Treenut's Forest Notes for 2021

Pine/Spruce Transplants

I originally orderred these trees for 2020 but due to the pandemic, I cancelled the order. The DNR asked if I wanted to them to send it out this year instead. So I now have 3-year trees instead of 2-year. This may be good because they will have to grow fast to compete with the brush where I'm putting them.

Transplant preparation

We placed one of these blue flags next to every transplant so we could find them again once the weeds and brush grew up around them -- as it did with a vengence.

Stuart and Lance planting

Lance and I planted 300 seedlings within the remains of the old windbreak along the hillside nust north of the farmstead.

Two weeks prior to this we cut down any brush that remained standing after the winter. This was mainly Elderberry and Box Elder. The snow had taken dwon the raspberry and the vines (Virginia Creeper wild cucumber and Grape). This is why the forest floor looks fairly barren -- this will change drastically in a couple weeks.

Watering in transplants

Water tank contraption

The soil was pretty wet this spring when we planted. But there was no more rain in the forecast for at least 14 days so we decided that a little water and miracle grow would give these little trees a leg up.

This high tank contraption worked well for the first day's transplants but as we worked higher on the hillside I could no longer drive up into the woods. So Lance went around with the backpack sprayer (without nozzel) and gave each tree a littl drink.

As it turned out, the rain stayed away for nearly a month so this little 'ounce of prevention' probably saved some lives (trees).

Ready to cut brush and spray stumps

One month after planting the forest floor had already changed dramatically. The brush and weeds already had a solid start and were overtopping the new trees. If we hadn't used the blue flags there was no way we would be able to find these little trees. And if you can't find the trees, you can't 'mow' around them.

Once again I cut the brush and weeds around each transplant with this Stihl FS-90 brush cutter with a 'star' brush blade. This works great on grass, weeds, brush and even small trees. Lance followed me with a sprayer and treated the stumps with a 3% mix of 'Roundup'.

Stuart and Lance clearing brush and treating stumps...

Grafting apple scion

Scions from a Macintosh and Winesapp ...

I cut some twigs from a neighbor's trees, before they budded out, and kept them in a fridg until we went up north to the farm.

With instructions from my nephew John, and some grafting tools and equipment, we grafted about a dozen scions to various trees in our orchard at the farm. Many were grafted to seedlings which were planted in 2018 and had survived deer brows and grass competition. A handfull were grafted onto twigs on mature trees.

the cutting tool made quick and accurate 'V' shaped cuts in both halves of the graft. We joined the pieces together and wrapped with surgical tape. Then we coated the joint completely with melted grafting wax from a pan we had heating on a hotplate powered by an inverter that we carried on the brush hog behind the tractor.

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May 2021: Apple Graft Success.

Many of the grafts took!!

Unbelievable

About two weeks later, Lance and I went back to the farm and found that many of the grafts had taken (succeeded).

I believe we had about a 70-80% success rate on these grafts. I think that is what is called 'beginner's luck'.

I have now checked these grafts again -- in the middle of June -- and they are all doing nicely. They are growing leaves and even some new stems.

I have carefully replaced all the cages (for the deer) and made sure the base of the trunk is wrapped with screen to keep the mice away. I have also sprayed deer repelant on the seedling grafts as an extra measure

Click on image to enlarge