seedlings.

[super sappy]

I have 50 maple seedlings coming this week. I have read that people plant them in a temporary bed for a few years then transplant.I have also been told to stick them in the ground and put a cage around them. water for the first year then let em go. These trees art 3 years old and about 1 foot tall. Any advise is helpful . - ss

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[forester1]

Once you get them in the ground, it helps to control weeds around it for at least the first year, and water regularly. Mulching is best but the risk is rodents will nest in the mulch in the winter and chew the bark off. So you could pull the mulch back some away from the tree before winter.

[super sappy]

now that some of the smoke has cleared. I guess the thing to do is stick them in the ground. where they will live forever. I have some 1/4 " hardware cloth and I will make 5 foot tall cages out of the page wire goat fence.( Raymond the Goat will be spending the summer back east) I am rigging up some gutters on the sugarhouse that will empty into a bulk tank, I will use this for irragation. I was thinking of using old chopped hay that was cut about 5 years ago for mulch , We sold 110 acres of new planting, the farmer cut it piled it and packed it then let it rot. Its black and I think it will make good mulch. As far as the deer go Id like to mount a gatling gun on my sugarhouse roof. The meadow out back alwayse has deer traffic. Cant seem to keep the population down, alot of farmland around here and they thrive on corn.All winter we were seeing herds of 40-75 deer. Those buggers will be eyeballing my trees I just know it. The electric fence will work for a wile, if you make little cups out of foil and put peanut butter in them and hang them off the wire it will keep them away for a wile but they loose intrest. and just jump the fence. If I thought I could get away with it Id stack them like cord wood, but with an en-con officer right next door Id better follow the legal game laws.-Why do I make so much work for myself? -SS

[maple marc]

I am experimenting with tree tubes for my seedlings. The brand I am trying is Blue-X, relatively inexpensive and easy to use. Supposedly the blue light stimulates growth. Scalp off the sod, plant tree, pound in a stake, place tube over, mound some dirt around. Around here deer are a threat and the tubes should prevent some loss. I put an electric fence around my fruit orchard, but it's not practical for maple.

I hope to tap these trees in 25 years--I'll be a spry 79!!

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[barrelstove]

im all for shooting deer, but tree tubes attract another problem in the form of a large mammal.

UMaine has been working with planting hardwoods and all the associated headaches. tree tubes worked great! faster growth rate, straight stems etc, etc. BUT........

Issue 1. The tree is used to being supported by the tube, they somtimes flop sideways when the support is removed.

Issue 2. The tree is used to being supported by the tube, so when they grow out the top they dont know to keep growing vertically! but they eventually figure it out, so at 4 feet off the ground you have a s-turn in your tree!

Issue 3. Tree tube = bear toy. and as the bears arent as gentle removing the tree tube the tree us usually pretty beatup in the process.

im not the one doing the research, nor have i read any of the research, but this has been the discussion in the hallways. that being said if you want to shoot a bear, coat a tree tube in bacon grease!