75 trees in 3 hours

[Ridgewalker]

I planted 75 bare root seedlings today. I got them from the Missouri Dept of Conservation as part of their annual seedling program. I got a wild life cover mix that consists of Choke Cherries, Brushy Dogwood, Hazelnut, Post Oak, Red bud and Cedar. That's a blend that is supposed to be good for bunnies and birds.

I used my new Linebach PHD to dig the holes, it did a great job in some varying soil types. I hit anything from good topsoil to red clay, some yellow clay, rocks, etc. It was a lot of fun, I wish I would have thought to take pix.

It was my first time to use the PHD and I was a little tentative going in but it
really was very easy to use. +1 for Leinbach.

I hit the roots with root stem, tamped them in solid and watered them well.
Then I put some deer b gone on them...I am hoping 50% make it.

[saltman]

I am planting 50 Elderica Pines tomorrow at my property. I got my from the CA Dept. Of Forrestry. They were a bargain but I was a little disappointed to see they all fit in what I would consider a large grocery box. I didn't unpack them yet since they are going in the ground tomorrow.

[Tororider]

Don't be too disappointed in the size box that they will fit in. We planted 700 last spring, some that were even 18" seedlings, and they fit into a couple small boxes, I was amazed at how well they pack those things.

[Egon]

It's always nice to see trees being planted.

But my back aches just thinking of you fellows!

[KarolinaKubota]

Planted 50+ trees this past fall. Amazing what a tractor and PHD can do. About 40 minutes to dig the holes and about that same time to plant them. Knock on wood - all survived the winter!

I wonder of SC has a seedling program... Off to Google!

Michael

[vettemanwight]

When I was a kid we got seedlings through 4 H . We had a JD B tractor and took a 2 " pipe that was about 6 " longer on each side of the tire. Every revolution it made 2 holes that were about 7 ' apart. We planted about 2 acres in 2 hours and there was 3 of us doing the work. When I was 26 I cleared enough of those to build a house there and the remaining trees are still growing and some are about 45 - 50 ' tall. I sold the house about 8 years ago. We planted those trees about 40 years ago. V

[Botabill]

Over the last 24 years my wife and I have planted upwards to 10,000 trees on our 34 acre property which was identified originally as a gravel pit when we bought it. Yes that's right 10,000. We simply used the vee cut method with a shovel and popped in the bare root trees which varied from a few inches tall to 2 feet. Mortality was about 50 percent as we didn't give any after planing care. Today we have trees everywhere. Some spruce trees, pine, larch, tamarach and poplar are over 30 feet tall. The oak, walnut and some of the other species aren't that tall yet. I wish we'd planted hickories and some other less abundant valuable slower growing species back then but we've started to do that now. It sure feels good strolling thorugh the forested areas we have created.

[Knight9]

I've been starting to work on expanding the trees on my place too. We have 10 ac, of which it's probably close to a 50/50 split on open/treed. However, we have a total of 3 naturally occuring evergreens on the entire 10 ac. Thus, last year I planted 250 pine trees, 50 colorado spruce, plus an orchard of 6 cherry, 6 plum, 6 pear, 7 apple (gave me a free one so I planted it anyway ), saskatoons, raspberries, strawberries,and honeyberries.

This year my order is in for Larch (tamarack), more colorado spruce, and some laurel leaf willows (for a screen).

I think it will be on the books over the next 5-10 years to keep adding trees every year. I too struggle with deer (they ate about 30 of my pine seedlings this winter), but my mortality rate other than that is very low.

Keep up the good work guys! Trees are a great thing to add to any property!

[smfcpacfp]

I have been planting seedlings on my property for decades. The first year my wife and I lived here we got ambitious and planted 1,500 trees which took many, many hours with a tree planting spade. It was a really dry year and they all died!!

After that we decided to do things differently. We would plant 100 each year (red pines and white pines mostly) and if they all died, it wasn't such a tragedy. We did that for many years and with our poor soil (almost pure sand) some are actually starting to get fairly tall. Our land is, and has always been, densely wooded with mostly jack pines which I hate because they are so ugly.

Somewhere along the line we got off the mailing list for our state's program and haven't planted trees for many years, but I went on line this year and found it again, so I ordered a hundred trees of so. At 60 it really isn't for my benefit, but for the next generation. Anyway, I love trees but wish we had better soil so we could have a greater variety and could see them grow faster.

[OverlyRun]

Smfcpacfp: Great pictures of snowy trees. I wish we'd had some in Virginia this year.

The good thing about trees is you don't need to mow them all summer! So the previous owner of our place planted about 100 acres of white pine 30 years ago, having given up on running cattle and not wanting to mow. They now are quiet avenues of mature trees where the sunlight hardly penetrates and the deer hang out all winter. Great for walking across the property with no underbrush. But they need to be thinned now....they are too close together and I can't mow them with my tractor.

The loggers I have talked with assure us the brush will disappear in a few years, but that seems a long time to stare at brush piles. But if I can push the brush around with my tractor, it will be great excuse to go out and play. First gotta find a logger who will do this and pay a positive amount for the pulp. THEN, it would be great to be planting new trees for my kids to worry about when I am 90.