rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
A recent thread about tree spacing prompted me to dig up some old pics. First a little background. This is NE Wisconsin in sandy loam with a growing season of about mid May till Labor Day. The objective in planting spacing was based on forestry practices for volume growth, not on deer habitat or visual barriers but some things can be learned nevertheless. This was planted with a density trying to achieve about 800/acre. So give or take 6-7 ft between trees in a row and 8 ft between rows. Down the road this stand will be thinned with taking maybe every third row when other nearby areas are due for a cut.
Trees were actually planted and replanted over two years since a very dry summer took out 50%-70% the first year. Just my luck, driest year in the last twenty that initial year. But it happens, don't expect ideal conditions the next ten years for awesome growth after you plant. Trees were 12”-18” bareroot transplants planted into gly killed heavy sod. Followed up with 2 years of covering trees up with a bucket and spraying gly around once a summer. Did that for about 1000 trees, other spots were on their own. Mowing between trees or rows impossible due to large rocks.
Deer numbers are high in this area and even white spruce gets some leader browsing in early spring right after snow melts. This created a lot of double leader trees which had to be dealt with later cutting off one side in most cases and slowed some growth in initial years.
In summary even with this dense spacing it took 8 years before a visual barrier planted this way would be useful. Most literature gives recommendations of 8 ft between trees in a row and 12-15 ft between rows for planting a windbreak/visual barrier and likely add another year or two for getting results in that case. Trees really do start to take off once they hit about 4 ft tall. Growth of 2 ft/year is pretty common and some individual trees will do 30”+. Again this is for northern areas and down south different story.
1 and 2 yr leaf trees (remember had to replant many). Can't see em yet too small but the rows of dead mullien stalks between trees show the rows. I don't worry about broadleaf weeds nearby, grass is the real issue. My neighbors (the cows) still thinking the grass is greener over the fence.
3-4 yr leaf. Sill not big enough to hide rocks or dogs
4-5 yr leaf. Late in the year after some initial snow
4-5 yr leaf. Add 2 ft of snow and you can't hide nothing in these
6-7 year leaf. Finally a little cover
7-8 yr leaf. So now actually a decent visual barrier after 8 growing seasons. The initial tight density has also thinned out just from some trees dying off and goldenrod has filled in between.
Trees were actually planted and replanted over two years since a very dry summer took out 50%-70% the first year. Just my luck, driest year in the last twenty that initial year. But it happens, don't expect ideal conditions the next ten years for awesome growth after you plant. Trees were 12”-18” bareroot transplants planted into gly killed heavy sod. Followed up with 2 years of covering trees up with a bucket and spraying gly around once a summer. Did that for about 1000 trees, other spots were on their own. Mowing between trees or rows impossible due to large rocks.
Deer numbers are high in this area and even white spruce gets some leader browsing in early spring right after snow melts. This created a lot of double leader trees which had to be dealt with later cutting off one side in most cases and slowed some growth in initial years.
In summary even with this dense spacing it took 8 years before a visual barrier planted this way would be useful. Most literature gives recommendations of 8 ft between trees in a row and 12-15 ft between rows for planting a windbreak/visual barrier and likely add another year or two for getting results in that case. Trees really do start to take off once they hit about 4 ft tall. Growth of 2 ft/year is pretty common and some individual trees will do 30”+. Again this is for northern areas and down south different story.
1 and 2 yr leaf trees (remember had to replant many). Can't see em yet too small but the rows of dead mullien stalks between trees show the rows. I don't worry about broadleaf weeds nearby, grass is the real issue. My neighbors (the cows) still thinking the grass is greener over the fence.
3-4 yr leaf. Sill not big enough to hide rocks or dogs
4-5 yr leaf. Late in the year after some initial snow
4-5 yr leaf. Add 2 ft of snow and you can't hide nothing in these
6-7 year leaf. Finally a little cover
7-8 yr leaf. So now actually a decent visual barrier after 8 growing seasons. The initial tight density has also thinned out just from some trees dying off and goldenrod has filled in between.
