Tree Planting Advice Please

Hi - I would like to fill my 5 acres of dirt with trees. I was going to start with seeds. Instead of trying to plant the whole 5 acres and haul water all over the place, what do you thing of planting everything in tight rows to begin and then transplanting later. The rows would be wide enough for a rototiller, but the seeds would be very close (1 or 2 feet). This would give a manageable area to maintain until the trees are a foot tall. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Reply to
wdoe999
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Will they all be the same species? If not, different species of trees, obviously, grow to different sizes, and some trees like the shade of others (Dogswoods in particular), so their positioning to each other and the sun is important. But besides that, rows of trees won't look very natural when reach mature size. That said, I say mix them up and mark each planting with a stake instead of doing rows. Finally, instead of running a rototiller between the plantings to keep, I'm assuming, the the weeds down, you're better MUCH better off with a 3-foot circle of mulch around each planting.

Patrick

Reply to
NoOption5L

Buy trees from the state nursery, they are already one year old, easy to transplant, and depending on species, should run you about $50 to $75 per acre. Easier, and in the long run (considering labor) cheaper.

Reply to
dstaples

And, you can plant them into containers and use dripline watering till you are ready to plant them.

Reply to
Jangchub

You'd need to be extremely young if you plant seed. It'll be like ten years before a seed goes from seed to a 1"-2" caliper wanna-be tree... and that's for most trees worth growing. Without knowing where your land is located it is difficult to offer more meaningful advice other than a lot of wild speculation. It would be helpful to know where but also very helful to know what, like what exactly do you want to accomplish... an evergreen forest, hardwoods/nut n' fruit, wildlife refuge, specimen plantings, etc.... plus what kind of soil and moisture availability exists. All other parameters aside, I strongly recommend you forget the planting trees from seed concept, not for five acres. I know I couldn't, the wildlife would make quick work of those seeds. I recommend sapplings but still you will need to fence them or they won't be there 24 hours later... I know any I planted would be eaten by deer that first evening. If they'll grow in your zone I think softwoods are your best bet... Norway and blue spruce make a nice mix, with some dogwood peppered about. Other trees will be planted by wildlife dropping seed, especially birds... the trick is to get a habitat forest started quickly, then the progression will take care of itself.

Reply to
Sheldon

Where I live, an old cornfield got reforested by white "paper" birch trees standing 10 feet tall in about 14 years naturally. Sugar maples grow fairly quickly as trees go too. If you want oak, figure on it being your children or grandchildren enjoying the mature trees.

Reply to
BR

Depends on what you mean by "mature". When I moved into a house in Altadena, CA in June 1990, there was an oak sapling underneath a centuries-old oak tree in the front yard. The sapling probably had a diameter at the base of about an inch and a half, at the most. Unknown to me at the time (the seller was a crook who concealed significant material damage to the house), the old oak tree was diseased, and I had to have it removed some time around 1994. The tree removal crew managed not to damage the young sapling. I sold the house in 2000.

Today, that former sapling has a base a good nine inches (at least) in diameter, and the tree is close to

17 feet tall, and about as wide. It obviously has a good way to go to match its parent, which had an oblong trunk about six feet in one dimension and about four feet in the perpendicular direction at the base, but it is well on its way.
Reply to
Rudy Canoza

To what end? Are you looking for a tree-farm, low maintenance yardage, a privacy barrier, an orchard, a nursery, or animal habitat?

Reply to
Goedjn

Reply to
symplastless

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