Treenut's Forest Notes for 2025

Will they survive?

I collected thousands of seeds from the cones -- enough to fill a sandwich bag. I mixed a couple handfulls with moist sand and put in fridge over winter.

In early spring I spread this mix out on top of potting mix in a planter tray and put in window. Then moved to greenhouse.

It seems like they all grew.

For history of these Spruce seeds (from 2024 log) [click HERE]

How will they tolerate a move?

There must be over 1000 in the flat. This little slice will fill this rack of 98 tubes.

What will I do with all these? I have nine (9) racks of these Cone-tainer tube pots.

Are there any more seeds in these cones? We'll see...

After I collected all the seed I wanted, I spread the seed cones in a seedbed frame in my garden.

I wanted to see if seeds remain in the cones and will they grow 'outdoors'?

Answer: Yes and Yes!

Can they compete with the weeds -- Answer: no!

Next time I will use cleaner soil.

August 2025: Seedlings in Cone-Tainers after first summer's growth.

I currently have five (5) Cone-tainer racks full of White Spruce seedlings for a total of 490 healthy young trees.

Over the summer i have had many seedlings die (transplant shock?) and I have swapped in healthy trees from those remaining in the nursery tray. I would estimate that I've had a 30% mortality rate over the summer.

November 2025

The pots from two racks have been removed from their racks and burried individually in the ground up to the tops of the pots.

My friend Chet made a soil 'corer' for me to dig tube-sized holes. The soil this fall was dry so I spaded this bed to loosen it. I 'planted' 200 tree tubes in this area to help protect the roots from a hard freeze.

I coverred these tubes with a screen box (shown in background) made from 1/2" mesh. This is to keep out the critters.

I think this tool will work great for planting these trees when the time comes.

December 2025:

Snow cover on planting bed.

There are 200 baby trees under this blanket of snow. I hope they are comfortable.

I was glad that we got 12 inches of snow before the bottom fell out of the thermometer. Here in Madison, Wisconsin it usually warmes and thaws right away after a snowfall. This year is different. It is staying cold -- so far.

December 2025:

Two racks of potted (tubed) White Spruce seedlings in unheated garage window.

We have just endured our first cold weather of the winter. Outside temperatures have fallen to - 3 degrees F for a couple nights. The garage temperatures have stayed in the high 20's and buffer nicely.

I have these two racks set in a west window on a tray. I have a bank of grow lights over them that are on for 3 hours each morning to suplement the natural light. I monitor the temperature between the racks and have a controller programmed to turn on two 120 watt lightbulbs (incandecent) when the air temperature falls below 32 degrees F. and then turn off when it reaches 34 degrees F. It's amazing how much heat is given off by these lights.

I have been watering these pots about once a week as needed and draining off the excess.

Abandoned shelter box idea.

I spent a lot of time modifying this planter box to shelter four of the racks for winter. Black plastic lining was doubled and held 6" insulation batting. The racks were located down 10" from the top to protect from wind. It was covered with 1/2" mesh screen to protect from critters.

After giveing this some thought and consulting many references I decided it was better to bury the pots instead. This would give each individual pot protection (surrounded by soil) from the cold rather than trying to protect them en-mass where cold air can circulate between the pots.

Catulpa in D40 pots (upper right in photo) after 6 Months.

These fast-growing seedlings are already getting a bit rootbound and are ready for transplanting.

August 2025: Planting 30 Catulpa seedlings in open areas on the farm.

Transplanting from D40 containers is extremely easy this year because the ground is wet after a very wet summer.

Using a bulb planter to dig extract a core of soil leaving a hole that pretty much matches the root ball from the D40. Simply drop the seedling into the hole and lightly stomp to seel the cracks.

I pour on about a cup of water with a starter fertilizer disolved. Then I drive a stake to mark the plant -- in the weeds that will follow.

I cut up old tree tubes to make short collars to go around the base. I'm hoping this will discourage rabbits and other creatures from attacking the stems.

Dear are NOT supposed to take much interrest in Catulpa leaves.

We'll see ...

Two of the main locations where we put over 30 Catulpa.

I'm not sure it's a good idea to plant these trees in plots like this but I needed to get them in the ground before winter.

Both these sites have had trouble establishing trees due to either the poor ground or the fierce competition from grass and other weeds.

Clearing pine and spruce trees that are crowding Walnut trees that pave potential to be crop trees

Competition can be either crowding at the base which takes water and nutrients or crowding in the canopy which takes sunlight away from Walnuts.

These trees were planted close together in order to close the canopy quickly to inhibit weed competition. Walnut and evergreens were planted next to each other so that the evergreens would train the Walnuts to grow straight with minimum branching.

Now that the evergreen have done their job (some cases too well) I am tasked with removing some that are too close and out-competing the Walnuts next to them.

Since these trees are groing so tight together, after cutting a tree it has no place to fall and is held up by it's neighbors. This requires bringing the tree STRAIGHT down by blocking it down. This is somewhat dangerous and requires careful planning and execution.

After the tree is on the ground, all the branches must be removed in order to fascilitate decompsition. My forester recommended getting the brush cut to within 3 feet of the ground. I do better than that.

Useing rachet straps to pull a leaning Walnut upright.

In some cases the competing pine caused an otherwise straight young walnut to lean away. I am attempting bring these upright so they can take godd advantage of their new space on the ground and access to the sky in the cleared canopy.

This is very labor intensive and doesn't scale well to a woodlot sized project but I've heard of people doing this and I thought I'd try it.

Two of the main locations where I was releasing Walnut trees

The triangle marks a 1 acre area that has been identified as a starting point in a USDA project to improve this entire stand. Since I am doing all the work we have limited it to one acre parcels each year.

This is the first year.