TimberPig

I got my trees planted this weekend. Ended up with a few extra trees, but I think we planted about 3,000 which covered 7 acres. It was quite a bit of work.

To start we needed to remove several hundred thorn trees which were not very cooperative, and liked to fight back. I' m sure the scars will heal in a few years...(a guy at work thought maybe I had tried to seperate cats in heat or something, LOL).
We removed some by hand, some with a backhoe, and some with a dozer. Several more days were spent with spade and axe removing roots the dozer missed.

Then we needed to level the ground torn up by the dozer so we had the neighbor chisel plow and disk part of the ground, then harrowed and rolled it with the ATV. We also broadcast rye grass at 20 lbs to the acre as recommended by the ASCS office.

We used a mechanical tractor pulled tree planter which had been donated to the county by Pheasants Forever. The actual planting wasnt bad, until the planter broke, but thats another story. After repairs we were able to plant them all in a couple of 13 hour days. The slow part is preparing the trees by sorting, trimming the roots, and getting them in buckets on the planter. Once your loaded with trees and on the planter you can make pretty good time. Having extra help to just prepare trees would be a big help.

After all this I am looking forward to planting trees next year in a flat bean field, should be much easier than the rough hilly area we were in. Mechanical planters do not work real well on side hills.

The weather was great for planting and we are now getting a nice rain which should start the trees off nicely.

My stock was 12" to 24" in size and consisted of 3 varieties of oak, green ash, white pine, norway spruce, nanking cherry, and wild plum.

My only question is, what kind of survival rate have people experienced with large scale tree plantings? My stock looked pretty good, and I am hoping for at least 60% survival.

Dan O.

My survival rate with a mechanical tree planter was over 95%. The year before; I had the trees hand planted and there was about 70% survival. The problem was that they planted where they weren' t supposed to (on bare rock) and the summer was very dry. I get almost 100% survival when I hand plant myself, but I take a lot longer to plant than the pros and use different planting techniques.

Dan O.

TimberPig

Thats reassuring to hear Dan. If I got even close to 95% survival I would be tickled pink. I want to plant more next year but I dont want to piddle around with replanting half this area again instead of making forward progress. I do plan on nursing these along quite a bit to help insure max survival. Too bad there is no way to water that many if a drought sets in.
I have seen some plantings that had pretty poor survival, but they always looked like the guy just planted them and walked away, never touching the area again.

Dan O.

Timberpig; The trees that I lost when they used a tree planter were where the two sides of the furrow didn' t get closed up. The soil must have been a bit wet and a gap was left. When the hot days of summer hit the openings remained and dried like concrete. This left the tree with air on the roots and no water. You may want to walk the tree rows to make sure the furrow is closed around the trees.

You can give the trees a drink if the summer is really bad. A tractor with a 250 gallon semi bulk will let you water 250 - 500 trees a run. I prefer an open topped container so I can dip the water instead of using a hose.
It takes a lot less time to water than replant next year.

Don' t try fertilizing trees that are under moisture stress. They can' t handle the fertilizer.


Dan O.

TimberPig

We did walk most all the trees and stepped the soil down tight around the base. After the heavy rain there doesnt seem to be any gaps around them at all.

There are two tiles running all the time into my creek which I could use for water if I had a good way to get it into a tank, which I dont have either (could scrounge up a 55 gal drum easy enough and rig up a hose to water). What kind of fertilizer would you use, and how would you apply it on a large scale? I agree, much easier to help these along than keep replanting every year.
Thanks, Timber

Dan O.

I use a high phosphorus, dissolvable, planting fertilizer. Don' t fertilize after July 1 or if the weather gets very dry.

You can pick up a 12 volt bilge pump that will operate off your tractors electrical supply. Or get generator and a submersible sump pump. Or rent a gas powered pump for the day.

Dan O.

lawnfarmer

Hey Dan, please tell me more about the fertilizer. Can I get it at the co-op? I am planting 500 trees next week-end. I planted as many last year and had terrible luck due to the draught. I' m going to plant them by hand and take real good care of them. I have been told poplar should have at least a gal. of water per week. How about the pines? Any advice is appreciated and I' ll follow it to the letter. terry [&:]

Dan O.

I get it at the Commercial Fruit Growers co-op. You might be able to get it at a regular one. Just ask for soluble transplanting fertilizer. For further waterings Mira-Grow works just as well. But don' t put on high nitrogen fertilizer after July 1 or any fertilizer if the trees are suffering from lack of moisture. For larger trees (6' ) I watered with a 2 gallon pail every 2-3 weeks depending on the rain fall.

This is looking like a very dry year, even after all the snow that we got. Lake Huron is down so much that you can walk to the islands off of Sauble Beach.

Dan O.