Colorado Blue Spruce Seedlings?

Hi all,
I have 20 Colorado Blue Spruce seedlings on their way from http://www.NationalArborDay.org that I'd like to plant in an exisiting Bermuda Sod meadow as a windbreak. 1-2 ft seedlings being sent sometime this month. Any suggestions for planting would be invaluable to me!

Do I have to kill the grass first? How big a circle? Can I use Roundup? And how soon afterward can I plant?

I have purchased quite alot of powdery Peat to ammend the the TN clay soil. Afraid I don't have enough compost but I do have some bagged (supposedly composted) manure. What exactly should I amend with and in what quantities?

Spacing for windbreak? I've read anywhere from 6-14 feet and 60 feet on the windward side of the house, which should be NorthWest I believe. The more I read online, the more confused I get! I am poised to kneel at the feet of all you tree experts that can offer your wisdom!

Carol
http://www.justfurkids.com/TNmove.html

Hi Carol -- welcome to our little group of tree nuts!

1. Kill as much of the turf as you can afford to lose. Turf roots are highly competitive with tree seedlings.

2. PLant the trees no deeper then they grew previously, spread the roots in the hole, and backfill with the crumbles soil that came out of the planting holes -- no amendments. Save the peat for making potting mix.

3. Mulch, water, water again in a few days, and repeat as needed.

4. Space them according to your desire. In time, each tree could become 30 feet across if given room to grow, but they can grow as closely as 6-8 feet if they have room on at least one side.

5. Consider making your planting randomly natural instead of an artificial straight line. Make it look like a sculpted landscape instead of a barnyard windbreak, while accomplishing the same purpose. Incorporate some clumpings of other species too.

6. Windbreaks generally are most effective at ground level within a distance of about 10 times the height of the trees. The higher you go (e.g. a two-story house) the shorter the effective distance.

Hope that helps --
Guy S.

Yes that helps tremedously! Thank you so much Guy. Everything you said makes so much sense and I feel much more confident about planting them now.

One question though - would it be okay to use Roundup to kill the turf? And if I do, how soon is it safe to plant the treelings?(Ooops that's 2 questions.)

Of course it will be YEARS before they are effective as windbreaks but I am quite patient. :-) Any suggestions as to what other variety to plant with them?

I've always loved trees and its quite ironic that I am now surrounded by so much grass. Carol

Sure, spray the Round-Up and wait about a week for it to take full effect, then just dig away. It's not soil active so you don't need to worry about planting in the treated area.

Just think of it as a landscape border planting, not a windbreak, and design for effect. The parallel objectives might include wildlife habitat, background for flowering shrubs, seasonal color variation, etc. You also might consider planting a few willows between the spruces as a temporary shelterbelt, but make the firm commitment to remove them as soon as they begin to compete significantly for light with the spruces.

Guy S.

Excellent! Thanks again Guy. Roundup it is!

I had not come across the term shelterbelt before. Lots of google reading to do. Great advice to treat it like a landscape border....much less boring and more of a creative challange. Looking forward to this a whole lot more now.

Carol the newly inspired

I have 2 Colorado Blue Spruce treelings from ArborDay that I got included in the visit to that trail/movie-short deal they have there at the gift shop. A friend gave me hbers. When I got them they were in tubes and didn't have any side branches. They are still in pots (where they over-wintered). Now they are branched out and about 3 times as big as when I got them.
In 02' I got the ten free flowering trees from ArborDay with some success stories from them too. The Redbud that came with that group is at my Mom's and has already flowered nicely and has seeds every year (it is 12 feet tall).
Will