spring tree planting update
The Trees - 200 each red oak, white oak, black oak, chinkapin oak, and tulip poplar
We finally finished planting our 1000 new trees. All of the trees were bare root and between 12-18” tall. I think most were between 1-2 years old. They come packaged in bundles of 25.
Planting Prep
I had hoped to use a tool called a dibble bar to plant the trees thinking it would make the process simple and fast. Unfortunately our soil is so rocky it wasn’t possible to use and we ended up boring 1000 holes with Cordelia and our post hole digger with a 6 inch diameter auger. Even the auger struggled to penetrate the soil in some areas and suffered some damage during the process.
The dibble bar is a high-quality tool and I think would work well in less rocky soil. https://bullytools.com/products/lawn-and-garden/digging-tools-tampers/all-steel-dibble-bar-with-t-style-handle/
Planting
Planting the trees consisted of dipping the roots in a root dip and then placing in the ground and covering with soil. The root dip is used to boost plant survival, promote rapid root development, and improve water and nutrient absorption and should improve the survival rate of the trees.
https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/p/92965/66402/diehard-root-dips
Protecting
The final part of the process was installing the oak stakes with a post driver, covering the tree with the plastic tree shelter and securing to the stake with tie wraps, and then covering the top of the tube with a bird net.
The rocky soil makes installing the stakes a challenge and we break quite a few in the process. The tubes are generally easy to install but we had 15+ mph winds during most of this project which makes handling the light-weight tubes more difficult. The nets install easily but they will eventually blow off and will need to be replaced.
Planting More trees in spring of 2025
The Trees
This is what we’ll be planting next spring: 200 each White Oak, Red Oak, Black Oak, Chinkapin Oak, and Yellow Poplar. We didn’t have any Yellow Poplar in our initial planting but this was recommended by our local forester so we thought we’d add them in this time around.
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The trees are what is referred to as bare root (see image to left). Bare root is just what it sounds like, there is no ball of earth enveloping the roots. They are typically 12-18” tall and a year old and look like a twig with some roots. The process involves using a spade or shovel to create a slot in the ground, placing the tree’s roots into the slot, and then using your foot to close the slot and compact the soil around the root. After that we install the stake and the tree shelter over the tree. We don’t fertilize or water. It’s not practical when planting a large number of trees by hand. We do apply a root dip prior to planting that improves the trees’ ability to absorb water and nutrients from the soil and hopefully improves its chance of survival.
Planting
We’ll be planting these trees manually but for the first planting we contracted a local reforestation specialist who uses a mechanical tree planter that is pulled behind a tractor. They were able to plant 4750 trees in about a day and a half. Our tree planting will be dispersed among the 13-acres of existing trees so unfortunately using the mechanized process won’t be possible.
There is a video at this link that shows the mechanized tree planting process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_LAFw5QuCQ
When operating the mechanical tree planter the tractor moves continuously so the tree planter operator only has a few seconds to take each tree from the bin and place it in the slot. The tree must stay upright so the key is to hold it in place just until the soil closes enough to stabilize the tree. If you keep your hand in place too long it can potentially get caught between the wheels that close the trench in the soil. The key to not getting injured in this situation is to let the wheels pull your hand through the tires until it is released and not to try to pull your hand away quickly. This advice is from my reforestation expert friend. I’ll take his word for it:).
The Final Step
Installing stakes and tree shelters (tubes). It's not really final because the trees require ongoing maintenance so I'll just say this is the end of the beginning of the tree growing process:). We use a post driver to install the stakes. It weighs about 20 lbs and each stake normally takes about 10 strikes to install (unless the stake finds a rock and I get to start over) so this project will require a total of 10,000+ strikes. It's not fun but it works.
Protecting the trees
We’re using a high-density polypropylene (HPDE No. 2) plastic tube shelter to protect the trees. The tube is attached to a 1.25-inch square oak stake that is installed into the ground next to the tree. The tube is attached to the stake with zip ties. Most of our tubes are 60 inches tall. We have some 48-inch-tall tubes but for many of these the deer are eating any part of the tree that protrudes beyond the top of the tube. We suspect they are also occasionally getting at the treetops in the 60-inch tall tubes but it is much less prevalent. We discovered fairly quickly that unprotected trees are just expensive food for wildlife. We also cover the tops of the tubes with plastic nets until the tree reaches the top of the tube. If we don’t birds will occasionally fly into the tubes, we assume to go after insects. When this happens, the birds can become stuck and will damage or kill the tree trying to escape and also eventually die.
The shelters, stakes, and nets require constant maintenance. After some severe storms we may need to replace several dozen stakes. Tubes tear loose from stakes and the bird nets are constantly blowing off and need to be replaced.
