Christmas Tree Farm

[Einsteim]

I am planning a spring planting of 500 blue spruce trees for Christmas trees in the future. The question is what other people have used to control wee/grass growth between the rows of trees which I am planning to be 6-7' o.c. both ways. I own a Kubota L39 and was considering a mower or possibly tiller??

Steve-Michigan

 

[MossRoad]

I am planning a spring planting of 500 blue spruce trees for Christmas trees in the future. The question is what other people have used to control wee/grass growth between the rows of trees which I am planning to be 6-7' o.c. both ways. I own a Kubota L39 and was considering a mower or possibly tiller??

Steve-Michigan

When we had our trees planted we were given the option of side spraying once a year or mowing a couple times a year. I chose mowing over chemicals. Once the trees were 5 years old, they out-competed the weeds and we stopped mowing.

 

[mathey]

our trees are about 5 apart in rows and the rows are about 6 feet apart...we spray along the rows and mow in between the rows..

it would take some careful planning with a mechanical planter to get the rows to line up in both directions to allow mowing in both directions.

 

[radman1]

We usually just till a narrow strip or mow a narrow strip right next to the ground, use tree planter and then mow as needed. We usually just mow 1-2 times/year depending on size of the tree. When they get bigger, we just mow before tree sales so people can walk around better. We plant austrian pine and scotch. Blue spruce grow so slow here, it would take 12-15 years to get a 6'-8' tree plus a lot would die from dry summer. Our rows are about 10' apart so we can squeeze a 4' bushog mower and B7100 Kubota between the rows of bigger trees to mow. The B7100 is probably about 3' wide. You won't be able to mow for long in between rows with a kub L39 if rows 6-7 feet apart even with a 5' mower and I assume you probably have a 6' mower.

 

[Barnboy]

Generic roundup is what I use. There is a name for the chemical glyso something. When the patent ran out many manufacturers are now making (Generic Roundup)

 

[johnk]

I read the grass should be killed before the seedlings are planted. Then extra care should be given to the grass that tries to grow in the upcoming months until the seedlings can fend for themselves. I planted 100 cherry seedlings last year and prbably cut down 30 with the brush hog because I couldn't see them below the grass..