Just a follow-up- I got a loaner planter from the DNR and it took us about 10 hrs. to plant the trees- day 2 was way more productive after we tweaked the planter. At first you can see from pic 3 that the closing wheels were not rolling the furrow back over on one side, not a lot of adjustments on the planter but if the plow tip was tilted deeper the furrow rolled over better as it started to self- close before the wheels came in contact. The white spruce were brutal to plant, only 1yr old so you had to bend pretty far to get them seated well (it would’ve been just as fast to dibble those). The White & Red pines were 3 yr old seedlings and that went fast, including all the American Plums with a nice root base in pic 1. We took out time, planted one row and went back and planted misses and heeled everything in, caged all the Bur Oaks- finished sore and tired after about 2,000 trees including some additional Red Osier Dogwood and it started to rain so timing was good. Can’t say enough good things about the Wisconsin DNR Nursery staff – great people and awesome customer service.

Very good feedback OKforester on adjustments. Get that right and it is off to the races.

Eagleye, How far up north? I still have frost in the canary grass covered parts of the ground here. I wanted to plant some willow and dogwood today, but frost wouldn't allow.

I think my days on a planter are over. I hate the rows as they are not wildlife friendly. So I spend way too long spading them in.

Justin, can you go more in detail on why you diskike rows?

Probably because I don't have to rely on the income from the timber production and enjoy the benefits of a younger forest. My biggest issue is it is not natural. Where else in nature do you see rows upon rows of anything growing? Usually only where man has cultivated, and it usually comes at a significant cost to the things I care most about. I believe there are even some studies that note rows of the same species of tree are the hardest on wildlife. Rows of monocultures tilt the predator prey relationship in favor of the predator. I also think it tends to favor the predator of the trees as well.

I prefer to work with nature instead of against. I like to plant trees in clusters like you find in nature. To me, it is all about creating more edge habitat. Focus on clusters of different species at different ages. Wildlife flourishes with diversity of edge habitat. Doesn't matter if you are talking rabbits, deer, pheasants, grouse, etc. I don't want to be able to see 50 yards through my woods. With rows, you see from one side to the other no matter the distance or age of tree.

The worst is pine planted in rows. Once you get about 25 years old, the bottom branches die and fall off. They are a complete desert in terms of wildlife and you still have significant number of years before timber value will justify cutting.