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Tree Sapling Planting

boonerz

boonerz

Member
Hey Guys

I was wondering if anyone has had any luck planting a bunch of saplings. Basically I am wanting to plant 2 acres worth of trees to connect a draw to a timber and create some cover to an open bean field. I saw that I can order a bunch of saplings from the DNR for a decent price. They are all around 18-24" tall and I have to order a minimum of 500. I've never done it but does any one have experience with this? Is it alot of work? How many trees per acre should a guy plant to get the best growing results? Is it as easy as plant the saplings and fence them off and let them grow? Any advice or insight would be great.

Thanks!
 
Planting is the easy part. Then comes the work of controlling the weeds & grass competition or your planting $$$ & effort will all be in vain. Depending on what you plant the deer may or may not use you effort as a food plot. (e.g. White pines make expensive deer food :() I have found the people at the State Forrest Nursery to be very helpful in answering questions. It can be a lot of work but 10-20 years later when some of the little sticks turn into mature trees it can be very rewarding.
 
Yep. Read dbltrees threads. Prep rows now if possible. U have all winter to contact conservatiOn boards for tree planter rental. Get mowed now & correct herbicides down now. Picking right trees & shrubs will b big factor based on site & goals (like, I bet u will include cedars but have to get those from MO Dnr), then right prep & herbides Keep up proper maintabence & u'll have a nice planting. Lot more to it so start reading but ya- sounds good.
 
The nursery is great to work with, I got 500 trees last spring, mostly oaks and white pines. Wasn't a great year to plant anything, all the pines didn't survive even with watering. About half the oaks made it with no watering. I contacted the nursery about pines as they were dying off after a month of planting. They had some bad stock and are replacing my non surviving trees at no cost. Weed control was my biggest problem as bought place on Dec. and planted in April. Didn't use a planter just post hole digger on tractor. One driller and two people planting took a weekend. Prob faster if not drinking beer too
 
Hoffman said:
The nursery is great to work with, I got 500 trees last spring, mostly oaks and white pines. Wasn't a great year to plant anything, all the pines didn't survive even with watering. About half the oaks made it with no watering. I contacted the nursery about pines as they were dying off after a month of planting. They had some bad stock and are replacing my non surviving trees at no cost. Weed control was my biggest problem as bought place on Dec. and planted in April. Didn't use a planter just post hole digger on tractor. One driller and two people planting took a weekend. Prob faster if not drinking beer too
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A post-hole digger for seedlings, 3 guys?! :rolleyes::D WHOA DUDE, you made a heck of a lot more work for yourself than you needed!!! 500 trees with a treeplanter would probably take you... 2-3 hours MAYBE??? You would be far faster to plant with dribble bar or shovel, using stuff like the method where you press down all the way, open a slit, put seedling in & seal - very fast. Strongly encourage not using post hole digger unless it's for like a giant tree like buying 20 big apple trees.
 
Never had planted trees before, didn't k know where to get planter from so the farm background came to use, lol. I think it worked well, just held at ground level and let roots dangle, tried using shovel wedge way but my 17-24 inch oaks had about the same for roots. Maybe wasn't fastest way but it worked for me
 
Sligh,
How do you get cedars from MO DNR? Do you have some land there or know someone who does? From my limited research on their site it was for MO residents only
 
For long term survival and easy planting I would consider planting plugs. We can plant 500 in 2-3 hours and if you do a little weed control the survival will be great in most years

To connect a draw I would consider (plum, chokecherry, cedar, spruce, oak, ash or hackberry...)
 
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What I do for weed control is take a piece of 4" plastic pipe and attach a wire handle to top.Drop down over sapling and spray around it,then lift off.Just be careful that sprayed weeds don't get on tree.Alot easier to use treepro tubes.Alot of guys are using 1/2 inch conduit for stakes or you can buy treated wood ones from treepro.I to would use a dibble bar or tree planter.If you want a quick travel corridor why not plant sorgum or switch grass and then add some trees so you get the benefit while the trees are growing.
 
Hoffman said:
Sligh,
How do you get cedars from MO DNR? Do you have some land there or know someone who does? From my limited research on their site it was for MO residents only
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Seems like people from out of state have no problem ordering from them. I have probably 5 years in a row and others do too for what they have. I used to order some from Ohio DNR too but that nursery closed down because they weren't selling enough trees. So I can imagine why a lot of those state nurseries do sell out of state since can help them stay afloat.
 
planted 10.5 acres this spring had mike anderson plant them. I dont think one of them made it through the drought. Dont by the cedars from the state nursery the died every year I,ve tried them. If you want cedars look at Vans Pines Nursery online best cedars available and will grow like a weed. Hope this helps, also if you live where you can water and feed you should have no issues.
 
Planting trees

I planted like 17k trees over a 2 year period. Machine plant is only way to go.

I prepped the ground and then planted trees on 6 foot rows and 6 feet apart.

They became the best bedding area and wind break I ever had. Deer did eat some but I replanted and filled in the bare spots.
 
strother said:
planted 10.5 acres this spring had mike anderson plant them. I dont think one of them made it through the drought. Dont by the cedars from the state nursery the died every year I,ve tried them. If you want cedars look at Vans Pines Nursery online best cedars available and will grow like a weed. Hope this helps, also if you live where you can water and feed you should have no issues.
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Did you go with the plugs from Van Pines or a larger root system?
 
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