Recommendation for tree supplier

[greenheadgrimreaper]

I have an uncle who lives away that has a piece of property here in Winston county. He wants me to get up with a company to recommend/provide the trees he should plant for wildlife (fruit and mast). He wants most ( a lot ) of them to be larger, price doesn't really matter, but it does, if that makes sense. He just had 75 maples put in last year around his lake that were several feet tall. The company he got them from is, I believe, dealing with something outside the scope of their work on this. They deal mostly with ornamental type stuff. Any leads on a good tree company with a wildlife background where we can get this thing going? Thanks.

Austin

[DanP]

I've heard good things about The Wildlife Group in Alabama, no first hand experience though...

[DanP]

I'm in the process if buying a lot of soft mast trees from Missouri State Nursery, but they aren't going to put them in the ground.

[Sprangletop1]

What kind of volume? he wanting just soft mass trees?

[greenheadgrimreaper]

Well that's what we want to find out. In his mind he is thinking of hard mast, but he wants to diversify. He's wanting a lot of larger volume trees, but seedlings are of interest too. What do y'all recommend on volume and species type? I'm not asking for a full consultation, but after speed reading several articles on the subject, I'd much rather get some direct information, if I can find it.

For the record, the property is rolling pasture land with numerous small, thinned wood lots. Going north and south through the property is a small creek that was channelized during the Tallahaga Canal project. The old creek bed meanders through the property holding water after a rain. In general it is a well drained property with the exception of the floodplain area of the creek. He had the soil tested when he had wildflowers planted. I don't remember the soil numbers, but I do remember the extension agent saying that it was fine soil- he said you could grow just about anything on the property. We did a lot of dirt work on the property and it has been land leveled.

He has a track hoe on site so getting the holes dug is no problem- that's what we did with the maples and had the supplier there to supervise. Dan, do institutions like that deal with private individuals?

[donia]

i take it he's looking for trees more substantial in size than what mossy oak nursery sells off of old west point rd?

[greenheadgrimreaper]

I will check into them Donia, I don't know what size they have?

[DanP]

Yes, they sell to individuals. Buying the trees is the easy part, planning what to plant where is the challenging (but fun) part. When I lay out a planting job like this I always start with the "vision" and go from there. Does he want to look at a manicured orchard with a well-spaced diversity of trees & shrubs? Or is he looking to re-forest areas on a tight spacing to attain higher stem quality hard mast trees? Or a combination of both? From there overlay topography, soils, hydrology, and existing landscape features to aid in the specific planting recommendations. In my opinion, proper species/site selection is more important than purchasing larger, more advanced trees. Long term survival, growth and mast production will be much higher. Potted seedlings are a good medium as well. They can be planted with a tractor and auger which is much easier than a trackhoe, and will exhibit better growth and survival than bare root seedlings at a fraction of the cost of transplanting larger trees.

[greenheadgrimreaper]

Thanks Dan, I copied your reply and sent it to him. I am really trying to get him to just let me hook him up with a consultant to do it right. I have stressed to him that "what and where" is where he must begin. I am still trying to help him form a conclusion on what exactly it is he wants. He wants a manicured property to a certain extent, but he also wants to attract and hold wildlife and leave areas natural. The main problem is that he has very little knowledge of what folks like us (outdoorsmen) look at when walking through a property that makes us giddy with excitement over the possibilities. The sad fact is most folks, including outdoorsmen, don't really know what "should be". In terms of being a mechanic turning wrenches to get a motor running again, even fewer folks know how to see achieve true, long term results. That's why I would really prefer to be the mediator between him and a qualified professional. He's in China so I have been designated as a sort of "agent" to help him. He's not a very diplomatic person, but just like anyone else of the sort, if you know him you know how to approach him on most subject matters. In his mind he just wants some damn trees to make some damn nuts for some damn deer and turkey so he can damn watch them. So getting to your starting point, " the vision " is what I am trying to get out if him as we speak. It will come, but only after some gnashing of the teeth.

[DanP]

[donia]

[greenheadgrimreaper]

I'm calling them Monday Donia I looked their site up, looks promising.

I finally convinced him to let me mediate his wishes to a professional.

[One Shot Payne]

[jdbuckshot]

We plant trees every year.

we only plant from seedlings, Scott county has a Free Tree day @ the NRCS office, Between Me, Dad, Mom, and brothers, we usually get between 30-50 seedlings this way. and if there are any left over they will give them away to.

We have the best success with 4' tubex tree shelters on every tree with a 5' Re-bar stake.

THE TREE SHELTER IS THE KEY! its gives the tree a greenhouse effect, and allows you to kill the competition around it with herbecide with out damaging the tree. and it also causes the tree to establish a great shape, and healthy trunk.

by july most of our trees will be grown out of the shelter about 12".

We only fertilize the 2nd year

We usually plant mostly saw tooths, with different types of red oaks, white oaks, Nutalls, cypress, even some friut trees.

in the last 15 years we have probably planted an maintained 350+ trees in orchard type layouts.

If you plant saw tooths. Plant a minimum of 30 in a grove. or it will not be worth bow hunting, the acorns will be gone. We have had tree produce acorns in 6 years from planting seedlings.

[cockandlock25]