NURSERY NOTES

Trees for shelterbelts or windbreaks must be tolerant of extreme conditions of temperature and moisture.  Typically, shelterbelts are planted in the spring using bareroot seedlings dug from the ground the previous fall.  Digging tree seedlings can reduce the root mass by more than half and this can compromise the success of such plantings if water is not available for the first several years to allow the plant to regrow its lost roots.  Our trees are equally as large or larger than bareroot conservation trees.  Our trees will always have a fibrous and completely un-damaged root system at the time of planting because we grow them in root training containers from seed planting to outplanting.  The cost to grow in this manner is somewhat higher but it will result in fewer dead seedlings and quicker establishment of your shelterbelt. 

We grow many species but those most useful for shelterbelts include: red maple, bigtooth maple, shagbark hickory, pignut hickory, black walnut, chestnut oak, chinkapin oak, post oak, northern red oak, black oak, scarlet oak, pin oak, northern pin oak, bur oak, gambel oak, oregon white oak, white oak, black cherry, black cottonwood, sandcherry, American hazel, American plum, Wyoming big sagebrush, bristlecone pine, limber pine, pinyon pine, ponderosa pine, jeffrey pine, pitch pine, jack pine, western white pine, eastern white pine, lodgepole pine, red pine, rocky mountain juniper, common juniper, white cedar (arborvitae), white fir, lowes fir, interior douglas fir, white spruce, black hills spruce, and colorado blue spruce.  These species show some tolerance for drought but they are not equally tolerant so it is important to identify those that fit best with your location, for example white spruce or black hills spruce might be a better choice for Nebraska's sandhills than would Colorado blue spruce. 

We can help you select the best species for your area and planting in October and November will give these trees a chance to establish themselves before the rigors of next summer arrive.  Though cold weather turns off top growth root growth will continue until the ground freezes so fall is the best time to plant seedling trees.  Give us a call and we will help you buy the best shelterbelt trees.

How many trees have you planted this year?