Ordering Trees
Greetings everyone!
I'm sharing an email that I sent to a silvopasture design group we're a part of in Western PA about ordering trees. The orders are going in tomorrow, so please let me know if you are interested in any of these trees.
Planting trees is important anywhere, whether it is your back yard or on a farm.
I hope your day is off to a good start.
I have orders going in for trees. Before I place them, I wanted to check with everyone regarding jumping on the orders in order to get lower pricing or at least to save on shipping.
I would encourage all of you to plant at least some trees this year, even if you don't know exactly what you want to do yet.
The best way to get clear about what you want is to engage in the process of starting trees on your property.
The design part is important, but I've found that putting trees in the ground can help you quickly get some of the information you need as part of the "discovery" portion of the planning process.
Austin is a big proponent of planting in "phases", and this spring is a good opportunity to get phase 1 under your belt. If you plant a hundred trees this spring, you will be in a much better position for planting this fall and next spring.
Remember, the prime planting season is about to start. Live stakes can be going in now, bare root will be shipping in less than 2 months and need in the ground before they come out of dormancy at the end of April.
Plus, past March you will be too busy with other things to really spend much time planting trees.
Shade is the first place people go with their thoughts on silvopasture, but there are a host of other benefits that you should be thinking about when choosing your trees. Here are some categories that we're being mindful of for our experiments:
- Live stakes (ease of planting, living fences)
- Human consumption
- Reduce winter feeding for ruminants
- Trees/bushes for feeding pigs and chickens while reducing corn and soy inputs
- Trees for Bees
- Native, biodiversity
- Personal Preference
- Wind breaks, living barns, etc...
I think the collective agroforestry awareness is just beginning to scratch the surface of how beneficial trees can be when done well. Every single tree you plant for can be unlocking a whole suite of benefits.
There is room to plant so many trees, and each one of them can be of net benefit to both your land's ecology and economy.
If you are in your first planting, fast growing trees that are easy to plant and can take a beating are a great choice if you have animals. This is one reason why Austin is planting so many live stakes (willow, hybrid poplar) and honey locust. Each of these have the added benefit of providing a potential supplement to energy or nutrition needs for your animals.
The other category I would think about in your first planting is whatever species really get you excited. You're going to be more likely to follow through if you are excited about the trees you are planting.
Here are the species I am ordering on Wednesday...
I am placing an order through Musser for the following BARE ROOT trees for a mid to late March pickup. These trees will all be less than $2.00 per tree and about 2' tall:
- Honey locust
- Persimmon
- Swamp white oak
- Osage
- American Hazelnut
- White pine
- Red mulberry
Additionally, I am placing an order for bare root paw paws from another source.
If you are interested in any live staking materials, I am working on collecting as many stakes of elderberry, hybrid poplar, and willow as possible. Some of you have offered to help in this endeavour, and I have some other local sources of cuttings that I am working on. I may also order some additional materials from Ernst. If you have access to make cuttings or if you need cuttings, let me know.
I am also working on some orders for fruit and nut production. This includes berry bushes, fruit trees, and nut trees. If you are interested in anything like this, let me know and we can coordinate on that as well.
If you are interested in any of this, let me know what species and how many you want. You can let me know an amount of trees or a dollar amount you are willing to spend.
If you aren't sure what to plant or where to plant or how many or have any questions at all, feel free to reach out and discuss.
Let's plant some trees!
Life is good.
P.S. If anyone knows where I can get some sourwood for less than $8 a tree, I would appreciate being pointed in that direction.