Our nursery in southern Ontario is winding down and I have an opportunity to plant a new woodlot with 6-8' tall, 1" calipre trees (measured at 6" above ground). This size is referred to as "lining out stock" or "liners" in the nursery trade. Landscapers buy them bare-root and line them out while dormant in a plot for 2-4 years until they are big enough to be dug in a wire basket and used on landscape projects. My plan is to line them out and leave them for future generations to sell as lumber. I have swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), red oak (quercus rubra) and black walnut available for planting. Question: how far apart should they be planted? I would like to maintain at least 11' between rows to provide access for mowing and other equipment. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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Looks like you plant them in rows 11' apart. I'd go 6' apart within the row.
Prob 12 to 13 ft apart to allow for growth and still mow a straight line
Precisely the answers I was pondering. I too thought 6' apart will be good for starters but eventually (maybe in 10-15 years) every other tree will need to be removed for 12' between. Would the quality of the wood be diminished if I plant now at 12' (i.e. too much canopy development)?
I've seen several plantations that are alternating rows of hardwoods and softwoods. From my understanding, the faster growing conifers give the hardwoods some competition to grow up rather than out. Hardwoods are usually oak, ash (not so much anymore), black walnut. Softwoods are usually white pine or spruce I think. Maybe red pine grows too fast? I may have seen one with black walnut and red pine.
The intent is for the conifer rows to be sort of sacrificial in the long run. But from what I've seen it turns into a nice mixed plantation that the deer tend to figure out what is going to survive.
If your goal is to produce future lumber from these hardwood trees, then they should be grown in an environment with plenty of competition to grow up and shed lower branches. Otherwise, you're looking at a lot of pruning.
I would consider planting 8x8 or 8x6 even, with 8' between rows. That gives you 16' if you remove an entire row, plenty of room for equipment.
Thanks Otis1 for those pointers. My problem is I only have the hardwood's available to plant now and it is unlikely that I will find competition sized conifers to plant between next fall or spring.
Due to cost hardwood plantations are not a popular thing, especially using trees that size.
I did a quick search and came up with this document that seems to cover a lot:
https://htirc.org/wp-content/themes/child_theme/assets/newsletters/nov-2013/07mckenna-p-115.pdf (https://htirc.org/wp-content/themes/child_theme/assets/newsletters/nov-2013/07mckenna-p-115.pdf)
Around here the old field plantations (red pine) would sometimes have a row or two of white spruce around the edge. Those plantations tend to weather droughts better due to reduced air flow and evapotranspiration. The above document mentions that and I would suggest doing the same.
Using sacrificial trees to give your crop trees more competition in early years would be smart. I don't know what species would work best in your area but there is likely something cheap and readily available that will grow fast.
Just my thoughts.
Clark
This might sound ridiculous, but what about planting some aspen/ poplar rows? They grow fast and should be cheaper.
I bet even seedlings would catch up quick in height.
Thanks for these suggestions. Companion planting seems like the way to go. Clark, the article is right on topic and a great resource!
Quote from: Clark on June 06, 2022, 10:30:07 PMUsing sacrificial trees to give your crop trees more competition in early years would be smart. I don't know what species would work best in your area but there is likely something cheap and readily available that will grow fast.
That's especially true if you are trying to establish species that don't establish well when exposed to the elements. Mostly the shade tolerant species.
Completely different species here of course, but many of the iconic native trees simply wont survive without some shelter / shade / frost protection. So a :Nurse Crop" of fast growing short lived trees like the native Manuka or Tree Lucerne is planted first. Then after a couple of years you can thin that and start putting in your long term species in small sheltered clearings. Some occasional thinning to maintain space for them, and they eventually overtop the temporary nurse trees. Basically gets you a "mature" forest mix, without waiting ~100 years for natural succession to take it's course.
It also improves the "form" of your good trees like Clark says, as they grow up with "some" competition, rather than being "open grown" and branching out horizontally from the start.
Difficult to source right now, but an outstanding companion conifer for northern-ish hardwood plantations is the hybrid larch. Much faster growing than any pine or spruce, casts light shade, and can be marketable in twenty years easy. If anyone should be interested, pm me and I'll do my best to help find some.
I like aspen but using that as the companion, one needs to remember that when these fast growers are felled, they'll sprout all over the place via root sprouts. If you're waiting on your oaks or whatever, they'll soon enough have much new competition all around them.
Fellow nurseryman here. I have done this with 4-6' tall western red cedar from our greenhouses. 4'-6' gets me above most of the annual weeds and the trees do great after getting established. It's such an advantage (!) but financially way beyond common forestry. Snow can be hard on them the first year. If I were planting 1-0 or 2-0 seedlings I would go with 6'spacing. With what you are describing ->10-15'. I go with 12' personally(4 paces). The canopy will close in soon enough and you can always limb them up which is what I do as I want to encourage vertical growth.
Your plan sounds good to me. Good luck!