# Fastest growing conifer?



## DEERSLAYER

I am thinking of planting some screening cover in the form of a conifer. My ground is quite low and moist. I was thinking of white pine although I'm not sure if it is the fastest growing in this situation. Also, dose anyone know if there are any hybred conifer tree's out there? I would like to get a good wind break and block the view of my nieghbors house at the back of my property in hopes the deer will use this area better during daylight.


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## Spinner1a

That is exactly what I want to do as well (see post below). Intersted in any info anyone has.

Thanks


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## SalmonSlayer

check out Coldstream Farms website...they tell a little about which is fast growing on their order form...

http://www.jackpine.com/~csf/index.html

I believe that address will work...

ben


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## johnhunter

I guess it depends how moist is moist. On a field of heavy loam soil, White Pine that I planted in '97 absolutely kicked butt, and many of the trees are now 12 feet tall. Grew much faster than the Norway Spruce which I planted in the same field.

Conifers which are said to do best on wet ground (Black and White Spruces) are pretty slow-growing trees. Tamarack does well on wet sites, but doesn't offer much screening effect. It does grow fast.

If your property is outside of the natural range of White Cedar, you may try planting it. Great screen, cover, and reasonable growth rate on good sites. Though it's known as a species that deer browse on heavily, I've known of guys that planted White Cedar in high deer-density areas in southern MI, and the deer barely touched the stuff.


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## Jeff Sturgis

WP is pretty decent, and retains it's lower branches better than red or jack. My property is pretty sandy and was clearcut in 1983. The property is full of 15 year old WP, Jack, and Red pine, as well as 15 year old Tamerack and spruce, mixed with older ages of the same type of trees.

The JP definately have the highth advantage over the WP, followed by WP, and then Red pine, but the main difference is the younger WP are providing a much more effective screening cover than any of the others.

My WP that I planted the past 2 years did amazingly well when left alone with weed cover surrounding them. In the first year you couldn't even tell any had lived, but come spring they were all poking through the dead weeds. During the second year, they seemed to be pretty even in highth with the weeds, and look to be about 1.5 to 2' going into this summer. It will be interesting too see how they compare in the next couple of years to my 3 and 4 year old red pines.


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## johnhunter

Northjeff brought up weed competition, and that should be a consideration also, depending on how much weed control you plan on doing in future years, as well as how serious weed/grass competition is on your site. White Pine has certainly done better in competing with weeds and grass than other conifers on my farm.

I've planted thousands of White Pine, Norway Spruce, White Spruce, and several hundred Red Pine and Tamarack, all in areas where vegetative competition was pretty heavy. The species performed as follows:

Best: White Pine

2nd-3rd: Tamarack, Red Pine (dead heat)

4th: Norway Spruce

Worst: White Spruce


While the White Spruce are laggards when faced with competition, they are still mostly alive, just growing slowly.


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## DEERSLAYER

farmlegend,

It is basically swamp, although no standing water. Also, how big were those white pines when you planted them in 97? I can get some white pine from a friends and I am thinking of transplanting some in the 4 foot range.


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## Ferg

Is this not the best time to plant - April - ? - then again in the fall - Nov - Dec - when everything is dormant? - 

ferg...
learning...


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## johnhunter

The White Pines were 2-2 transplants. Not sure of their size, but probably no more than 12-16 inches tall. They weren't really visible above the weeds during the summer until 2000, and their growth accelerated rapidly then.


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## sargent

White pine is definitely the way to go for your soil/moisture type. My place has white pines in all stages of growth from 4+ft diameter trunk (entered it in a Michigan big tree contest and was beat by a WP in traverse city) to all the seedlings these huge trees produce. They do well in all soils/lights and grow very fast. If you are able to get the 4tall trees I would strongly recommend finding a small tree spade you could rent /hire to plant them vs. digging them by hand. They would grow but they will be stunted. My best luck planting transplanted wild WP has been in the 3 and smaller trees. Even though I have tons of seedlings in the woods I could transplant, its still much easier and faster to plant nursery transplants in the 2yr old range. They are about 18-24 and grow very fast. In good years with plenty of moisture from nature and me Ive had 2 ½ growth in a single year. I buy all my transplants from Newaygo County Conservation District Nursery.


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## Guest

White pine grows at about 2 feet per year. The first year is the least amout of growth. They will take off in just a couple years. Makes a fine screen cover.


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