corn planted by Sunday evening and then head north 200 miles to get my trees planted into their waiting cages.

 

[TenPoint]

What’s a 2-gal tree cost?

 

[BuckSutherland]

$13 from my NRCS and you fast forward about 5-6 years from a worthless 4, 6, or 10 plugs. Worth every damn penny. They look terrific and will already be above the canopy that used to swallow plugs in my woods. Once the cage goes on and the weed mat is down I’m pretty much done.

 

[b116757]

White cedar are great trees but very very slow growing it seems like to me or maybe they need a more specific site selection then I’ve ever given them in the past.

 

[Big Shooter]

So far this year we have planted
1000 red pine
1000 white pine
300 white oak
200 red oak
100 various fruit trees (50 from NWC)
.... kinda getting tree'd out

 

[Chainsaw]

So far this year we have planted
1000 red pine
1000 white pine
300 white oak
200 red oak
100 various fruit trees (50 from NWC)
.... kinda getting tree'd out

And I thought I needed a lot of fence.

 

[g squared 23]

Put in 25 silkys and 25 ROD from Iowa DNR, very nice quality. And this was after smacking a turkey. Found some shrooms too. Pretty full day.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TenPoint]

Put in 25 silkys and 25 ROD from Iowa DNR, very nice quality. And this was after smacking a turkey. Found some shrooms too. Pretty full day.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hell of a nice day!

 

[TenPoint]

So far this year we have planted
1000 red pine
1000 white pine
300 white oak
200 red oak
100 various fruit trees (50 from NWC)
.... kinda getting tree'd out

By hand? Hope you had help!

I had enough after 115 spruce and 18 crabs. :)

 

[PatinPA]

So far this year we have planted
1000 red pine
1000 white pine
300 white oak
200 red oak
100 various fruit trees (50 from NWC)
.... kinda getting tree'd out

That makes my back hurt just reading it.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Got a rained out trying to plant corn so I hurried north Friday afternoon and planted my ass off Friday night and all day Saturday. Got all the trees in the ground, but still need to go back and do some weed mats and mulching. Had a little help planting and watering from my brother in law or I would have bringing a few back home to plant another time. Happy they are all in the ground. Even got to do a little bonus hunting with my new shovel and saw a massive pile of logs a few miles down the road. Had to drag my ass 200 miles south at 4am Sunday morning so I could meet an insurance adjuster on a roof at 8am. I'm still sore.

My 2 gallon pot trees were PHENOMNEAL. Had a fair amount of snow on Saturday morning. Better than sweating my ass off. 2 wood ticks.

 

[bwoods11]

That looks really good Buck! We did some nice sized Red Cedar. Like you said, no time to mess with the tiny plugs or seedlings, bigger stuff only.

 

[BuckSutherland]

The root balls on my white cedar were incredible. I planted them a few of them in travel corridors and the rest in areas I want them to bed. Most of them are fairly close to water so if they need a little help this summer I should be able to get it to them without too much hassle. When I put the weed mat down I make sure that it doesnt touch the trunk, and neither does any of the mulch. I really enjoy grabbing dead stuff and giving these suckers the full treatment. I want them weeds DEAD under that mat. I try to plant the tree about an inch lower then the surrounding soil so water runs off the mat into the tree. If I could get everything I wanted in pots I would NEVER touch a plug again. Cant believe they can sell these things for $13.

 

[Bill]

I’m changing my answer to the original question.

Answer:
Too Much!

 

[BuckSutherland]

I’m changing my answer to the original question.

Answer:
Too Much!

I'd like to say I'm taking next year off, but I already know its not true and it will be too f******g much again. I wanna get to 50 (from zero) white cedars on the property by next year. 20 to go, and its gonna likely require me to fire the chainsaw up and knock out some popple and basswood to make room in the bedding areas I have made. I still have 7 extra cages. I know a spot down the road and I might go swipe a few young ones growing in the road ditch to see how well they transplant as an experiment yet this spring.

