Field to be planted in background
This week was one of the rainiest weeks of the winter with a spring-like tropical weather blast that left 4-6″ of rain around the area and a few tornadoes in it’s wake. It was a perfect time to get trees planted. I had already decided to convert 5 acres of crop fields behind my house into a tree plantation and had ordered the trees from my local NRCS office. With the help of Martin McGraw at the NRCS, I decided on the quantity and types of trees to use. A spacing of 12′ on center would give the new trees the right amount of space for fast, upright growth. If all goes as planned, the trees should be 25′ tall in about 10 years. I bought 7 bags of trees which contained 200 trees each. It took 3 days to plant the 1400 trees and I was completely soaked and exhausted after the last tree went in and I limped out of the field.
Nuttall Oak, Swamp Chessnut Oak, Schumard Oak and Cherry Bark Oak were the 4 species of trees I selected – mainly since they are native varieties and all have good lumber characteristics. I’m looking forward both to watching them grow and to seeing the wildlife that the area attracts.
Bags of seedlings
Planted tree next to bucket of trees