I bought a bunch of young trees from the Missouri Dept of Conservation this year. They arrived well-rooted and moist, so I heeled them into 5gal buckets for the time being.
I want to plant them out in the field (no fence, so deer will be an issue) but I’ve already seen vole activity in my Black Walnuts so I’m wondering, what’s the best way to plant younger trees like this to ensure maximum take and minimum wildlife damage? I’m in Zone 6b, things are heating up here finally.
The ones I’m most worried about are pecans, hazelnuts, mixed hickory, persimmon, and black walnut trees.
Here’s a few options I was thinking of:
- Plant them out into the field with tree tubes and maybe some cages
- Plant them into Tree Pots and keep them over the winter in the greenhouse/shed (I would be more tempted to do this if they didn’t already have wonderful root systems, my concern is that the Tree Pots would be too small for them already)
- Scrounge up all the 5-7gal grow bags and pots I have, plant each one into its own bucket, and hold them like that for 1+ (?) years
I saw this thread on the topic but it’s still not clear to me how long I would hold them in pots. If you can think of any other threads I can get some advice from, or if you post any input here, thank you in advance!
