Red Bud 84" 10/3/09

Black Cherry 75" 10/3/09

Black Cherry 63" 10/3/09

Bald Cypress 73" 10/3/09

Red Bud 38" 10/3/09

Red Bud 38" 10/3/09

Flowering Dogwood 62" 10/3/09

Black Cherry 78" 10/3/09

Black Cherry Tree 88" 10/3/09

Tulip Tree 70" 10/3/09

Flowering Dogwood 66" 10/3/09

Tulip Tree 58" 10/3/09

Flowering dogwood 60" tall. 10/3/09

Norway spruce 38" tall 10/3/09

2009 was a great year for trees. Plenty of rainfall. Weeds continue to be a problem so we started to cross cut. It takes a lot of time & we still have not cross cut all areas but we like the looks of it. It is much easier to see the trees now. The red oak tree above is 28" tall.

Weeds continue to be our biggest problem in 2008. We continue to cut the fields in 1 direction so the rows of trees are often hidden by the remaining uncut areas (weeds). The weeds can give the trees some protection as long as the tree can get sunlight. We try to clear the area surrounding the seedling if the area is too crowded. The other problem is a vine that wraps itself around the trunk of the tree. It needs to be pulled from the ground so it does not choke the tree. It has become hard to keep up with since most of our time is spent cutting the rows in the fields. A few more years & the trees will hopefully be big enough to eliminate some of the issues.

June 2008. Norway Spruce 30" tall.

June 2008. This bush is 38" tall.

We hand planted 1000 Norway Spruce in late March 2008 to replace some of the loss from 2007. The drought of 2007 killed most Norway Spruce & a lot of the bushes. It is amazing how resilient trees can be, though. Overall, considering the weather condition of last year, the trees look good. We could have planted another thousand but did not know how long it would take us. Once Steve & I got the method down, were were planting 100 every hour. We will not quit our day jobs.
Next year we will try another batch and probably need to continue replanting over time as other die.

As of Friday 9/7/07, we are 12 inches below in rainfall for a normal year. The excess temperatures are not helping. The seedlings look bad. It looks to be about a 50% loss, mostly Bald Cypress & Norway spruce but many bushes aren't looking so good either. There is a vine growing in the 45 acres that is wrapping themselves around the seedlings. We planned to cut the fields in only 1 direction to help encourage wildlife & give some protection to the trees. We started to cut the fields with the tractor crossway in hopes of killing the vines. Steve & I are pulling what we can by hand, but it is a big job. And the weeds & vines keep growing.

I met with the forester on Monday 9/10/07. We had a 10 minute downpour on Saturday & that helped. By Monday, some of the trees had started to bud & many looked to be re-sprouting. The trees had become dormant with the harsh weather conditions but the little rain helped. The forester thinks we have a 75% survival now & feels very optimistic that by next spring we will see signs of improvements. He wants me to replant the Norway Spruce spring 08 and possibly replant the bushes in sprinf 09.

It has been over 4 weeks since the last rain at the farm. Last week the forester visited to check on the trees. He was amazed that the trees were doing so well. He estimated about a 10% loss so far due to the lack of rain. We think the loss is a little higher in some areas. It could be the type of trees in certain areas do not fair as well. Today, it is suppose to rain. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Number of trees

The number of trees and the variety are below:

Red Oak 3835
Black Walnut 3570
Sycamore 230
Red Bud 992
Serviceberry 355
Bur Oak 3570
Norway Spruce 2675
Sugar Maple 2140
Cranberry Vibernum 267
Flowering Dogwood 455
Black Cherry 3745
Sweet gum 892
Yellow Poplar 892
Arrowwood Vibernum 267
Bald Cypress 495

Total Planted 24,380

This picture was taken April 29, 2007. The tree is 40" tall.

The crew from Williams Forestry. The job is finished.