Cedar tree bedding

[David Mayfield]

Clearing out different areas of my property and there are cedar saplings everywhere I go. Wondering if I should dig all these small cedars up and transplant them all to one spot, say every 5 foot spacing? I have a low land area that's U shaped with 1 opening rest all hillside on 3 sides with dry creek that runs through, only water in it when rains could days, so it's not a wet marsh area, its dry. I have lots of ridges, very rocky. Where would the deer prefer these cedars tightly spaced? Low land valley or high ridges? Original plan was clover in that valley, deer stand on the ridge. Spacing? Can I plant switch grass with these without switchgrass shading them out?

 

[Prelude8626]

curious about this as well

 

[buckdeer1]

I have moved hundreds of cedars and they transplant real easy.My main issue was learning that when you move and they are small you have to visualize how big they will get.Do you have south facing ridges or hillsides?Do you have areas that they go to in real cold weather?I plant along timber for screening.Usually when transplanting in grass I leave fairly large area between every few.Maybe plant 2 10 ft apart if small.But remember that if burning is part of your plan you don't want cedars there.Also plant CAR resistant pears and apples

 

[Native Hunter]

When you crowd them and sunlight is cut off from near the ground, the bottom limbs die and the only green is up top. A better option is wide spacing with tall grasses and Forbs in between the trees. I would recommend 10 foot spacing and coming back a few years years later and thinning the trees as necessary to keep bottom limbs from dying.

The initial wide spacing is also important so you can mow occasionally around the cedars the first few years to knock back undesirable volunteer trees that can eventually shade them out.

Shown below is where I'm establishing a cedar fence row that is 2,000 feet long between two NWSG fields. This will be a lot of cedar cover, and I will never have to worry about the lower limbs getting enough sunlight.

 

[catscratch]

I can't advise you on your best planting options for that spot, but I can vouch for them being easy to transplant.

 

[Mennoniteman]

As mentioned, cedars transplant easily and make good bedding cover, but when spaced to tightly it's a barren forb and food desert underneath. If you have free cedars it may be a good thing to do it on a small scale, I just know that a lot of us spend a lot of effort to get rid of cedars, esp if you have apple trees. If planting them I'd do it on a small scale, widely spaced, like native pointed out. If you are going to spend the effort planting trees you might want to consider planting something with a little more quality...