|
Post by smsmith on Nov 23, 2019 9:12:50 GMT -6
Drive down the N/S dirt road that is my eastern property line. Look at my place, then look at my north neighbor's place...you'll see why I hate ironwood. I have left pockets of young ironwood, I don't want to eradicate them. Grouse do eat the catkins in the winter and deer do browse the tops of young trees (as well as the tops I drop), but once they're 15-25' tall and thicker than the hair on a dog's back they serve a deer guy no good. My north neighbor's place has zero understory, even after a couple years of not grazing cattle. The ironwoods form a thick understory beneath the red and burr oaks. Very little else can get established. We may have had a different type of ironwood where I grew up. It was in the woods, but it was never dominant. That was grazed decades ago, but you'd be hard pressed to find the posts and wire now. It was dominated by oak, ash, hackberry, basswood, elm, and boxelder. My dad recently bought half of that woods. I've bounced some ideas off him for how to recoup the outrageous price he paid for it, but nothing has stuck. We had a storm go through in 1997 that uprooted a lot of basswoods and put some sun on the forest floor. The deer moved to that spot. I wish he'd do something with it, but it's just not in the cards. "Ironwood" is a name given to many trees across the U.S. I guess. I am talking about American (or Eastern) Hophornbeam. www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=l330 In MN, American Hornbeam (note the lack of "Hop"), aka Blue Beech, aka Musclewood is also referred to as "ironwood". www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=h540
|
|
|
Post by nhmountains on Nov 23, 2019 9:53:37 GMT -6
I know the hop hornbeam here dulls a chainsaw in seconds.
|
|
|
Post by smsmith on Nov 23, 2019 10:44:02 GMT -6
I know the hop hornbeam here dulls a chainsaw in seconds. It takes a toll, that's for sure. I dropped off a dozen chains for my 180c saws at the local Stihl dealer a couple weeks ago for sharpening ($2.50 each, not worth sharpening them myself for that price). That dozen will probably last me 2 winters (if I keep them out of the dirt anyway). I also got 4 chains for my Husky (forget the model right now) sharpened. I'd guess 90-95% of what I cut is hop hornbeam.
|
|
|
Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 23, 2019 10:48:27 GMT -6
Ironwood burns in a camp fire forever!! I think it’s cool looking wood as well.
|
|
|
Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 23, 2019 20:59:40 GMT -6
Here is a pic of a wide shelterbelt I planted in 02, 03? Spruce, Cedar, plum, etc..
|
|
|
Post by honker on Nov 23, 2019 22:19:25 GMT -6
Here is a pic of a wide shelterbelt I planted in 02, 03? Spruce, Cedar, plum, etc.. Sweet setup. This picture is a perfect example of the proverb "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago" I need to bite the bullet and get that going at my place.
|
|
|
Post by smsmith on Nov 24, 2019 10:26:56 GMT -6
Here is a pic of a wide shelterbelt I planted in 02, 03? Spruce, Cedar, plum, etc.. Sweet setup. This picture is a perfect example of the proverb "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago" I need to bite the bullet and get that going at my place. Just start planting some trees. Then plant more in the following years. I haven't not planted at least a few trees in the spring since sometime in the 90s.
|
|
|
Post by sd51555 on Nov 24, 2019 11:55:34 GMT -6
Sweet setup. This picture is a perfect example of the proverb "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago" I need to bite the bullet and get that going at my place. Just start planting some trees. Then plant more in the following years. I haven't not planted at least a few trees in the spring since sometime in the 90s. I agree. This is why I quit planting trees three years ago. I can liberate ten times the amount of trees (and much bigger ones) I can plant with the same effort, practically no money, and I don't lose any to critters, winter, poor site match, etc. Just another way of looking at it. I've got high hopes to put 3-4 acres on the ground this year. I'm still working up a plan today.
|
|
|
Post by smsmith on Nov 25, 2019 10:31:49 GMT -6
Just start planting some trees. Then plant more in the following years. I haven't not planted at least a few trees in the spring since sometime in the 90s. I agree. This is why I quit planting trees three years ago. I can liberate ten times the amount of trees (and much bigger ones) I can plant with the same effort, practically no money, and I don't lose any to critters, winter, poor site match, etc. Just another way of looking at it. I've got high hopes to put 3-4 acres on the ground this year. I'm still working up a plan today. I'm all for running saws and putting undesirable trees on the ground. Problem is, if I don't plant evergreens they don't exist here. A few red cedars is about it, and those usually get the axe here. Once my evergreens get to 8-10' or so, my place will be the only place on my mile and a half(ish) block with any amount of conifer cover.
|
|
|
Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 25, 2019 13:58:13 GMT -6
I like to pop in Spruce and cedar with a clear cut area, when the trees come back thick... the mix is perfect bedding!
|
|
|
Post by honker on Nov 25, 2019 15:25:32 GMT -6
I like to pop in Spruce and cedar with a clear cut area, when the trees come back thick... the mix is perfect bedding! Plugs and bare root plants are the way to go for large quantities, but does anyone have a good source or approach (buying late season fire sales) for adding larger spruce to get a jump start on the growth curve. I used to drive a tree spade back in the day. Would love to put one of them to work and drop in some 8ftrs if it wouldn’t cost me a fortune from a tree farm.
|
|
|
Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 25, 2019 17:56:06 GMT -6
I’ve seen a few times when a property is coming out of CRP or they are clearing a field for farm land, the owner allows spruce and pine trees to be moved. Rare, expensive, but it does happen.
|
|
|
Post by benmnwi on Nov 25, 2019 19:54:04 GMT -6
If you just want to block the neighbors view, I would plant the outer rows with white spruce, 2 rows of red pines and maybe a row of random fast growing cottonwoods or hybrid poplars that will be cut once the evergreens mature.
If you want to get some bonus grouse or pheasant I would leave a 5- 10 yard wide strip of weeds along the fenceline, then row 1 will be a mix of nine bark and plums. Row 2 red splendor crabapples and hawthorns. Row 3 white spruce, row 4 white spruce, row 5 plums and nine bark.
I really wish I planted the grouse and pheasant windbreak when I planted my visual screen in 2007. My visual screen works great, but I think it could have performed just as well if I went with a more wildlife friendly mix.
|
|
|
Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 26, 2019 10:10:00 GMT -6
Ben--my decisons on tree screens over the years have changed. I used to use a variety of shrubs and some of them are just not that great (Caragana, Lilac, Nanking Cherry). I have switched to more plum, chokecherry, even wild apple...as long as it does not border a road.
I think my favorite would be spruce, spruce, pine or cedar, red oak and then plum...on the border with neighbor, with the conifer being on the property line side (sun angle permitting).
|
|
|
Post by smsmith on Nov 26, 2019 10:36:24 GMT -6
Ben--my decisons on tree screens over the years have changed. I used to use a variety of shrubs and some of them are just not that great (Caragana, Lilac, Nanking Cherry). I have switched to more plum, chokecherry, even wild apple...as long as it does not border a road. I think my favorite would be spruce, spruce, pine or cedar, red oak and then plum...on the border with neighbor, with the conifer being on the property line side (sun angle permitting). Every day I walk I look at some windbreaks planted by my neighbors. Some appear to be 30+ years old, others may be around 15-20. One neighbor has some shrub crabapples, they must be Sargent crabs. Maybe a max of 10' tall and probably almost that wide. I need to get some planted. Long spring bloom time and they are just loaded with blossoms. I'd think pheasants and grouse (and songbirds) would like the fruit.
|
|