Tree-mageddon!

[WoodChuckDad]

So on Friday, when I got there, it was raining. Trees were delivered and onsite by 10. Somehow, I drove the truck, towing the auger, and loaded down with 37 bags of lime, out to the field, unloaded the pallet, and drove back of without getting stuck., although it did float from side to side a bit and made some good ruts. I didn't take any pictures the first day, but I did get a few Saturday afternoon and some today. On Saturday we were using the mud puddles to soak the roots before putting the trees in. It is amazing how fast some of the field dried out today, and how hard the ground gets when it does dry out. I'm really looking forward to when we have the terrain smoothed out a bit and some grass growing. I know it looks terrible, but I really feel great about how much we got done. Hoping for mild weather this week so we can get the rest of them in next weekend.
My daughter came out today with my granddaughter and took some pictures as well She is a much better photographer than I am .

 

[MossRoad]

How in God's name did you plant 2150 trees? I can't imagine.

I didn't. The consulting forester did. He used a 3pt hitch tree planter on the back of a tractor. In a nutshell, the tree planter has a slitter wheel that opens the soil, a human in a chair facing backwards that drops the bare root trees between their legs into the slit, two wheels that close the slit around the tree trunk, and two sprayer heads that side spray the ground with herbicide to prevent weeds for a few months. There's a sensor on a wheel that can be adjusted for how many feet apart you want the trees to be planted and it sounds a horn every time the human is supposed to drop in a tree. It took two people (one driving and one planting) about 4 hours to plant 2150 trees and shrubs. The plants ranged anywhere from 1 foot to 5 feet in height. Don't think it would work for fruit trees of the size you purchased.

 

[Furu]

I can relate and sympathize with you.
I did 3100 bare root Douglas-fir Western red cedar and Ponderosa pine this year (mid-Feb-early April) and I am considered slow. Of course I also have a full time job so I did it on days off. Can't wait to retire.

 

[ultrarunner]

I didn't. The consulting forester did. He used a 3pt hitch tree planter on the back of a tractor. In a nutshell, the tree planter has a slitter wheel that opens the soil, a human in a chair facing backwards that drops the bare root trees between their legs into the slit, two wheels that close the slit around the tree trunk, and two sprayer heads that side spray the ground with herbicide to prevent weeds for a few months. There's a sensor on a wheel that can be adjusted for how many feet apart you want the trees to be planted and it sounds a horn every time the human is supposed to drop in a tree. It took two people (one driving and one planting) about 4 hours to plant 2150 trees and shrubs. The plants ranged anywhere from 1 foot to 5 feet in height. Don't think it would work for fruit trees of the size you purchased.

Fascinating... would be interesting to see.

We just planted a couple of hundred future Christmas trees... nothing fast about it.

 

[aczlan]

The plants ranged anywhere from 1 foot to 5 feet in height. Don't think it would work for fruit trees of the size you purchased.

I have a friend who put in about 23,000 apple trees this spring with a crew using a machine much like the one you describe.

Aaron Z

 

[bcp]

Tree planter attachment.

Bruce

 

[WoodChuckDad]

That thing is cool. Also looks a little sketchy. I wonder if you can get your hand caught in the tires.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's one planting apple trees.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Those trees are decidedly smaller than what I was planting. But I may look into something along those lines for the future, when we start grafting our own trees.

 

[MossRoad]

Have you thought about planting staggered-age trees in the future? By that, I mean, for example, an acre of several year old trees, an acre of 3 years olds, an acre of 2 year olds, etc...? The older trees will get you fruit sooner, but are harder to plant and maintain. The youngers can be planted more efficiently and will cost quite a bit less to purchse. You'll also have lower replacement costs if a percentage of them don't take the first year. Having a smaller "crop" of mature trees for a couple years could possibly ease you into your maintenance, pest control and harvest and let you develop your own personalized best practices on a smaller scale VS a huge orchard all at once where one crisis (think bad logger, rain-out, insects, fungus, etc...) effects the entire operation. It could be a way to lessen possible brain and emotion overload if Mr. Murphy gets a hankering for apples.

 

[ultrarunner]

Moss... you always come up with great logical questions.

 

[DT86]

Those trees are decidedly smaller than what I was planting. But I may look into something along those lines for the future, when we start grafting our own trees.

If you decide to try that method of planting look for a tobacco setter. The biggest difference in the tobacco setters we used and the tree planter shown above are a water tank to give the plants a head start, metal instead of pneumatic roller wheels and you face forward instead of backward. There are of coarse many types of planters and setters.

There would be little or no adaptation needed to plant trees, they can even be used to plant gardens.

Jackson was the popular brand around here. I looked online quickly and didn't see the style that was so common around here.

 

[MossRoad]

Moss... you always come up with great logical questions.

