The ones here pretty much have thorns from the git go... A little smaller and mainly just singles when saplings, but by the time they are 3" diameter, they can be pretty crazy looking. I've seen them in our woods at about 6-8" diameter that it would be hard to find a spot on the trunk that you could poke a finger in and touch the bark without getting jabbed. As they mature, it seems like there are very few thorns above 25' or so.
Let’s hope the 3rd time’s a charm. Year 3 attempted white oak planting. I’m going to direct sow these this week, inside a buried steel coffee can with the bottom cut out, and cover with hardware cloth. Probably cover the top with leaf litter and debris too. As an added insurance I’ll collect more acorns and put them inside in cold storage for the winter.
Last fall Biddleman was kind enough to send me some pawpaw seeds which I planted this spring. In typical “everything planted in Eric’s backyard gets decimated” fashion, hundreds of seeds were dug up and consumed. I kind of forgot about the experiment until just now when I found three clumps of young pawpaw seedlings. Maybe there’s hope for my food forest yet
Maybe you had "exterminated" all the critters by then! IIRC there's a caterpillar that eats pawpaw. Turns into a pretty butterfly.
Nice to have pawpaws in the yard. Now when they get up to fruiting size, you will have to race the possums to get them when they fall. I just took about half a walmart bag of fruits to my brother a few minutes ago, as his trees didn't have that many fruit set this year. Love the smell and taste of a perfectly ripe pawpaw! We get a lot of the Zebra Swallowtail butterflies on ours most summers, and I wondered how they found the trees so easily. Then I took some seeds down to the nearby branch where there is a more sparsely wooded area to plant them, and walked into a whole grove that I'd never noticed before... Planted them anyway to widen the genetic pool (and feed the possums, I guess) The last time I planted some seeds (intentionally) I used the deep 24" tree nursery pots, and dug them into ground about 20" deep, then put screen wire over the top. That makes them transplant much easier without damaging the fragile tap root. Probably could have skipped the screen wire, as I never see anything eat on the young trees, as I think they have compounds in them that make most animals sick.
BTW, I am thankful that getting new trees growing hasn't been a problem for us. I have more problems deciding which to get rid of and which to keep. Not much wildlife pressure on the young trees, probably due to a lack of snow and really cold weather. Just off the top of my head, (on about two acres) we have about a couple dozen Oaks (red, white, and swamp) a couple dozen black cherry, a handful of hickory, 30-40 pecans, a couple of mulberry, and bunches of shoulder season types (maple, hackberry, box elder, sycamore, poplar, etc.) oh, and a half dozen peach crossbreeds that will probably all get cut too. All from seed except the two mulberry, and I didn't have to lift a finger to plant them. LOL! It's more of a job identifying which to keep, and making sure I leave enough space to let them grow well. I've got a lot pecans that grew from seed, so it is a race to see which ones have good nuts and the rest will get turned into smoking/firewood. One of the larger seedlings has had good nuts for a few years, but had a branched top about 25 feet up and it finally split and broke half of the top. Just cut that up a few days ago, and now I'm waiting for the husks to split to cut the rest of it down. Too bad, as it was a good producer for it's age, but it does have about a 12" diameter trunk and was about 45 feet tall so lots of smoking wood and some firewood to add to the stack.
I can get trees started okay, it’s just the critters that have other plans In my backyard are some red/black oaks and 3 different kinds of hickories, a few young cherries, one young mulberry planted by birds, one Osage orange, a couple walnuts, sassafras, a handful of black locust and some chestnuts I planted. My main goal is to plant white/swamp white oaks, encourage the growth of mast producing trees and keep the maples in check. When I moved in the only trees that had regenerated in the woods were maple, which shaded everything else out. I’m diversifying what’s there.
I have many paw paw trees and we don't have as many this year as the last several years. I checked on them last week and still not ripe. On a side note I made paw paw jam with some I froze last year. It didn't set as well as I wanted, BUT still tasty. I actually put some on vanilla ice cream. That's a real treat. Eric Wanderweg I wonder what ate them. As Alabamy chopper said, most animals avoid the leaves.
Ok, so I know this is my own thread..... As a couple of you may know I have planted 3 Black Locust Trees in my small town. 2 at my parents and 1 at my church. I just wanted to share something. When I bought and planted this tree last spring, it was 2 feet tall with a Y at the top and no leaves. Now, after almost 2 growing seasons.....look at this thing! Now, it's a bit over 10 feet tall! It was as skinny as my pinky when I got it Everyone said they grow quick, but.....wow. ((And yes, I know, my dad trimmed it when it was not in dormancy. He didn't like the thorns)
I might be the biggest offender for hijacking your thread The locust looks good and yes they grow like weeds in ample sun. That sapling is well on its way to being a respectable tree. Are those stakes to counteract the high winds you get out there?
Yes, the stakes are for the winds. The Black locust grow so fast that the new branches are quite thin. The tree would just whip around in the wind. Last winter we had an ice storm that took out 2 of my eastern red cedars. Put the tall one (8 feet tall), about 8 inches from the ground. The BLs seemed to do well though. Looking forward to next spring!
My Father-in-law died June second so this, and 2 smaller spades, are now for sale. If you want to do some serious tree planting and moving this could be yours!
A little update today. One year old black walnut that’s taking off fast: 2 year old swamp white oak that got chomped to the ground on its first year; recovering nicely: Several small honey locust sprouts in a protected pot. I lost the first batch of several hundred seeds to critters about a month ago. Next year I might plant a bunch of pea gravel and 3/4 stone in pots so the tree rats and chipmunks eat the rocks instead.
The one Osage that didn’t get eaten isn’t doing well at all. I have a few more seeds that I’ll probably try planting this week in a caged pot. If they don’t take, I might take you up on the offer
I had to declare war on the chippies this year. They got several of your chestnuts through 1x2 cage and bird netting. First time for me. Those trees look good! No chlorosis like some of mine get.