There is some debate regarding the use of plastic tree shelters, primarily over the potential introduction of additional plastic into the environment. The shelters we use are produced from 100% recycled material and the tubes themselves are recyclable and it is our intention to collect and recycle all of our tubes once the trees have matured enough to survive without them. There are some alternatives to plastic shelters such as biodegradable shelters, fencing, culling deer and rabbits, and continuously replanting trees to name a few.
There is an interesting article on the benefits and issues associated with the use of plastic tree shelters at this link. The article is from an organization in the UK but the issues are the same as in the US. https://www.tomorrowsforests.co.uk/post/plastic-tree-shelter-recycling---a-solution-to-plastic-pollution
This is where we source our tree shelters and stakes: https://www.treepro.com/products/miracle-tube-tree-grow-tube
A shot of a portion of our 3800 tree shelters.
New Tree Planting in 2025
In March of 2021 we planted 4750 trees on a 13-acre plot. I think the species and quantities of each are listed elsewhere on this website if you’re interested. Over the course of the last few years, we’ve lost around 1000 of those trees from various causes. We think most were lost to predation by deer and we finally realized that if we didn’t install tree shelters, the deer would continually eat the exposed young trees down to nubs. In early 2023 we finally managed to shelter all our approximately 3800 remaining trees. After the initial planting we only installed shelters on 25% of the trees. The shelters are relatively expensive and purchasing them for all the 4750 trees would have doubled the cost of our initial project.
Late in 2023 we decided to apply for a Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) grant through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to get help replacing some of the lost trees. We ended up being awarded a small grant to plant 1000 additional hardwood trees and another grant to help us maintain the existing 13-acre tree plot and 3800 trees.
We’ll be planting the new trees in March of 2025, weather permitting. This time we’ll be installing shelters on the trees immediately after planting. It’s expensive (the tree shelters account for about 80% of the project budget).
It is our Third Year!
The Nashville Tree Conservation Corps has a very interesting article that describes the stages of growth of newly planted trees. They called the first three years as Sleep, Creep, and Leap.
Apparently, during the first year of the saplings, the tree would look like they were not growing at all. This is because the focus of the tree is to stretch out the roots as wide and as deep as possible. Not much energy is used for growing above ground. And this is why during the first year, the saplings are "sleeping".
On the second year, the roots should have been established already. But it doesn't mean that the roots are no longer extending and expanding. It just means that the young trees can allocate some of their energies to growing above ground. The growth is slow and this is why the second year is the "creeping" stage.
Some of our trees have protectors and they do show a faster growth than other trees that are not protected at all. Unfortunately for the unprotected trees, their new leaves and soft twigs become food for deer and other animals.
On the third year, the roots would have reached a point where they can absorb a lot of nutrients to support a growth spurt. The trees' height will "leap" and it will be a very exciting time for our tree farm!
More to come!
LOSING TREES and what we plan to do about it
We started out with 4,750 trees and now, at last count in the fall of 2022, we estimated that we have 3,800 trees left. We have not yet done another count for 2023. That is certainly included in our to do list. After installing more shelters and clover seeding and all other maintenance items on the farm.
There were many factors that led to our losses. Majority of the trees we lost were trees that were not protected by tubes. This is the reason why we are installing more. The goal is to have every tree protected by shelters. This way, these trees get some protection from the winter cold, from deer browsing, and from us accidentally hitting them with the tractor.
Of course, we also lost trees that were already sheltered. The main culprit are the strong gusts of wind that knock down the stakes or bend the tubes, which also bend or break the trees inside. So every time there were high winds, we do a check on the farm and fix tubes that were blown away.
Another issue we were trying to address is the resource competition from weeds. Our trees are still in that delicate stage that they could not possibly compete against weeds for soil nutrients. In the two previous spring seasons, we have pre-emergent chemicals applied between trees to prevent the weeds from overwhelming the trees. We've seen that these are not very effective. The weeds grow taller than trees and we had to mechanically cut them down.
We noticed, however, that wherever we spread clover, the weeds are controlled. And this is why are spreading clover seeds on our tree rows. Hope this works this year.
A YEAR LATER
The twigs are growing fast!
It has been a tough year. We originally installed 1200 tubes or tree shelters. Then we ordered a thousand more. And, more recently, we got an additional 625. The total number of tree shelters should protect more than 50% of the trees we planted.
Besides the tree shelters, we also cut grass, removed vicious weeds, and checked the weather every day. Our forester mentioned that drought is a concern greater than predation. Was it all worth it?
We think so!
The trees inside the tubes are definitely the tallest trees on our farm. There were a few inside tubes that are shorter than trees that were not protected by tubes. But, all in all, the sheltered trees fared better.
We haven't quantified anything yet and we haven't estimated survival rates. Someday we would ... if we find energy left after a hard day's work :)