tree farm - weed control

I am putting in more blue spruce this fall, how are you guys controlling weeds. I am afraid to use any spray around them since they are so close to the ground. The only thing I can think of is running a sickle, since it is right on the ground.
Or is there a herbicide that is safe around the pines/spruces.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Rick

I might have some ideas for you.

Also there is a herbicide that is pine tree safe, at least for red pine. It has a name something like Vaspar. or Valspar..... .something like that. Starts with a V.

Right now all the maples are 8-9 feet. No branches below 4'. The cherries are 4-5' with branches as low as 1.5'.

The spruce going in this fall will be 2 foot high.

Right now I am looking at a less "agressive" chemical than roundup. I have never had a problem with it yet, but a couple of other guys have recommended SURFLAN (Dow) and Casoron, both claim overspray will not harm the tree. I have to check availability locally.

Any more info would be great. Going at this by myself so trying to learn from others, and not the hard way.

Rick

In any case "some" cover can actually help trees. In very Dry, or extreme sun, cover will spare young trees some. Have you considered getting a tiller unit and just turning under the wide part of the rows and leaving the rest? Trees burried in grass or weeds are not good but if you knock down the main path a few times a year this might be the ticket?

I have a tiller unit for doing my plots here and am able to get right up to the rows. If your tractor is small enough....this will give you plenty of room to work in 6ft rows.

I have a 40 planted in red pines. They are getting about 18 inches to 2ft or so right now. I am considering doing a release of these next year with round-up. I can take my boom sprayer, was going to lower it a little and block off the extra nozzles. Then attach a over spray blocker and spray my rows.

In my case these are for timber production, and my rows are only 5ft. My tractor is wide and my tiller is 92 inches. However if I could get a tiller between I would. And not worry about a few weeds in between

It is just that last little weed strip between the trees I am trying to get out.

I have had a problem with the mice "skulling" the trees at the base in the winter if I leave too many weeds around them. Lost 25 Norway spruce last winter to that.

I am making a separate boom attachment for my sprayer so I can control it with an electric shut off valve to do the same thing you are talking about.

Thanks for the info,
Rick

Question about Cherry trees: I have some planted, they are about 4 foot tall. They all came on strong this spring, good leaves and blooms. About 4 weeks ago one just up and died. The leaves turned brown and was dead in about 3-4 days. Any thoughts on what might cause it? I checked for bores, saw nothing, the bark looks good, everything appears fine, but the sucker is dead as the proverbial doornail! The only thing I can think of is too much water. We had heavy rains repeated that kept the ground saturated, but the other trees are fine???

Dug

I don't know how sensitive cherries are to overwatering, and I haven't had much experience with mine yet. If you have heavy clay like I do deeper down, it takes a while to dry out. I plant all my trees with an 18" auger, it makes a column in that clay, I have dug down around the trees and there is a ton of moisture down there. Until it gets really dry out.

We did plant two rows (200 trees) of bradford pears last spring at my buddies place, and lost all but maybe 10 trees. Had the conservation district out, they couldn't find anything except the area was a little low and with the rain it never really dried out all summer.

Are you using any chemicals? I thought you said you put in Pecans and Filberts. I mulched 300 trees this year. But the weeds between the trees really bug me, and mulching that many trees is a pain.

Rick

Dug

I don't have too much problem with the deer. I am getting past the point of hand mulching, and I can't spend $10k on a row mulcher.

I am running the long rows trying to be the most efficient, for mowing or cultivating and for spraying. It is just the last little amount of weeds between the trees that bug me. I use a very diluted roundup spray, works good. But it is now time to use a bigger sprayer. Mixing 2 gallons in a hand sprayer is taking up a lot of time.

The big tree farms by me till and spray, or till and hire summer workers to hoe around every tree!!

If I come of with something that works good, I put out a post.

Thanks,
Rick