I know you have some experience with Christmas tree farms. We looked into it pretty hard back in the late 80's. We were advised to start small, stagger the ages of the trees in different plots so we'd get a quicker harvest but be able to manage the learning curve because it wouldn't be overwhelming if a problem popped up. A one acre problem is easier to deal with than a 5 acre problem when you're just getting in to something. We'd have initially planted an acre of seedlings, an acres of 1 year olds, 2 year olds, and 3 year old trees and been able to start harvesting Christmas trees 3-4 years after planting. Then one more acre of seedlings each year after that. Once we got up to 10 acres in trees, we'd clear cut the oldest acre and start it over with seedlings.

I don't know if this could be done with fruit trees, but I don't see why not. We've seen plenty of projects on TBN where the project do-er got overwhelmed or ran into a string of bad luck that was completely out of their control and ended up wiping the project.

Anyhow, its just a way to lessen the chances of overwhelming failure VS going all-in on something. Kinda like the stock market!

For us, in the end, we decided the labor on Christmas trees was too intensive VS planting a forest of multiple species and managing it for veneer timber. We planted in '89 or 90 and the crop will start being harvested around 2040! :laughing: We went with alternating rows of pines and mixed hardwoods. The pines are single species (white) and they are expected to start dying out at about 50 years, which is about the time the mixed hardwoods are thickening up their trunks nicely. The pines grow fast in a pyramid shape, which forces the hardwood rows between them to stress for sunlight and reach straight up. The pines are around 40' now and the hardwoods are poking out past the tops nicely today. We got our first crop of acorns in there last year. Plenty of deer and turkeys. I think there's 7 species of oak, walnut, hickory, tulip poplar and a few others. That way a disease or pest probably won't wipe the entire crop. The white pines are the only mono species and they are at the point that if they go, the hardwoods will be OK now.

Well, don't want to hijack the thread. Will keep watching the OPs progress.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

I know you have some experience with Christmas tree farms. We looked into it pretty hard back in the late 80's. We were advised to start small, stagger the ages of the trees in different plots so we'd get a quicker harvest but be able to manage the learning curve because it wouldn't be overwhelming if a problem popped up. A one acre problem is easier to deal with than a 5 acre problem when you're just getting in to something. We'd have initially planted an acre of seedlings, an acres of 1 year olds, 2 year olds, and 3 year old trees and been able to start harvesting Christmas trees 3-4 years after planting. Then one more acre of seedlings each year after that. Once we got up to 10 acres in trees, we'd clear cut the oldest acre and start it over with seedlings. I don't know if this could be done with fruit trees, but I don't see why not. We've seen plenty of projects on TBN where the project do-er got overwhelmed or ran into a string of bad luck that was completely out of their control and ended up wiping the project. Anyhow, its just a way to lessen the chances of overwhelming failure VS going all-in on something. Kinda like the stock market! For us, in the end, we decided the labor on Christmas trees was too intensive VS planting a forest of multiple species and managing it for veneer timber. We planted in '89 or 90 and the crop will start being harvested around 2040! :laughing: We went with alternating rows of pines and mixed hardwoods. The pines are single species (white) and they are expected to start dying out at about 50 years, which is about the time the mixed hardwoods are thickening up their trunks nicely. The pines grow fast in a pyramid shape, which forces the hardwood rows between them to stress for sunlight and reach straight up. The pines are around 40' now and the hardwoods are poking out past the tops nicely today. We got our first crop of acorns in there last year. Plenty of deer and turkeys. I think there's 7 species of oak, walnut, hickory, tulip poplar and a few others. That way a disease or pest probably won't wipe the entire crop. The white pines are the only mono species and they are at the point that if they go, the hardwoods will be OK now. Well, don't want to hijack the thread. Will keep watching the OPs progress.

Not a hijack. Great info actually. We are putting in trees that are basicly the same age at planting, each year. The the plan was to have 10 acres planted at the end of 3 years. But realistically it will probably take 5 years to reach that. We also plan to be living there by then and plant 2-3 acres of dwarf trees close together on trellis. Harvests won't start till about 2020 and will increase each year if we are successful. By the time our fruit starts we should be in our 2nd or third year of cider production. (Buying fruit at first).

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Just a quick update. The trees that went in last week are doing very well. Only one tree showed signs of having been nibbled on by deer. We used a combination of Milorganite and pepper spray. I will be putting an electric fence up soon. The rapid emergence of buds is pretty amazing to me.

 

[Cjm005]

Cool thread and watching, I'm planting 220-440 olive trees next spring in TX.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

I got in another 100 trees today, I'll be back at it in the morning. If i can move.

 

[EdwardB]

Just a quick update. The trees that went in last week are doing very well. Only one tree showed signs of having been nibbled on by deer. We used a combination of Milorganite and pepper spray. I will be putting an electric fence up soon. The rapid emergence of buds is pretty amazing to me. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=468661"/>

Get that fence up soon or the deer herd will LOVE you.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Cool thread and watching, I'm planting 220-440 olive trees next spring in TX.

What kind of elevation is needed for olives? All I know anoutnolivesnis they grow in the Middle East.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Get that fence up soon or the deer herd will LOVE you.

I got another 50 trees planted Monday. I plan to get the rest in Sunday. Saturday is calling for thunderstorms with an inch of rain. This weather is crazy.