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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Taylorman55" data-source="post: 225514" data-attributes="member: 1290">I've put in close to 1000 trees in the last 3 years since we've owned our place. My main advice, use the fabric. I first mowed a 5 foot wide path and then 3 passes with my 5 foot rototiller. Ground was absolutely beautiful. Not a single weed to be seen. (This is native prairie along river bottom and there was very, very few weeds to begin with, exceptionally clean land). Within a week of roto tilling, wormwood and thistle came at a rather insane rate. I thought for sure I could just spray and keep everything at bay, since I did noxious weed control for years as a job in the summer. WRONG. Even with careful monitoring/spraying meticulously it was overtaken and rather quickly. Out of the 300+ (3-4 foot) Black hills spruce, Colorado Greens, and Various other Pines I put in, I have about 20 that are alive right now. These trees were watered by hand once every week. Even with the rototilling, I did have to dig down with shovel to get these trees set at the right depth. Now, weeds were not the only issue here, and probably not even the main reason for a lot of the dying. Wind burn,I believe, along with a tree specialist I had come out and take a look, is thought to be the main issue. This summer I planted 500 poplars and austree hybrids on the north side of all of my evergreens. For my chunk of land, I'm going to have to get a fast growing tree going for a few years to take some wind stress off of my Pines/Evergreens. The poplars and hybrids are only about a 20 year tree, but if they can get my pines/evergreens a jump for a good 10-20 years, I can knock them out once they start dying. One thing is for certain, I will never plant another tree row without laying fabric down. I recently applied with a local tree planting program, so we will see if I get accepted. Applied for 3500 trees to be planted. Hoping to have a fortress for the birds and deer when I retire. Good luck with the planting. Plant as many as you can afford with the help you have, in 20 years you'll be looking back on this thread and thanking yourself for the hard work you put in the next few years.</blockquote>

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