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Post by boonechaser on Mar 26, 2015 14:56:13 GMT -5
Am picking up 300 conifer 3 year old seedlings first week to plant as winter and bedding area cover on my property. I have a mixture of red pine and white pine's. My question is approximately how far apart should I plant the seedling's ? They range from 12" to 20" in height. The acreage I am converting over consist of 3.5 to 4 acre's of gently rolling hay ground bordered by hardwood's.
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Post by drs on Mar 27, 2015 4:06:56 GMT -5
Am picking up 300 conifer 3 year old seedlings first week to plant as winter and bedding area cover on my property. I have a mixture of red pine and white pine's. My question is approximately how far apart should I plant the seedling's ? They range from 12" to 20" in height. The acreage I am converting over consist of 3.5 to 4 acre's of gently rolling hay ground bordered by hardwood's. I'd advise planting (spacing) your conifers 15' to 25'. However, conifers survive much better when planted in the fall, as all plants develop their roots and establish themselves, better when planted in the fall. Planting them in Spring will result in more care for them, like watering during the Summer Months. |
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Post by steiny on Mar 27, 2015 6:04:14 GMT -5
I'd agree w/ DRS suggestion of 15 to 25 feet if you want the tree to fully develop. If you want a wall of them to block visibility, plant on 10 centers in a row, then another row son 10' centers staggered in the gaps of first row. I've planted several thousand of the same species in spring and haven't had any trouble, just hope for a damp first growing season.
It really helps first couple years to control weed growth around them by spraying or mowing. If you plant in a straight line you can just mow down the line as close as possible leaving a strip of trees and weeds. This works pretty good.
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Post by dadfsr on Mar 27, 2015 6:23:48 GMT -5
I've planted the start of an evergreen windbreak/wildlife area on the west side of my old hayfield that was put in on 10' spacing between trees and rows 10' apart with the trees offset halfway between the last row. My mower deck is 6' so I can easily mow down and back in each row to help keep the weeds down. Now if I could just keep the deer from taking out the trees closest to the woods.....I've been trying though  Hopefully you don't have a dry summer (like we did about 15 years ago when I put these in) or you will be finding yourself trying to find ways of watering the seedlings. I actually had about a dozen buckets with small holes in the bottom that I would set next to each seedling and fill from water filled trash cans that I hauled in the back of my pickup....by the time I'd get the last one filled the first one was about empty and it would be moved up to the next seedling. Fortunately I only had about a 100 to do that first year because it took most of a day just to fill cans and move buckets. |
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Post by throbak on Mar 27, 2015 7:26:36 GMT -5
Doesn't make any difference with all your deer they will be gone you will hate the roots on 3 yr olds when all those are eaten get Virginia Pines they take the browse better
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Post by trophyparadise on Mar 27, 2015 7:45:57 GMT -5
Several good suggestions so far. Definitely decide what you want them to look like in 10 years before planting. If you want a visual screen, definitely plant them about 8-10 ft apart, but know you will have to thin them by cutting every other one down in about 10-12 years. If you want to create a more natural forest setting, plant them at least 20ft apart and stagger them...unless you just want them in rows. I've got 800 trees to plant myself in the next couple weeks. How are u planting them? If u don't have a3pt tractor planter, a tree dibbler (Google it) is worth it's weight in gold. I would also strongly recommended a root stimulator or root gel. You just dip the seedlings in it before planting. It will really boost seedling survival. As mentioned, Weeds are a big deal for the first few years. Either spray round up or disk the area before planting...or be prepared to mow...a lot. Best of luck to you Trophy Paradise Habitat Consulting "Trophies are built from the ground up" www.facebook.com/trophyparadise |
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Post by boonechaser on Mar 27, 2015 8:23:47 GMT -5
Throbak, I'm hoping since our wooded land was logged 3 year's ago that they won't browse on the pine's that much?  Also have an abundance of food plot's so again gonna give the pine's a try. Getting from state nursery so pretty inexpensive. Sound's like I will go with 20' spacing and offset so I can bush hog first 2 year's. I have another 1.5 parcel that with 20' spacing I can try to establish some tree's there as well. Thought I would probably have to water some this summer and have a 500 gallon water tank that will fit on tractor carry all or back of pickup when needed. Have a tree spade to plant but will look into getting the root gel. Thanks for input. Hopefully 10-15 year's from now I will have some decent tree's survive. |
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Post by drs on Mar 27, 2015 8:55:50 GMT -5
Doesn't make any difference with all your deer they will be gone you will hate the roots on 3 yr olds when all those are eaten get Virginia Pines they take the browse better I've never seen Deer browse on Pine, here where I live. NOW; I have seen them browse on Red Cedar, but rarely. Usually they turn to Red Cedar when other suitable browse is lacking. Having a good crop of Acorns and other natural browse + good healthy food plots + a good area for them to hide & travel, is the key.  |
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Post by dadfsr on Mar 27, 2015 9:10:03 GMT -5
I don't have a problem with the deer browsing on the spruce that I planted HOWEVER what I do have a problem with is the bucks using them for markers!!!! Nothing like a couple of bare stemmed spruces to really stand out in a row of them  About 5 years ago I had also put in some pawpaws, saw tooth oaks, white oaks and red oaks in a larger natural type planting on the end away from the woods...two years ago both pawpaws(single stem at the time) were literally made into nothing but toothpicks in one night..grrrr....fortunately there was enough established root system left that I was able to let them root sprout and I now have pawpaw bushes that will get thinned out to a couple of stems this year. I also want to put some persimmon trees in too. I have a couple of those in the yard now that I'm attempting to start some seedlings from seed but haven't had a lot of luck so far-the cold requirement for the collected seed over the winter is hard to substitute in a freezer or refrigerator |
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Post by trophyparadise on Mar 27, 2015 9:49:41 GMT -5
The biggest problem animal for pines are voles & mice. The mice will chew the bark in winter when snow covers available food. The voles are worse though. They eat the roots from underground and the tree dies. If you have plenty of other forage for rodents you shouldn't have a problem...but you will lose a few likely Trophy Paradise Habitat Consulting "Trophies are built from the ground up" www.facebook.com/trophyparadise |
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Post by swilk on Mar 27, 2015 9:50:10 GMT -5
Deer are supposed to be really hard on white pine .... many guys protect the lead shoot to keep deer from killing the trees.
