[westonhunter]

Recieved my order of trees a little while ago from Howard Nursery,Thanks Thumper. I would be out planting now but I think I will wait till tommorow,its snowing and sleeting out now.Plus I got the rest of the week to get my 1150 trees in before more come.

 

[Crocket]

how many acres are you planting? That a bit more than my 75 trees.

 

[westonhunter]

spreading them out over 256 acres, and you got to plan on some of them not making it.

 

[pheasants]

i just started a woodcock habitat Project. of 300O gray dogwood's.
it's going to be a great site for woodcock in a couple of years. they already us some of this area.

 

[rrroae]

Planted 75 of my 1300 total coming and my back is already killing me. Doesn't help you have to try 10-15 times to make a hole with the dibble bar before you get one the right depth.

Crabapple and oaks impressive size. Pines and spruce very small and somewhat disappointing this year.

 

[InVenangoNow]

rrroae, where did you get your oaks. What size now?

 

[rrroae]

Venango, bought Sawtooth and Red from Game commission and they look like 2 yr old 12-16". Also bought Dwarf Chinkapin Oak from Oikos but they're sold out and can't find them anywhere else.

 

[InVenangoNow]

Thanks

 

[1oldman]

I ordered some oaks from Morse Nursery, but haven't received them yet.

 

[rrroae]

Pines and spruce very small and somewhat disappointing this year.

Should have checked better. Only white pine were very small. Spruce were good size around 16-20".

 

[Thumper1]

Howard Nursery will continue to grow 3/0 spruces. We are shifting over to 2/0 pines. teh red and white pine-although they look great as an 18-20 inch 3/0 have just too much root for easy bare root planting and too much plnat for those transplanted seedlings to support the first year if it is a dry one. My experience is that the 2/0 catch up about 2 years down the road. In addition, we felt that too many of the larger seedlings had survival issues because they did not all get planted properly- j-roots, or roots crammed into too small a hole.

 

[rrroae]

Thumper, after another day of planting, I completely understand. It's way easier planting a 20" spruce with it's narrow root system than it is planting a 8" white pine with roots going all over. I found one of the most important things when planting seedlings is to make the hole a bit deeper so you can push the roots all the way down and then bring the seedling up a couple inches. This straightens out the roots and prevents curling.

I'm beat but have to get back out and plant some more. I'd kill for an ice cold beer right about now.

 

[rrroae]

Anyone fertilize their seedlings and if so, what are you using?

How about lime?

 

[westonhunter]

Well I am having a nice cold one right now after planting about 400 trees.All I heard all day was Thump,Thump,Thump as my tree spade hit the ground and the heel of my foot was used to help compact around the seedling.

 

[Thumper1]

Know that feeling. I often tell folks that if the heal of your foot isn't sore after a day of planting-it wasn't done right. Teh old "tug" test is important.

 

[rrroae]

Back is killing me. Got in a nice crab apple patch and pine patch. Tomorrow is another crab apple patch and sawtooth oak in small clearing.

lots of work but really enjoying it.

 

[YoteSlayer]

I'm really glad those guys at howards nursery are open today! Today is the only day I could get off to go and get my trees. And that's because its a holiday! Boss is being a real jerk. Thinking he's jealous that I'm creating a wildlife heaven on my property. Anyways starting my 3 hour journey now.

 

[rlfb74]

I can't open the order form. What program do I need to do this?

 

[harleynit]

I planted my first bunch yesterday and probably did plant some where the roots were j shaped,

How bad is the survival in this case?