Watering Young Trees

[GaryBDavis]

Well, I've probably driven by your place just a few times. Any landmarks to look for?

 

[jeffinsgf]

Gary,

Spreading a bag of the cheap Texas hardwood mulch around each tree will go a very long way to retain the moisture in the rootball and surrounding soil. This is very important for the Summer. It adds organic matter and nutrients to the soil as well.

Also, get some bamboo canes on those trees to grow them out strait. If you need some PM me, I have a small tree farm between G-town and Andice.

KB

While this thread has the attention of a full blown tree farmer, I'd like to throw in a a couple questions.

KB -- I have a couple hundred state nursery bare root trees to plant in the next couple weeks. I have done this several years in a row, with mixed results -- some wild successes and quite a few dead twigs. I really like the 5 gallon bleeder bucket idea. Most of my losses have been due to inadequate rainfall. I know if I water them for a year, they'll have a much better chance of survival. So, this idea I am going to incorporate.

The other thing I have experienced is deer chewing off the tender young growth of the little seedlings. How do you deal with that on your tree farm? I have seen the sleeves, but I am unsure about the tree's development with these. What do you think?

 

[cwilson]

Looks really neat GREAT solution

 

[AD18]

While this thread has the attention of a full blown tree farmer, I'd like to throw in a a couple questions.

The other thing I have experienced is deer chewing off the tender young growth of the little seedlings. How do you deal with that on your tree farm? I have seen the sleeves, but I am unsure about the tree's development with these. What do you think?

My nieghbor below me has 10 acres of fir trees that he put sleeves on. They worked great for keeping the deer and elk from eating the new growth. We have a herd of about 40 that winter over in his trees and eat in my field. The trees are 15-20' tall now. I don't know how it work on non-conifer, new word, type trees. Good luck with the long legged rats!

 

[KrumpsBrother]

While this thread has the attention of a full blown tree farmer, I'd like to throw in a a couple questions.

KB -- I have a couple hundred state nursery bare root trees to plant in the next couple weeks. I have done this several years in a row, with mixed results -- some wild successes and quite a few dead twigs. I really like the 5 gallon bleeder bucket idea. Most of my losses have been due to inadequate rainfall. I know if I water them for a year, they'll have a much better chance of survival. So, this idea I am going to incorporate.

The other thing I have experienced is deer chewing off the tender young growth of the little seedlings. How do you deal with that on your tree farm? I have seen the sleeves, but I am unsure about the tree's development with these. What do you think?

Again, a small amount (shovelfull) of mulch around each seedling will go a long way to help retain soil moisture. A tablespoon of 14-14-14 Osmocote 6 month will help them with first year growth.

As far as the deer go, well let's just say the freezer always stays full. We do have problems with the bucks rubbing in the fall and early winter. I spray a product called Liquid Fence on the tree trunks and this works very well, stinks like **** though! If your deer are fairly wild, I would spray your seedlings with a deer repellent until they get tall enough for the deer not to eat the terminal bud, the top growth on the tree. Once a month spraying should do it, the Liquid Fence concentrate that makes 4 gallons runs about 40 bucks. A gallon should do a couple of hundred seedlings as you just want to lightly coat or mist each one. The deer will learn not to come to that area to eat that particular plant, just like training a dog.

The corrugated sleeves will make the seedlings 'strech' up as they minimize the horizontal growth, they also add a degree of winter protection as well.

KB