thanks again, I will contact the extension. I have 500 Frazer fir on order for the spring.
Any suggestions on land prep, I plan on tilling a 5 foot swath and plant trees 6 to 8 feet apart. Growing cheery and walnut sounds like a good idea in the future.
My kids will be the ones to reap the benefits on those I think.
Before ya do anything, and I mean ANYTHING. Divide your fields up into 1/4 acre grids on paper, then stake 'em. Then take soil samples from each block and pay for the detailed analysis. I dunno who does 'em in your area, but the Cornell guys can help you out, or do do them as well. Spectrum Analytical does ours and do a great job.
Know what you are dealing with before jumping in with your fingers crossed.
Sometimes corrections can be made before/during planting certain varietys, other times, they cannot, and you would be better off planting something else or nothing at all depending on the cost of corrections/return on the planting.
The reason for the small grids will be obvious when you get the samples back.
Micro environments are no big deal on a 1,000 acre corn field, but can wipe out your cash flow on a small investment intensive operation. 50 hybrid Lilac starts ya paid 20 bucks each dying while 50 one grid over are doing fine means you break even, but lost 1/2 acre of space that could be producing 100% with an appropriate species for both grids.
Irrigation/drainage is another thing to consider before going whole hog.
Some varietys like it wet but well drained, others do better in plain damp to dry. Start planning some sort of Irrigation system that is very flexible and requires minimal manual input, such as mulitple zone drip on a programmable control. Irrigation vs no Irrigation can mean the difference between profitability and going under, and a couple years difference on time to harvest/sell with some varietys.
Healthy/happy and well fed plants have fewer problems with insects, fungus, and diseases and increase profits while decreasing inputs and labor time.
Heads up on the NRCS. Quite often there are grants and cost shares available for participating in voluntary soil, air, water, habitat, conservation programs. Usually they are specific practice pograms such as maintaining a cover crop in areas prone to erosion, and using prescribed applicator practices with herbicides/pesticides/fertilizers. It ain't much, but they add up, and take a bite out of the inputs responsible farmers practice anyhow.
One of the best programs is the ACF Barn cost share. Essentially it's an 80% grant to build a Barn(Hell of a Barn!) to thier specs for containment of Ag. Chemicals. Get to know the local NRCS guys, as thier job is to get you participating and get the grants and cost shares heading your way for responsible farming. They also network like mad with all sort of farmers that might be needing 500 trees to qualify for a windbreak, on a soil conservation grant
. Really, really, good folks to know and work with.
Good luck to ya!!
Stay safe!
Dingeryote
