Every time we come up we have trees to plant (it seems). In the past 12 years we have planted well over 100,000 trees on that 80 acre farm (ex- dairy farm) but it seems like there's always room for more. We've had great success, in general, but there are areas where we've had trouble establishing a forest.
We're trying some different techniques to increase the chance of survival for these young seedlings. This time we surrounded each transplant with carpet pieces and covered that with pine boughs (to hold down the carpet). First we mowed a strip to knock down the weeds and grass so the carpet would lay flat. Our total here was about 15 trees (some doubles). This is a low area in the field where we have either not planted or the trees we have planted have drown out. Swamp White Oak are supposed to be tolerant of some standing water (wet roots).
Normally we wouldn't try to transplant this time of year but this year has been so wet (and continues to be forcast) that we feel a little adventurous. And these seedlings are groing so fast they need to be transplanted (root bound?).
Jordan, Roland and I spent a couple hours on this - it always takes longer because we look around at other areas while we're up there. The wet year has helped some of the slower trees get a jump. Many Walnuts have been just mar
king time at one to two feet for over 10 years. (We planted these from seed while there was still standing corn on the land - the last corn planted, obviously.)There are also many of our White Oak and Red Oak, from previous transplanting, that are finally taking hold and over-topping the weeds. The Pine and Spruce have taken off over the past 3-4 years and are establishing themselves nicely. We believe these evergreens are functioning as a wind break to slow down the biting cold winter winds that whip across the plains and may be nipping the buds on the hardwoods.
Visit my web site for more information on this reforestation project ...
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