planting white spruce tree's

[dreaming bucks]

Hey guys....
My brother and me are planting some 3 year old white spruce this weekend... 1000 to be exact.. We logged our woods last winter, and a pretty heavy logging at that. My question is, will these trees take off alright planting them right in the middle of our woods ? Some people have told me that you can only get young tree's like that to take off if they are out in the open, where they will get lots of sunlight.... I guess my thinking was, if they are ever going to get light in the middle of our woods, it would be right now.. We pretty much clear cut the soft woods and select cut the hard woods.... So, just wondering what you guys think ? I think this would really enhance the bedding areas for these deer 10 years down the road... Lord knows they will have plenty of cover till then...

[ryanm]

a couple years ago I planted 25 white spruce behind my house. I'm down to about 10 that the rabbits haven't browsed off in the winter. I think your trees will probably do ok as long as we don't have a hot dry summer. may take longer for them to get going if the cover overtakes them.

[dreaming bucks]

ya, I'm a little worried about the cover overtaking them also.... I guess well see what happens...

[Singing Bridge]

that's a lot of tree planting- if you get time put some pics up from this weekend.

[dreaming bucks]

sorry, did not get any pictures taken.... but ya, alot of work.. We had 6 of us out there, worked in pairs.. It took us about 6 hours total to get it done, and really, we just worked at a steady pace. As we were planting them, we came across two different downed tree tops that had a hen turkey hiding underneath.. Finally she got spooked and flew out from the tree. Well, after she took off we noticed she was laying on eggs. She was on top of 16 eggs and the other hen that my brother saw had 20 eggs under it ( I did not know they could have that many ). Anyway, a very good day spent in the woods and felt like we got alot done..... Now, I just need those trees to make it. I would be very happy if we get 70% to live.... We shall see !

[hunt n nut]

Most trees, pines included, need a good amount of sunlight. If it is open enough from the logging you'll probably get some new natural growth to come in, like aspen and maple. Hopefully we get plenty of rain too, for ya. Sounds like you guys planted them by hand, boy, thats a lot of work! Good luck with the trees, it would be cool to get some nice thick bedding areas

[dreaming bucks]

hen turkey.jpg