Winning the battle to establish conifers

[BuckSutherland]

I took these photos in my woods between Christmas and New Years. It took until 2020, for me to understand that a weed mat is absolutely mandatory to get instant tree growth. Since then my trees have really taken off. Certain trees MUST be in a cage or they have ZERO chance to survive in my woods. I bud capped about 300 of my most important trees., including caged trees . They are doing great despite going through 3 years of very harsh drought from 2021-2023.

White cedar and white pine thrive in my woods. Spruce are much slower. Firs are finding it nearly impossible to compete with our slimy clay subsoil. Tamarack and hemlock seem to do pretty good. I have over 500 trees that are likely to make massive leaps this year if we can just get decent precipitation. I am gonna have some fantastic bedrooms and travel corridors in a couple years. All of the conifers in these pictures have a weed mat and its made their growth explode.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

They look great!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Boy, they look good, Buck. You've gotten some really good growth going by the year you planted them. Cages and mats do give them a good start.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Boy, they look good, Buck. You've gotten some really good growth going by the year you planted them. Cages and mats do give them a good start.

I didn't do my first cage until 2019. I used some cardboard around some white pines that year and their growth took off right away. That's when the light bulb went off. My first weed mats weren't installed until 2020. The spruce (mostly black and white) pictured below did not get weed mats until late August 2022. They doubled in size in 2023, and by late summer we were well into extreme drought. I was blown away that they could double in size in one year in those shitty conditions. The power of the weed mat and smothering the competition.....


I will be cutting up some of that crap on the ground and using it to further "mulch" the trees. They have some, but not quite enough. This spot will block N, W, NW winds and leave the sky open to the south for deer bedding along the switchgrass.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

That's a great set-up. I'll bet your deer will make good use of the wind protection once the spruce fill in a bit. I agree with your weed mat thoughts. Early weed and grass competition slow the establishment of any trees - and I think spruce are more vulnerable than maybe deciduous trees are. At least that's been my experience. I've done some of the same plantings at camp (using spruce to block the same winds you mentioned) creating sun-warmed bedding spots on the south sides. We can use more tall grasses for bedding though, something we have too little of. Your switch looks well-established there.

Nice work!

 

[bwoods11]

I cage them all now! It makes a huge difference!