Trees?

[shrivl]

Anyone order any fruit or mast trees for planting this spring? I ordered 50 pawpaws, Burr Oak(8), Shuettes Oak(8) and chinkapin oaks(50) for my buddy in Ohio to plant on his place. All the sawtooth oak pressimons, pear and apple trees I got him last year all survived their first year. Was wondering what everyone's experience has been with tree plantings the last couple of years? He ought to have a prime piece of feeding ground in another 10-15 years.

[coonskinner]

takes a lot of watering...:mischeif:

[countyroad]

Planting them this time of year shouldn't require much water. With the ground unfrozen it should be pretty easy to put them in the ground. There's plenty of moisture in the soil and there will be for the next few months. The soil should settle nicely around the tree and come summer they should do nicely. Periodic watering over the summer may be needed.

[Buckmaster]

I order mine through the Ohio County Water and Soil Dept. I just received the order booklet yesterday in the mail. This year I'll probably order pine trees for cover and landscaping. I'll probably order 100 white pine and blue spruce. From last year's plantings I think I was successful with 17 of 20 persimmon, 8 for 10 on Sawtook Oak, and 80 out of 100 on Douglas Fir.

[stumphole]

I wanted to plant some fruit trees, apple, pear..........Any suggestions? We have a few open areas I think they might do OK.

[Buckmaster]

Obtain the late drop fruit as possible. You may want to fence around them the first few years until they grow high enough the deer don't browse on them. Pear and apple are equal favorites in my areas.

[mikenbow]

I've been planting every early spring (March) for the past 11yrs. now. I have over 5000 white pine established-some 12ft. tall now. The whites seem to do the best. Also, austrian pines do well. This spring I have whites and austrians scheduled along with sargent crab, dogwood, and white oak. All ordered from the Marietta nursury. I plant my deer camp in Morgan co. reclaimed strip areas.

Shrivl, I'm fortunate to have a few groves of established paw paw. When they fruit and start dropping the deer go crazy for them. Gone over nite it seems! If you can get them established you won't be disappointed.

[Buckmaster]

If you have 3 arces to allocate for white pine planting Ohio will provide you 10,000 white pine seedlings with the agreement they will select harvest for you in 7 years.

[Milo]

I should not even be giving you guys my secrets BUT the best place to find fruit trees is BIG LOTS. They have trees every spring here. They are about 6 feet tall and generally run I believe 15 bucks. They have had pears, apricots, apple, cherry and plum. I am sure it varies year to year. Yes the plants are plenty strong. The state will give you white pine trees(meade paper program) they are by far some of the best seedlings I have used. There is no agreement for select harvest in this program. This is a reforest ohio program. There are bulk nurseries we use to get oaks (usually 2-2.5 feet tall). Good prices. I have found my fruit trees survive better when planted in the late falll and winter. they have all that time to get ground water which is relatively high that time of year and keeps them alive. Most nurseries will tell you that is the best time to plant. In spring it is usually too late in the season for the trees to get enough water unless you like hauling 5 gallon buckets.

[Buckmaster]

10 Gauge has already spilled the beans about Big Lots. I couldn't find any fruit trees here in NE Ohio last year at BL. You guys probably beat me too them :)

[countyroad]

I would love to plant pines along one road where I hunt. It's a rural road that runs through my grandparents' property. I saw several vehicles crawl down that road this fall. WAY more than in the past. I'd like to plant them to act like a barrier. I know it would take a while for them to grow to the height desired. It's not my property either. The crawling vehicles may just be sight seeing, but it's hard to tell.

[shrivl]

Shrivl, I'm fortunate to have a few groves of established paw paw. When they fruit and start dropping the deer go crazy for them. Gone over nite it seems! If you can get them established you won't be disappointed.

I really do hope they take off. I actually got him 8 bigger trees last year and they all made it from Morse Nursery. This year the 50 are smaller and come from International paper. They were only $50 for 50. The Ohio Dept of Natural Resources had'em but you got to get a lot of 100 at $.95 a piece and he was saying if I was buying him 100 of everything I needed to make a trip with the shovel and help'em plant.

[Ohiobowhunter]

I took advantage of the free white pine seedlings from Mead two years ago. I still have room for some more, however I don't believe I will qualify for the full 3000 that they give out. If anyone goes through one of these free seedling programs and you have some left over, I will pick them up from you.

On another note, a 40 acre section of our property was stripped and has been planted in white pine. Have you been successful at getting anything else to grow on the slag? There have been a few oaks and locust that have done o.k., but what about other species?

Thanks!

[shrivl]

Anyone ever had any experience with deer using plums? If they deer use them they might be worth planting. I had got some last year but they did not survive.

[10Gauge]

down here in SW Ohio we have a couple of "Big Lots" stores that get trees each spring.....they get tons of apple, pear, crabapple, plum and a fair number of oaks and most are "3 gallon ball" 6-8 feet tall for $10 each! that is CHEAP when you consider buying 1-2 foot seedlings that take 5-10 years to grow to this height and longer to produce fruit. Get several of your hunting buddies together and have a "field day" and if everyone buys 5 trees you can plant one heck of an orchard!

my 2 cents........

