planting trees

[buckblaster]

I'm in the process of buying a piece of land. I want to plant a few different trees species some for wildlife others just to have. I'm looking at apples, a few oaks, possibly a permisson, and some berry bushes. What are some of the best sites or places to purchase trees and bushes. I've looked at willis orchards and nature hills online. Anyone ever plant permisson trees. I see theres a few different types. Any preferences? The chocolate permisson looked good for both wildlife and if you wanted to eat them. Never tried them. I'm going to start some oaks in milk jugs over the winter.

[OTIS]

I'm not sure what state you live in, but New York has a big tree sale over the winter.  They'll either ship them to you or you can pick them up at drop points throughout the state.  Great prices on a variety of species.  They are seedlings though.

We have a Big Lots and they get a decent shipment in every spring of larger trees, and their prices are very reasonable.

[adkRoy]

Walmart, lowes, homedepot.  Also consider planting a few pear trees. Deer love them. You are also going to want to wrap wire mesh around the base of the tree to prevent small mammals like mice and rabbits from girldling the tree and pur a 6 foot fence around each tree to keep the deer from eating all the branches.

[reeleyz]

Don't forget about the Dunstan Chesnut trees. They are supposed to better than acorns or apples... You will probably have to wait until spring to get them though.

[buckblaster]

I looked through the NY site they've got quite a few species for sale. I might pick up the grouse habitat group at some point. Anyone ever try starkbros or willis orchards online?

[seags]

Hi,
   Have you contacted your local DNR?
    Our DNR helped us out in the late 90's.
      We got about 350 trees; oaks,pines and tulip trees which are flowering type in the spring if weather permitting. These trees where just tiny sticks.
      My dad did the leg work for that.
   My my is a semi-retired electrical consultant; and he believes in alot of detail.
It took us (well about 12 people) 2 days to get the trees in the ground.
   Dad had the back acres laid out with yellow and orange and white mason line.
The yellow was for the oaks, orange for the pines and white was for the tulips which where closer to the house.
  Those days we had a production line going on, one person would drill with an old ice auger, the next person would drop the tree, the next person would drop a skoal can full of 12-12-12 fertilizer
the next person would go and back fill.
     I can remember that was a great weekend, there was cold beer, and alot of ice water,
  I will bet that my mom made at least 60 pieces of chicken and sides.
  We just took our time, and took many breaks.
     I think we maybe lost 10 trees since the time of planting.
    As far as going with the milk jugs, I personally do not recommend it; I have tried it and I just had bad luck, I think that it is something in the plastic. I even lost evergreen shrubs trying to transplant
      Going back to the late 90's, I change my plan, I acquired 5 oak tree seedlings and I mulched them with pete moss inside of metal coffee cans; I was able to transport 1 out 5, and that oak is growing so strong, I look at it everyday, it is placed off-set the house.
I hope this helps 
 

[buckblaster]

I haven't contacted them but I looked at their selection on the website. They don't really have the specific trees I'm looking for. I'm mainly looking for quite a few apple, a couple of oaks, blueberries, rasberries. I may put in some balsalm trees just to have as christmas trees. We just got approved to buy it so I don't know how much I'll have to clear to put in what I want yet. Thanks for the info. I was hoping starting the oaks in the jugs would work better. Doesn't sound to promising. Started looking online, didn't know red oak acorns were dormant for their first year.

[brace]

Good luck BB - I just planted 8 apple trees  this summer, of which it looks like 6 will survive.   For whatever reason, both my Canadian strawberry apple trees aren't faring well.   Additionally I've been pruning/babying another 10 apple trees on my woodlot.  It's a lot of fun.  I'm going to try my hand at some oaks next year, as I have only 2 (that I'm aware of). 

As far as berries go, I'd recommend blackberries - At least in my neck of the woods, they seem to do much better then raspberries and are far easier to obtain.  I transplanted a couple pods from my buddy's lawn this past spring and they seem to be doing quite well.  Blueberries are a pain in the butt IMO, but if you're really set on them, I'd go with the "high bush" variety.  You might also want to consider some rhubarb which is easy to maintain, and is easily transplanted. 

[corny13]

Try St.Lawerence Nursery in Potsdam,NY   All of my orchard has come from them.... all trees grown in zone 4.