I gotta make a little room for about 20 more white pines so I can reach 100 (from zero), but this has been planned for a few years.

Good news is I am almost completely satisfied on spruce and oak. I just wanna add another 100-150 volunteer spruce/balsam fir from the road ditch and that only takes about 1 good morning for what I'm gonna do. Really no sense in me doing anymore oaks. The property has a lot of native red oak, and I'm up to about 75 others in tubes and cages (burr, SWO, schuttes, and burr oak gamble coming this week.) I finally feel like I am 100% satisfied on spruce after this year. Been a long damn battle, but I feel like I finally won.


Then it will be on to shrubs and bushes along my travel corridors, but I will start reusing some of my 300 cages by then..... I hope I can see the property in 20+ years cause its gonna be amazingly rare for my area.

 

[Bill]

Then it will be on to shrubs and bushes along my travel corridors, but I will start reusing some of my 300 cages by then..... I hope I can see the property in 20+ years cause its gonna be amazingly rare for my area.

20:years would be great.

 

[Tree Spud]

The root balls on my white cedar were incredible. I planted them a few of them in travel corridors and the rest in areas I want them to bed. Most of them are fairly close to water so if they need a little help this summer I should be able to get it to them without too much hassle. When I put the weed mat down I make sure that it doesnt touch the trunk, and neither does any of the mulch. I really enjoy grabbing dead stuff and giving these suckers the full treatment. I want them weeds DEAD under that mat. I try to plant the tree about an inch lower then the surrounding soil so water runs off the mat into the tree. If I could get everything I wanted in pots I would NEVER touch a plug again. Cant believe they can sell these things for $13.

Buck ... I get 2.5'-3.0' blue spruce and norway spruce for $2.40 ea. We planted 300 of these this year. Started caging pines about 7 years ago after seeing way too many trees browsed and destroyed by rubbing. I have been advising here that it is better to cage 25 and see them reach maturity then planting 100-200 uncaged and losing most.

Glad to see you get it!







Here are some year 4 after planting.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Buck ... I get 2.5'-3.0' blue spruce and norway spruce for $2.40 ea. We planted 300 of these this year. Started caging pines about 7 years ago after seeing way too many trees browsed and destroyed by rubbing. I have been advising here that it is better to cage 25 and see them reach maturity then planting 100-200 uncaged and losing most.

Glad to see you get it!

View attachment 34636


View attachment 34637


Here are some year 4 after planting.


View attachment 34638

Where do you get them for so cheap?

 

[williams111]

Buck ... I get 2.5'-3.0' blue spruce and norway spruce for $2.40 ea. We planted 300 of these this year. Started caging pines about 7 years ago after seeing way too many trees browsed and destroyed by rubbing. I have been advising here that it is better to cage 25 and see them reach maturity then planting 100-200 uncaged and losing most.

Glad to see you get it!




Here are some year 4 after planting.


View attachment 34638

What is your plan with the cages that the trees have grown into? I planted 50 norway last year with weedmats and 3' diameter 5' high cages and I am still unsure what I am going to do once the trees fill out the cages. Are they safe to remove once the trees reach the cage and the central leader is above browse line? Or would rubbing still be a concern? Thanks!

 

[Tree Spud]

What is your plan with the cages that the trees have grown into? I planted 50 norway last year with weedmats and 3' diameter 5' high cages and I am still unsure what I am going to do once the trees fill out the cages. Are they safe to remove once the trees reach the cage and the central leader is above browse line? Or would rubbing still be a concern? Thanks!

On the 6' tree shown I will open open the cage and restake to allow growth expansion. You can use weed mat staples to stake the cage more open. I think until the tree gets beyond 8' tall, and is wide enough to keep antlers away from the main trunk, it is susceptible to a buck rubbing and damaging the tree. If they can reach the trunk there is a high probability they will snap it.