[shrivl]

Growing up I got to hunt an apple orchard over around Seneca Lake. That place was loaded with deer. The first deer I killed with a bow was over there on Christmas day when it was about 10 degrees. If you could stay out in the cold you would see deer in that place all day. One of the best places I ever hunted.

[Bawana]

Big Lots is a good deal!!!!! Something else the deer really go bonkers over is chestnuts. I've been planting chinese crosses for about eight years now and they are finally starting to produce. They give off a sweet smell when they start dropping and the deer love them. I don't know if I would plant trees right now, the frost might push them out of the ground. I usually try to plant the end of March or first of April, or around September first in the fall.

[stumphole]

My wife bought some redbud and dogwood from Big Lots this spring and they did fine. I went back for some apple trees and they were all gone. I think I'll go early this year. Your right, can't beat the price.

[Buckmaster]

Just mailed in my order to Farmer's Seed and Nursery (in IL) for 100 Blue Spruce for my wind row. $ .50 ea for 3 year old trees.

I have my Portage Co Soil and Water District order form here filled out with an order for some Fraser Fir and PawPaw. I'll probably try about 20 of each this spring.

[Big H]

Just mailed in my order to Farmer's Seed and Nursery (in IL) for 100 Blue Spruce for my wind row. $ .50 ea for 3 year old trees.

I have my Portage Co Soil and Water District order form here filled out with an order for some Fraser Fir and PawPaw. I'll probably try about 20 of each this spring.

If you have many deer, plan on protecting the trees somehow. We planted 300 white pines 5 years ago, and it only took 2 years for the deer to eat EVERY ONE!
Now the Gobbler Sawtooth Oaks we planted, we put 4' high tree protectors around, and they are now upwards of 12' tall, and doing fantastic.

[Buckmaster]

I was down that path a few years back. I had planted 50 3-4 foot white pines in southern Ohio. The first January ice storm hit and the deer ate the every limb off every tree because the pines were the only thing green to eat. Now I use a chicken wire wrap and a piece of rebar to tack it to the ground.

[XX78]

Good posts guys. I have a small area behind my house, about an acre, and you guys gave some good suggestions for re-establishing cover to the area. Thanks

[Lance]

I have a slightly different agenda in that I plant with grouse in mind more so than deer but I have also done some planings. Last year I purchased a mix of trees and bushes from Cold Stream Farm in MI and Musser Forest in PA. I did my planting in early April and with help of a decent summer for rain things did fairly well for the first summers growth.
The plants I used were:

Sawtooth Oaks, .....Gray Dogwood, ......Quaking Aspen
Sargeant Crabs, .....Washington Hawthorn , .....Highbush Cranberry, ..... Winterberry(American Holly). .....Paper Birch,.....Douglas fir (Christmas trees for me!)

The only real set backs were the deer browsing and I "may" have lost almost all my aspens and crabs to them. I won't know till later this summer. The deer nipped off EVERYTHING except the hawthorns and firs. Luckilly I spent the extra money to buy 3-4' plants on the cranberry and Holly so they look like they are going to withstand the damage. I actually had a little fruit on one plant of each of those this year!

The other guys on our place planted a boatload of pines and they lost most of them. Some dried out others the deer went along and pulled up. I think there are two things that helped me out a little bit vs. theirs.
A. I went to the extra effort to use a steroid root dip on EVERYTHING I planted.
B. I used tablets that I placed in the hole with the roots that is designed as a time release fertilizer that has a formula in it that helps the ground maintain moisture around the roots.

I plan on putting in more crabs and aspen this year but I'm going to buy bigger plants as it's just too hard to keep the deer off them and need something a little hardier.

Have fun!

[shrivl]

Lance, Thanks I never thought about trees for Grouse. Love to jump Grouse. What are the best trees to plant for them? Next year I can include them in what I order. Do you know if they use any of the smaller acorns like Dwarf Chinquapin or Allegeheny Chinquapin oak acorns?

[Lance]

The biggest thing you can do for grouse is increase your stem density. The two things they need most is dense cover to keep the hawks off them followed by food. That's why I went heavy with the hawthorn and crabs both are thorny and will form a canopy. The aspens are are really good becase an aspen stand will get dense because they reproduce by suckering up from the root systems. The grouse love Aspen catkins as well as the fruit from the hawthorn and crabs.

As far as acorns, they are actually a pretty vital food for grouse in the Allegheny ranges. They are extremly high in protien and not only help them winter better but healthier birds tend to have bigger broods of chicks.

[ncboman]

Lance seems to know his stuff. :)

I know first hand, it IS possible to create the demise of the very species you wish to aid.

I have played with various oaks for some years now and have learned enough that I now have selected varieties of sawtooth oak acorns, English oaks acorns, (and others), now available. What I have isn't the fodder of ebay. Mine are true to name breed of the desirable parent trees I have selected.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Trees%2005/10205acorns004r.jpg
heavy producers.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Trees%2005/10205acorns012r.jpg
interesting true to breed and imported varieties preferred by deer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Trees%2005/72205028r.jpg
and some varieties your neighbors have never heard of ... but the deer will remember well. :)


If interested, pm me for prices and availability.