2002:
I'm trying to find my information and pictures for 2002.
Here is the tree order:
- Wh Pine 2yr 3000 $228
- Red Pine 2yr 3000 $228
- Wh Spruce 2yr 1000 $132
Spring 2002: Planning for season:
November 2002 - From Roland
Wed, 21 Nov 2001 12:59:43 -0600
Stuart,
Good to hear of plans for next spring. It isn't that far away.
I am thinking about that band spray. It may not hurt to band spray all of that one and two year planting again.
I have been planting apple and pine mostly this nice weather. I heard that one shouldn't plant pine in the fall. Have you heard this? It has been nearly summer weather. It still is today. ...
Looking forward to planting those six thousand trees. Wonder what [county forester] thinks about replanting some on the bottom and the strip.
I cant't believe all of the pine that are coming through on the top. Couldn't find a single hardwood now that the leaves are gone.
I'm staying home until hunting is over.
Be seeing you, RB
February 6, 2003 - From Roland
I was reading your note. Again. I feel that the 25 yr. program is fine, as you may be able to take it out a year and sell timber. Then put it back. At any rate,. that five percent may not be worth it. And you may want to take a chunk out for good then. That forest law will always be around because privately held woodland is good value for the state. As for taxes, woodland now is taxed high, as the value of the land is much higher than open land. That might change in 25 yrs. I doubt it, though.
I hope sometime you go by Nat's walnut planting there. That clump of trees by the road where they are growing so well is where a pile of lime was dumped and then we went down there with shovels and just threw it around to get rid of it. I was thinking we should go along a row here and there with lime as an experiment. It certainly wouldn't be good for the conifers between rows. The question is how much lime do walnut need and how much can conifers tolerate?
I still think old carpet strips on one side of the seedlings would help keep down the weeds and hold in the moisture. I put rags around a few trees there, which helped quite a bit, but something grabs on to them and drags them away.
I had my apple seed out 40 days and I'm going to bring them in now. Hope it was long enough.
April 20, 2002 - dug trees from my garden nursery in madison.
April 24, 2002 - moved trees to cold room to keep dormant
One long box (the boxes left over from 2001 DNR tree order) and one 'cabbage box'.
May 4, 2002 - Transplanted 7000 trees from DNR nursery.
May 5, 2002 - Transplanted two boxes of trees from Madison.
Maple, ash and cedar in first "hole" past Spruce Patch (this is the low spot north of the spruce patch - this is an area where the original transplant didn't take very well. We thought these varieties may be more tolerant of those conditions.)
Maple, ash and cedar just south of the little house ('guest house').
May 14 - Letter from me to County Forester:
I got up there Monday afternoon (in the rain showers) and it took me the rest of the day and tuesday AM to get everything set up and calibrated.
I sprayed all the CRP land on Tuesday -- the 13 acres we planted 2 years ago -- boy is that land rough -- like 8 hours on a mechanical bull -- tank aggitation wasn't a problem!
All I could buy was Princep Caliber 90 and I put it on at 1.5 pounds per acre ( I was aiming at 3 pounds -- as per label -- but I goofed and used 64 oz per gallon instead of 128 in my calculations -- so I though the sprayer was putting out 40 GPA when it was actually 20 GPA (40 GPA seemed awful high but but the numbers were there). I can't believe I did that but I guess it's better to error this way than the other. I hope this amounts to enough to do some good.
Since I under calculated I had enough left to spray over what we planted last year and some of what we did this spring. I was watching the tank as I sprayed and it seemed like it was going down slower than expected but it was hard to figure because I was only spraying 30 inch band over each row and the rows are not very evenly spaced.
But I did get a chance to see every row. There are a lot of trees out there -- many places they're ALL there.
It rained ( ~0.1 - 0.2 inch?) Wednesday morning and I finished what I had in the tank (on last year's planting) before I came back to Madison. I assume it rained again Wednesday night to get this chemical into the soil -- I haven't heard from my spys yet for sure.
It's a nerve-wracking process putting chemicals (poisons) over the trees we've worked so hard to get to where they are. The stakes are high. I recalulated and recalculated but sometimes my mind get's into a trap on something as obvious as oz. per Gal. But a missed decimal point could have be disasterous so I consider myself lucky.
I have sprayed for many years but under different conditions and for different reasons -- and long ago. I have learned a lot here, and the equipment is ready for the next run -- if neaded. Next time I'll calibrate it so I can drive slower.
October 2002 - email exchange with county forester - plans and grants:
From: Stuart Baker Sent: Monday, October 07, 2002 10:17 AM To: [county forester] Subject: RE: tree orders
I stopped by your office. They said you were hunting. I didn't know they let you guys have any fun. I walked that field and it was so depressing I had to come home. I took wire flags out to mark any (hardwoods especially) that I found but I came back with most of them unused. That grass is so thick that it's almost impossible to walk through. I know we should have mowed and sprayed this fall but I have yet to find a mower that can make it through that stuff at this stage. I agree with you that there are virtually no surviving trees in that bottom land below the house and barn. As you go back towards the woods and into those hills there seem to be enough oak and pine to salvage with some fill planting. I think that bottom is about 5 acres and if we ordered 2500 hardwoods and 2500 conifers we could replant the bottom and with the 800-1000 burr oak I have in containers we could fill the part back to the woods. I would like to spray (either banded over the rows -- newly planted and otherwise -- or broadcast) next spring and begin mowing between rows immediately and continue throughout the summer to control that grass and alfalfa. This would apply to both the bottom and the strips west of the barn and on top (all the CRP land that was planted 3 years ago). Is this enough trees? Are Red Oak and Red Pine still the best for that deep, rich and somewhat wet soil? The walnuts that 'accidently' got planted while we were transplanting seem to be doing pretty well but know it's dangerous to plant them in low pockets. Burr oak, swamp oak, willow, cottonwood don't mind wet feet? I should get my order off soon. Thanks for any advice.
Stuart
On 8 Oct 2002 at 9:07, [county forester] wrote:
Red Oak, White oak, Swamp and Burr, all will take the rich soil. The white oak group better handles seasonal wetness. Green ash is the other hardwood that will grown in those conditions, and actually very well.
Consider some Ash, its hard to kill and grows fast.
Willow and Cottonwood are not approved for CRP, nor would I want you to plant them there.
I'll see if I can get you cost-sharing for replanting the CRP.
October 11, 2002 1:38 PM Subject: RE: tree orders
I've sent my order in for trees. About 6000 total and a pretty good mix: Black ash, green ash, burr oak, white oak, red oak, white pine, red pine, a few white cedar and white spruce.
The prices have really gone up ($1577.00) so I would surely like some help if you can get it from CRP.
Thanks,
Stuart
October 14, 2002
I have talked to [staff person] regarding cost/sharing for replanting. You are eligible. Next step is that I will right up a "need" and give it to [staff person]. She then brings it to the County Commitee to approve. They haven't denied a replant yet, but I won't speak for them. I'll get that process started this, or at the latest, next week. We'll be in touch