RE: food plot questions
 

when I plant the apple and presimmons I'll be buying them as bareroot.should I try using some sort of wire fencing to go around them so when they break bud the deer won't destroy them so soon?

RE: food plot questions
 

Yes you need wire protectors around the trees ..I was reading your post about the bears.. Bears can't wait for apples or fruit to fall,they climb up or bend the trees over..In other words they ruin them..We have probably 15 mature apple trees and the trunks are clawed and all the top limbs are broke..We also have bushes 6-8-10 feet high with red berries on them ,the bears have them all broke down..They ruin everything in sight,I had my corn feeders torn up and they were 6 ft high ,I put stainless cable on them and raised them to 12ft..Your probably wasting your time and money planting trees...

RE: food plot questions
 

cball; with good growing conditions my red and white oaks were bearing in less than 10 years. It was even sooner (5 years) with persimmons. Apples and other fruit will draw the deer sooner (3-5 years) but the oaks and persimmons are good long term plantings. When you're into silviculture, you're into lifetimes. People ask why I planted 6,000 trees on my property before I've built my house. The house will get built when I retire. I want all the years of growth in the trees that I can get so I can enjoy them when I retire.

Dan O.

RE: food plot questions
 

Dan O ,We bought our property in 65 the large oaks bear acorns ,other trees in or near our yard have never had a nut on them in over 37 yrs..Maybe trees you buy at a nursery grow faster,I dont know but the ones in the wild grow awfully slow.Now pin oaks grow fast and bear acorns when the trees are small.Thats what( West VA Paper and Pulp ) plants.I think the pin oak is a type of white oak..

RE: food plot questions
 

I've planted striaght white & red oaks as well as burr and english oaks. You might need to fertilize or the tree spacing may be too close. I get northern pecans to set nuts in about 15 years and they're known to be slow bearers.

Dan O.

RE: food plot questions
 

I live in the 3 to 4 zone for growing.I was looking at the swamp white oaks and the pin oaks. But I haven't found anything on the presimmons. does anybody know if their is any varieties for my zones?

RE: food plot questions
 

I'm growing them in zone 7a. I've wintered them over in 5b but we'll see how they bear and ripen. Even in 7a the only trees that truly ripen so far is a variety called "early golden" that ripens in September.

Dan O.