Good source for Norway Spruce

weekender21

weekender21

Well-Known Member
I'm thinking about planting Norway spruce as a screen on one of my property borders and possibly plant some for bedding. What's a good source? I can get most trees I'm interested in from Nativ, the wildlife group, or my state nursery but not Norway Spruce.

Also looking for opinions on other options for bedding cover. Fraser Fir are grown heavily in my area for Christmas tree sales. I know deer bed in these trees but don't know if they would be better than NS.
 
I got mine at good prices at state nursery. NC may have that available. That's the good news. Bad new, Of couple hundred I have planted over couple years, I maybe had 6 survive. Deer love them so either leader cap them or cage. And they just have done poorly. I switched to White pine and they seem to be doing much better but I still screen cap the leader as the deer like them in the winter. I've had better luck letting white pine and red cedar grow naturally than any pine I've planted. While not so great for thermal bedding, I have had good luck planting silky dogwood and hazelnut.
 
I can't imagine caging the number of trees I'd like to plant, I wonder if they'll leave the Fraser Fir alone?

I wonder how they would do tube for the first few years then released. Will the deer browse larger NS or just the seedlings?


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Are you looking for bare root or plugs? I have planted a couple thousand plugs from Itasca and have had very good survival rates. There have been a few spots that the deer nipped the tops off but generally they don't bother them until they are 3-4 feet high then they like to rub the hell out of them. I have planted high numbers and know I will lose some but know enough will get through to do what I need. I am trying to create thermal cover and bedding areas with a high number of trees.
I have also done bare roots from our state nursery, http://lauraslanenursery.com , and http://mitrees.com . I was pretty impressed with the Wahmhoff trees and they have done extremely well. I have had better luck with survival planting plugs but the 100 trees I planted from Wahmhoff did extremely well.
 
weekender21 said:
I can't imagine caging the number of trees I'd like to plant, I wonder if they'll leave the Fraser Fir alone?

I wonder how they would do tube for the first few years then released. Will the deer browse larger NS or just the seedlings?


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Tree tubes will work but you will lose limb screening at that level. And capping the leader will prevent browse.
 
weekender21 said:
Most likely plugs but really depends on what I can get my hands on.

What time of year is optimal for planting fir and spruce?

For me, here in MI, I shoot for April 1st, but bump my pick up day earlier if the frost has left the ground. First day it does, I'd like to be augering holes.
I have had much better luck switching to a nursery that cuts them a day or 2 before I pick up, with no cold storage. Use water sorb/keep on the roots and I've been as close to 100% for survival since doing these few things.
I've probably put in 20k in the last 4 yrs

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weekender21 said:
Most likely plugs but really depends on what I can get my hands on.

What time of year is optimal for planting fir and spruce?


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This is just my personal preference, so take it for what it is. Here in Central Kansas, we tend to get really hot and dry in the summer. I find planting all of my trees in the fall (preferred), or as early in the spring as possible gives the transplants a little more time to get some roots established before that hot and dry gets here.
 
Thanks T-Max, that's what I've been doing with my fruit and nut trees. Just didn't know if there was something different about evergreens.
 
My wife's coworker owns a Christmas tree farm. He plants a lot of norways. He said there are three things they need to transplant properly. In this order:

1. Water
2. Water
3. Water.
 
I'd be ok with 20% success, I planted ~120 white oak acorns with tap roots last month. Doubt I'll see one of them make it but you never know. I'll have to place an order with MDC this year.
 
weekender21 said:
I'd be ok with 20% success, I planted ~120 white oak acorns with tap roots last month. Doubt I'll see one of them make it but you never know. I'll have to place an order with MDC this year.
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An inexpensive option you might try that worked amazingly well for me is Deer Out (http://www.deerout.com/). It has a pleasant mint smell and is easy to apply with a pump sprayer. My problem with it was that it needed to be reapplied every 2 weeks and my place was hard to get to and around in the winter.

Also, note that white pine (or Norway spruce) is not preferred deer browse, so if you can keep your trees alive until spring, the deer will move onto something else to eat.
 
And another thing to worry about. Once you manage to get your trees to around 6 feet you will think that you are in the clear because browsing can no longer kill them. That's when your prize 20 percenter gets destroyed by a rub.

I have had success with this problem by pounding in a triangle of 3 stakes, each about 6 inches from the main trunk. A pain for sure, but it worked 100% of the time wherever I got it done.
 
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