Planting Trees

[Stephen Cherry]

I'm looking at new places where I can pursue being a hermit, and am seeing lots of small farms with 20-50 acres, many of which are set up for horses, so they have large grass fields. Does anybody have experience or knowledge of how to re-tree something on the order of 10 acres? How much it would cost, how many trees, where do you get the trees, etc. I'm looking at North Carolina, east of the mountains, and west of Raleigh- I'm sure that the area makes a difference.

[Robert Carruthers]

Depends on hill, mountain or bottom land topography and soil type. Go to the Natural Resource Conservation Agency (NRCS) part of USDA for your county and they should have soil maps of the whole county and it will tell what are native species for each area o the county. I would also check with the county extension service for your county they will be more helpful than anybody. Then I would take
soil samples and send off on potential ground I was going to buy. The county extension service can help with this also. Cost depends on lots of things. The USDA has programs that can help planting trees on some land. Check with NRCS while you are there.

[Mel Fulks]

Va. Has a forestry department that sells seedlings and NC probably does ,too. Carolina Silverbell, crab apples, dogwoods,and different types of ornamental viburnums,should be in the mix ,especially if if you get a cave with windows.Viburnum" Shasta" is a great "under story " tree that gets spring flowers on the tops of the branches that make them look snow covered,then they get red berries. They grow fast and often send up shoots from the roots that are clones. They are a hybrid,so seed planting is out. Viburnum setiegerum is another good one and gets red berries ,it is one that will self seed. Some Osage orange would be good for fencing,easy to find instructions on interlocking the plants. A few cypress trees would be good ,especially if there is any boggy ground.

[Jim Rimmer]

You might try the National Arbor Day Foundation. They often give away trees.

[Al Wasser]

To keep cost down, you will likely plant small trees. Those are likely just candy for the deer sp to avaoid that you may need to build a tall fence

[James Tibbetts]

Definately check with the Feds. A friend has a farm in WV and the gov came in and planted about 300 saplings for free. Only condition was they had to be left alone as part of a reforestation program. I'll see if I can find out which agency it was through.

[Stephen Cherry]

Thanks for the tips guys. I checked the nc forrestry site, and they have lots if information, and sell the trees. They also recommended soil testing.

[Dave Lehnert]

Our local county extension sells tree seedlings in the spring. Maybe they do the same in your area.

[Matt Meiser]

Tree seedlings are pretty dirt cheap from our extension service but our success rate with just planting them and letting them go them has been pretty low. Trying to water a lot of trees isn't practical unless you want a new hobby. On the other hand I have done some selective brush removal and little mowing in our "back 7" and we have a lot of trees coming up on their own including as of last year about 20 evergreens. A lot of them are poplar but there are others too. I've thought about collecting walnuts when they drop from the tree at my parents and planting them but never seem to get around to it.

Its a little hard to see, but this is what 9 years of minimal work looks like. There are 8"+ diameter poplars out there.

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[Mel Fulks]

Stephen, I'm surprised they reccomend soil testing for your particular multi acre purpose. The state forest nurseries usually just sell stuff that is native and grows easily. Big push now to not amend soil because of chemical run off. Some more exotic trees planted as garden specimens will need some help. And grass is always needing something. Don't imagine you are going to want a big lawn.

[Todd Burch]

I recently watched several videos from the NativNurseries channel on youtube. Good stuff. I didn't watch it (don't have a need) but they have a couple vids on major restoration like you want.

Todd.

[Fred Perreault]

The small trees would be an excellent cost containment idea, and allow for many more tree plantings. But if there is funds and a desire for a few mature trees, maybe a neighbor might be wanting to get rid of a few full size trees that you could move with a large tree spade. I have done that on some jobs around here where there was money and desire. The neighbor might want to thin some out and offer them for free. They would certainly be native.

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[phil harold]

Stephen, I'm surprised they reccomend soil testing for your particular multi acre purpose.
Some trees do better in different soils native or not

With no farm bill, the county extension is not funded as well this year