How Close To Plant Tree Seedlings.

I'm about to order some pine and maybe hardwood seedlings.

Only been trying to do this for two years! [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] And I really
wanted to order in January..... [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Anyway, the website for the Forestry Department has lots
of info on how deep to plant the seedlings but I don't see
any info on how far apart to plant......

From natural regeneration and plantings I have seen it looks
like that spacing is a couple of feet or so.

The area I'm going to plant is for screening purposes at this
point. I don't know what will be built on the property line
so I want a sound and sight screen in place. As the pines
get larger we will plant a screen of shrubs to grow in as the
trees grow up.

Any hardwoods I get I'm just going to plant here and there.

Thanks,
Dan

A couple of feet or so is probably good, realizing that you would want to thin the seedlings later as you figure out which ones are the hardiest and grow the fastest. Out of a couple hundred white pine that we planted and forgot about, we've lost perhaps two dozen. Of the remainder, some aren't much bigger than when we planted, and others have grown about two feet. If you plant closer together, you could snip off the weaker trees after a couple of years and have only the strongest remaining.

Steve

The forestry service in my area recommends a '10x'10 spacing on mature trees so you might use than as a gauge in planting seedlings, weeding them out as they grow.
Mike

I space trees I plant based on how I plan to take care of them. For those I plan to mow around, then I make sure there is enough room to do that. The grass and weed competition is real rough on new seedlings and if you can help them out the first 2-4 years, you will get a big jump on the "screen" that you want from the trees. Spruce trees can sometimes make a better screen than pine, as the pine when close together will lose the lower branches in time. I planted 800 walnut trees on 10 by 10 spacing, and for the first 15 years kept the plantation weed free. Then the walnut trees were big enough to shade out most everything that wanted to grow underneath. Now the trees are 30 + years and need to be thinned for the bigger trees to grow faster. So some of them are getting cut down.
There are sprays that will kill the vegetation around trees if sprayed during the dormant season (pre-emergence sprays). That helps take care of the competing grasses, but by the end of the season, the thistles and a few other weeds can find the grassless area a good place to grow.

Everyone,

Thanks for the replies. 10x10 sounds about right for the
mature trees. That seems to be the distance I was seeing
in the pine forest I used to have prior to the timbering.

I have been himming and hawing about overplanting and then
thinning at some point but that is the best answer I think.
With the heavy snow and ice storms we have had over the
last couple of years, it looks like the sapling growing in dense
groups survive pretty well. Trees on their own almost always
get bent over and killed.....

So dense planting and then thin to 10x10. Course that sounds
like the most labor intensive. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] As usuall. [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]

Thanks!
Dan