Great video.. I’ve recently planted white oak, plumb, crabapple and persimmon. I may not ever see an acorn because of my age, but the kids will enjoy in the future.

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Robert, nice job! I'm humbled by your attitude and you have my fullest respect. All the best to you.

Mark you are doing a GREAT job on your screening, efforts. IT IS SUPER IMPORTANT to cover your ingress and egress to and from blinds and your travel around your property. One needs to allow the deer to feel secure and un pressured, ESPECIALLY ON SMALLER PROPERTIES!!! Over the years we have planted thousands of conifers. The ones we have been most successful with have been White Pine and White Spruce, although Norway Spruce will work but the branches hang downward and I prefer the upward look of the White Spruce. If very little food is available the deer will browse some on the White Pine, and the White Pine are softer and branches will bend and break under heavy wet snow. They will also self prune, but they do offer screening much faster. We will alternate the White Spruce with the White Pine, as the White Pine will give you some screening in a few years where as the White Spruce will take 8-10 years. If you are able to spray them and they do not compete with weeds they will grow much faster, especially as the get above the height of the grasses and weeds. If you have enough area it may be beneficial to plant two rows 10' to 15' apart for better long term screening, although this may seem like a lot but you always have to plant trees and shrubbery thinking about their future growth. We have some Colorado Blue Spruce on the farm that we did not plant. Although they are beautiful they are not a native tree and do better in an arid environment. For that reason we do not plant them. To save some of ours we have thinned them out and cut the bottom 6 ft of branches off to allow the air to circulate through them. We also had an area of Scotch Pine trees that were planted by the former owner for Christmas Trees. We removed most of them as we found them of little use for deer cover. In your wet areas Red Twig Dogwood and Willows are an excellent choice, the willows will grow and thicken especially fast. The Poplar trees are a great one to clear cut and they will come back with a vengeance, and are a great source of food for grouse if they are native to your area. We have planted a lot of Switch Grass over the years on drier ground to allow us to move around food plots and also to sneak quietly in and out of stands. I have found Switch Grass to be and excellent screening alternative with very little maintenance once established. Mark these are just some of my experiences over the last 30 yrs. on our various farms. PS....sorry for being so long winded, but it is actually spitting snow today here in Wisconsin, and I'm trapped inside. I'm sure glad I have all of our frost seeding done. God Bless, Bob

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Thanks Bob, this is great info! I keep flirting with the idea of switchgrass, but just haven't pulled the trigger on planting any yet, and I can't say why? All the best to you.

That’s a valuable concept, even though here in my part of Texas we have lots of natural screening vegetation that we fight to keep roads and trails open. Yaupon is my nemesis. Your careful approach to entry and exit is something that I think we need to improve though. I’m always impressed with how thoughtful your approach is. Thanks!

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Curt, never heard of Yaupon up here, but sounds like I should be thankful! Keep up the fight! All the best to you.

Great work Mark. You might consider using some tree tops or tree tubes to protect some of your new plantings. I have a short video on my channel that I show the use of tree tops to protect white cedars. Have a great day.

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Kurt, thanks. I'll check it out. All the best to you.

Mark another great video sir. I was told, that if you take tree tops(or maybe old Christmas trees) that you have cut and place them in the reed grass that the grass will grow up through the brush and will stay taller in the winter. Thus giving you the taller cover that you desire in the fall/ winter.

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Thanks. Yes, I've done it with tree tops and it does grow up and then die over the top, thus creating somewhat of a visual break. But the trees break down in a few years and then it's back to flat wide open areas. Ugh, so much work! All the best to you.

@BlueWidow2010

3 ай бұрын

@@theback40 Thanks Mark.

Great job,really enjoy your channel 👍

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Joe, thank you. All the best to you.

Great video. Good luck with the pines! I have a pretty high deer density at my place in SW Michigan. The deer ate them all. Have better luck with Spruce. Planted 650 Norway Spruce last week. They get after the Red Ozier Dogwood hard too. I put in about 400 cuttings in a few weeks ago along with about 50 Silky Willow so hope they take. Cuttings cost me nothing! The silkies are supposed to be browse resistant but I found they are not! Good luck, hope it all grows well. So important to thicken it up!

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Todd, thanks. I intend to start using willow cutting next year too, I think they are big enough now? My buddy, about a mile away, has great luck with Norway spruce, but very different soil than mine. All the best to you.

Check out balsam fir also. They can handle wet feet and pretty dry conditions. They also are deer resistant.

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Good idea, thank you. I'll check them out tonight. All the best to you.

Great Job Bro

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Thanks Phil! All the best to you.

Try red cedar instead of white pine in the dry areas they keep all the lower branches and the deer hardly eat them. On the wet areas I'm afraid the white ceders will be devoured by deer they love those .

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Jim, that sounds great! I'll check them out tonight. Why not plant another 100 trees this year, lol? All the best to you.

I've got areas just like this that I'm trying to fill in. I'm trying willow cuttings. Hopefully they will fill in the open areas faster than waiting for trees to go.

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Dan, willows seem to be the best answer, I'm also trying Tamaracks this year. All the best to you.

@toddweston2840

3 ай бұрын

Silky willows hold their leaves really late and grow quickly. So easy to plant from cuttings. I usually get about 95 percent survival. About 50 percent with Red Ozier Dogwood.

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

I haven't tried "silky willows" yet, I'll have to check them out. @@toddweston2840

Hello friend! It’s Joe long time watcher first time commenter, wondering have you built a crimper or bought one yet? I know you used the bucket before not sure how well it’s really working! Thanks mark appreciate all you do! Keep up the great work

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Joe! Nope, no roller crimper yet. Still looking for other ways to control weeds.....maybe with mowing, or a permanent cover crop like clover, or chemicals. After using glyphosate last year and seeing the increase in production, I am planning to just keep the sprayer I already have, and use chemicals as needed. Glyphosate and Clethodim will be my roller crimper for now until I do a few more experiments. Maybe someday, but not now. All the best to you.

I plant the same stuff but I have to put chicken wire around them to protect them from browsing.

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Kurt, don't they know we are planting and doing all this work for THEM? Why do they make it so hard on us by eating them too soon, lol. All the best to you.

I would put tree tubes around willows and dog woods

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Wayne, thanks for the feedback. I have put tubes around chestnuts without success, but I know others that have had great success with them like you. All the best to you.

Im in the same stage trying to figure out what's going to work and what isn't 😂 for the first area with the grass along the food plot would burning the grass help to bring back thick cover ? And to bad your so far away because id give you white cedar i have lots and that what the deer eat in the winter. And for some reason alote of my white spruce and balsam are dying im not sure if its a bug killing them?

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Rackman, yes, burning would help but our township doesn't allow it. Sorry to hear about the spruce dying off, we have blue spruce around our house that are dying off now, too. Probably in the 20-25 year old range. All the best to you.

have you tried putting fertilizer around the trees every year?

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

Hey Rob, nope, haven't ever fertilized a tree. Is this something you have done? All the best to you.

Where do you buy your root stock?

@theback40

3 ай бұрын

coldstreamfarm.net, but my buddy has used morsenursery.com successfully too. All the best to you.