Tree planting time has been here for everyone in the South, and will be cranking up soon further North. Raising trees is addictive like other gamekeeping activities, but it often seems folks who have never tried it (or tried once and failed) put it off every year and year after that. Food plotting has become main stream and for most is an annual or bi-annual ritual, but tree planting and management “in the woods” still remains a distant second even though it shouldn’t be. Following are 3 of the more important tips for success.
- Don’t think you have to plant your property full of trees the first year. Oftentimes “newbs” order way too many trees- and although they somehow barely manage to get them planted, it ends up being a sloppy job. Then they have more trees than they can maintain resulting in poor growth and survival. Solution: plant fewer trees, but plant every year. You’ll have more time to spend planning, planting, and maintaining your trees resulting in faster growth and high survival rates.
- Order in Advance. It’s a fact that nurseries must sell out of trees to make room for next year’s crop. Don’t wait until tree planting time to order trees. The best method is to order trees the summer prior and request a shipping date that coincides with your ideal tree planting time.
- Include tree protectors into your budget. Tree tubes, also called tree protectors or tree sleeves are absolutely imperative to achieve tree planting happiness. If you want to find out for yourself that not using them results in dead trees then go right ahead. Our advice is to learn from others who have wasted precious time and money on trees to have deer and other critters ravage their seedlings. Tree protectors also substantially increase growth rates. Do it!
This tip is courtesy of the GameKeepers Field Notes, a weekly wildlife and land management email newsletter produced by the Mossy Oak GameKeepers.
A GameKeeper by definition is someone who truly loves AND lives the land, the critters and nature…not just during hunting season but all the time. A GameKeeper wants to be outdoors every day and work the dirt while living their personal “obsession”.
Find out more about what makes a GameKeeper by visiting our website.
