Belo
5 year old buck +
That's a really cool idea. But damn these tubes are expensive to cut them up haha!
When and What after Grow Tubes?
- Thread starter Belo
- Start date
That's a really cool idea. But damn these tubes are expensive to cut them up haha!
Belo
5 year old buck +
Can you elaborate? How do you see failed tube trees while driving around? In my research they are pretty widely regarded and I have a 2 year started from a bareroot that I believe will soon surpass the more expensive potted brother of his. While I haven't had 100% success, the ones that have failed for me I don't think were due to the tube.
gurgalunas
Yearling... With promise
I won't put words in bigboreblr's mouth, he may have info to add. But a lot of plantings done are to meet contract requirements ($) or done by DNR types that don't follow up with watering/weeding needs. Tubes are not magic, but do encourage more rapid vertical growth. Neglected plantings obviously fail at a higher rate, so success depends on the investment made after planting, whether started in a tube or cage.
As this thread points out, there are a lot of ways to get to a positive result. The thing these strategies have in common is that they are put into practice by people with enough interest in success that they hang out on a Habitat forum. The folks here are undoubtedly much higher performers than the average Joe...
The Fishman
5 year old buck +
I don't cut the tubes when removing them. I usually remove tubes when the tree is 3-4 years old and roughly three to four feet out of the tube. I will do my best to slide the tube over the branches even if that means trimming a few branches. The branches are pretty flexible at this age. Trimming a few branches won't set the tree back that much and it means I can reuse the tubes without issue.
