The Power of Tree Tubes: Producing acorns in the 4th growing season!

Here's what happens when great planting stock meets the best tree tubes and a diligent landowner willing to do some weed control:  You get oaks - planted as 18 to 24 inch seedlings - that start producing acorns in the 4th growing season!

You also get oak trees that were planted in spring 2011 as 18" seedlings now standing more than seven feet tall.

Tree Tubes - Dozens of Uses

In 23 years of working with tree tubes I have never really sat down and listed all of the ways in which they are used.  I'm going to try to remedy that here in this post.

1) Hardwood reforestation

2) Windbreak & shelterbelt plantings

3) Riparian zone restoration plantings

4) Wildlife habitat (food plot) plantings

5) Mitigation banking

6) Orchard establishment

7) Mine reclamation

8) Ecological restoration

9) Urban & landscape plantings

10) Timber stand improvement

12) Nursery production


 I know, I said "dozens" of applications for tree tubes, but only listed an even dozen.  Here's the thing:  within each of these dozen applications are dozens more specific uses.  For example, orchard establishment encompasses everything from planting pistachios in the sun-baked San Joaquin Valley of California, to planting a field of anti-oxidant rich Aronia berry in Missouri (speaking of which, switching the common name away from "chokeberry" was probably a good marketing move on someone's part!), to a back yard orchard of heirloom apples in New York... and everything in between.

So in upcoming posts I'll take one of these categories and look at the history of tree tube use for that application, cover some case studies, and offer some tips for success.

Come back soon!