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Post by boonechaser on Mar 27, 2015 9:59:44 GMT -5
My main goal is to add additional security cover by expanding an existing 5 acre sanctuary and provide some thermal cover that my property lacks. Have some cedar but not in bunches. For $150.00 bucks it's worth a try. If 40%-50% of the tree's make it I will be happy.
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Post by swilk on Mar 27, 2015 10:05:43 GMT -5
Did you order them from the state nursery? Have they gone up to .50 each?
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Post by boonechaser on Mar 27, 2015 10:33:51 GMT -5
Yes through state nursery. Bundle's of 100 pines were 38.00 each I believe but I also bought some persimmon, pawpaw, and oaks that's why it was 150.00
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Post by featherduster on Mar 27, 2015 11:01:48 GMT -5
I don't know about eating white pines but I can say for sure the bucks love to rub them up.
I have about 40 pine trees on my property and you couldn't make a decent Christmas tree if you put them all together.
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Post by trophyparadise on Mar 27, 2015 11:19:32 GMT -5
Yes through state nursery. Bundle's of 100 pines were 38.00 each I believe but I also bought some persimmon, pawpaw, and oaks that's why it was 150.00 That's about right. I get mine at their tree sale each year. $30 a bundle for any species Trophy Paradise Habitat Consulting "Trophies are built from the ground up" www.facebook.com/trophyparadise |
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Post by jjas on Mar 27, 2015 11:45:23 GMT -5
Am picking up 300 conifer 3 year old seedlings first week to plant as winter and bedding area cover on my property. I have a mixture of red pine and white pine's. My question is approximately how far apart should I plant the seedling's ? They range from 12" to 20" in height. The acreage I am converting over consist of 3.5 to 4 acre's of gently rolling hay ground bordered by hardwood's. I'd advise planting (spacing) your conifers 15' to 25'. However, conifers survive much better when planted in the fall, as all plants develop their roots and establish themselves, better when planted in the fall. Planting them in Spring will result in more care for them, like watering during the Summer Months. As has been pointed out, you'll need to water your new trees and disease and damage will likely get quite a few of your plants. Would I still do it? Of course. Planting trees is a great thing to do. Having said that, I would probably wait until fall to do so, but I understand that spring gets the nod for many. Regardless....good luck with your project and I'm sure many on this forum would love for you to post pics starting before you plant, right after you plant, this fall and then yearly as time passes. I'm sure the difference will be amazing. |
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Post by steiny on Mar 27, 2015 13:07:39 GMT -5
Time flies. The first ones I planted were in 1990 to screen off vision from the road. Some of those pines now have 16" to 18" diameter trunks and stand probably 40' tall. Some of my first planted oaks are 10" to 12" diameter and are just now starting to bear a few acorns.
Planting trees is very rewarding. With the help of a couple buddies and a three point hitch tree planter, we put in 3500 seedlings of various species last spring.
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Post by trophyparadise on Mar 27, 2015 13:34:24 GMT -5
Time flies. The first ones I planted were in 1990 to screen off vision from the road. Some of those pines now have 16" to 18" diameter trunks and stand probably 40' tall. Some of my first planted oaks are 10" to 12" diameter and are just now starting to bear a few acorns. Planting trees is very rewarding. With the help of a couple buddies and a three point hitch tree planter, we put in 3500 seedlings of various species last spring. Agreed. My next door neighbour has 110 acres of timber. You would never know that 30 years ago it was a big hog farm. 90 percent of the trees were planted there when he bought the place. Btw steiny....how's the walk plank on your boat trailer working out?  Trophy Paradise Habitat Consulting "Trophies are built from the ground up" www.facebook.com/trophyparadise |
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Post by hornzilla on Mar 27, 2015 14:00:59 GMT -5
Yes through state nursery. Bundle's of 100 pines were 38.00 each I believe but I also bought some persimmon, pawpaw, and oaks that's why it was 150.00 How did you get a hold of them? I have tried several times and the Website always is down. |
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Also have an abundance of food plot's so again gonna give the pine's a try. Getting from state nursery so pretty inexpensive. Sound's like I will go with 20' spacing and offset so I can bush hog first 2 year's. I have another 1.5 parcel that with 20' spacing I can try to establish some tree's there as well. Thought I would probably have to water some this summer and have a 500 gallon water tank that will fit on tractor carry all or back of pickup when needed. Have a tree spade to plant but will look into getting the root gel. Thanks for input. Hopefully 10-15 year's from now I will have some decent tree's survive.
