Joe Shmoe wrote:
Jan Flora wrote:


Hey Guys:

We just logged 7 acres and need to replant at a rate of 300 trees per
acre. So how far apart do we plants the plugs?

The forester who's administering the program is the same guy who is
selling us the seedlings. I didn't think that was allowed. Is it? He's a
state forester,
who co-owns the tree nursery. He says we're "required" to buy trees from
him. WTF, over?

Anyway, all of the neighbors who have bought his trees say they've had a
60-90% death rate on trees. What's the normal loss on white spruce? On
lodgepole pine? On larch?

Any/all advice is welcome. We have a neighbor who ran planting crews in
Oregon. He's going to line his kids out as our planters, but we want to do
this right. We can't afford to buy 2100 trees that are all going to die.
Our cows winter and calve in that woodlot. They need a "woodlot" for
winter protection. (We're building "cow condos" out of some of the sawlogs
we salvaged from the logging for the girls, until we can get trees growing
in there again.)

TIA,
Jan in southcentral Alaska (59 N., 149W. I think)





I think 300 trees per acre works out to 12ft x 12ft.And acre is 43560sq.ft.
Divided by 300 trees is 145.2 sqft per tree. 12 by 12 is 144 so I think
that should work. It's Monday morning so I could be all wrong.

Now for this forester type guy telling you that you have to by your trees
from him; it sounds plain wrong to me but it could be a requirement by the
state. Maybe a call to your local Forest Service office is in order? I'm
not sure how Alaska works but that would be my first move. (Does state
forester mean he works for the state?)

A 60-90% loss is way too high. He must be planting an off-site species.
What kind of trees were there in the first place?

yep. White Spruce/ Larch / Lodgepole sounds like interior forest. Is
there any market for hardwoods up there?

This is pretty late in the season to be planting unless you can expect
cool temps and rain for the next month. And 60 to 90% survival at one
year and five years is what you want, not the other way around. In your
area, is brush competition or browse the bigger problem?

If your forester is selling trees as well as providing consulting
services you may get a cost advantage if you bargain. I'm sure shipping
seedlings in is expensive. Good luck!