Author Topic: Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise  (Read 4218 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline roiphil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 989
  • I did the 10,000 forum posting
    • Limerick Xmas Tree Centre
Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise
« on: September 17, 2012, 02:02:03 PM »
As you may or may not know i have started to grow xmas trees for resale later on this is an account of what we have bee n up to so far
Field one
This is a couple of pictures of how the field was taking into consideration none of the land has been farmed for about 50 years just had horses on it





we cut it all down with a tractor



big difference now, we also had a digger in to remove some trees and to do some drainage work

Here begins on big learing curve
April 2011
The first lot of 300 noble fir go into the the ground we tried to plant them with a tree planter behind the tractor but all this did was to put the trench in the ground then bury the tree completely so we ended up buy just running the tree planter to put narrow trenches in rows and planted the tree by hand



October 2011
we planted a second lot 150 noble fir and 150 nordmann fir that year, as i was told autumn is the best time to plant this time we did not use the tree planter, a couple of weeks before planting i sprayed the rows with weedkiller then i rotovated the rows then planted the trees by hand a couple of weeks later once all the grass was dead

August 2012
we are finally getting thing sorted this year i rotavated the whole area using a tractor and rotavator on the back, we planted 66 noble fir and 198 nordmann fir and as a trial 16 lodgepole pine, we planted in august as the supplier said this is the beat time to plant

As you can see at the moment we are trialing and so far have discovered that the nordmann fir are better for a wet fielsd they can tolerate the ground being wet

Replacement
out of the first year planting i have replaced about half so far due to the trees dieing we have put his down to the field being to wet for noble fir so and dead ones are being replaced with normann fir
second year i replaced 7 nordmann fir and about 80 noble fir which proves that maybe nordmann fir do better than noble fir

Planting by hand became hard labour so this year i made this tree planter





the metal pipe is the same size as the transplant plug and you simply push it into the ground to the cross piece of metal which gives you the correct depth to plant to and ther is the hole put the plant in and firm it in, it is 5' long so plant one lay it one the ground that gives you the distance for the next tree to plant

basically the first field has turned into a trial field and i have one more area left into for another 300 trees next year

here are a couple of pictures of last years trees

noble fir


nordmann fir


aswell as trees outside we are trying some in pots which wil be sold as a smaller tree grown in pots these nordmann fir were planted last year, they are kept in a polytunnel i also have some of this years pot planted trees outside in pots to see the difference in growth



This is the next field it is about 4 acres which will give me the ability to plant about 1000 trees each year for 4 years approx as you can see it needs cutting down and a digger getting in to get it in a suitable shape for planting







by the time we  are planting in this field i will have sorted out the problem with the tree planter and redesigned it so far it has all been one long learning curve





« Last Edit: September 17, 2012, 03:39:54 PM by roiphil »

NightHawk

  • Guest
Re: Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2012, 03:27:16 PM »
Thank you for that explanation Phil.

A lot of hard work has gone into that project so far, and you seem to have got a good system going.

How long do you anticipate your first set of trees will be big enough for selling?

I suppose it will get easier once your trees get established and you get a 'crop rotation' method going.  Cutting down mature trees, planting seedlings then cutting down more maturing trees whilst waiting for the seedlings to grow.  I've probably over-simplified that process, but I think you can see what I'm getting at.  New projects take a while to get established  :D

Good luck, and keep us updated with the progress of your trees (with photos of course).

Offline roiphil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 989
  • I did the 10,000 forum posting
    • Limerick Xmas Tree Centre
Re: Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2012, 03:43:02 PM »
thanks it should take approx 7 years to get a tree of any suitable size but that is according to books and what you read, what a plant actually does is completely different,

we have learnt that nordmann fir are more suitable to the ground than noble fir

NightHawk

  • Guest
Re: Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2012, 04:37:38 PM »
What's the acreage of land you've got there Phil?  It looks like a massive area from your photos  :o

7 years to maturity - wow!  You need patience for that.  I suppose if you've got smaller projects ongoing you can occupy your time and make it seem to pass quicker  ;)


Offline roiphil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 989
  • I did the 10,000 forum posting
    • Limerick Xmas Tree Centre
Re: Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2012, 06:34:05 PM »
with the house there is about 5 acres, but i have the good opportunity to use about 40 acres in total  :o its land that has not been farmed on for about 50 years apart from horses runing on it, each field will need sorting out

7 years does seem a long time but it soon goes and i have a funny feeling it could be longer than 7 years  :( and as you say if you smaller projects aswell time passes quicker

we have just finished rebuilding a 1974 series 3 landrover that i bought in from the uk last year that is all road legal now
from this


to this


we now kave in the workshop a 1978 mk2 capri  8) which i think will be in there a while

Offline roiphil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 989
  • I did the 10,000 forum posting
    • Limerick Xmas Tree Centre
Re: Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2012, 10:20:49 AM »
Started to clear the next 4 acre field of the rushes and brambles last weekend and this happened



Even the rescuers needed rescueing



and whats a tractor without the dog in the cab aswell going round the field



so change of plan get a digger in first to clear the dykes put some new dykes in and get the land drained a bit more first

Phil

NightHawk

  • Guest
Re: Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2012, 12:08:48 PM »
Oops!

Lucky escape there Phil.  You could have disappeared into the 'underworld' - never to be heard from again  :o

At least you won't do that again  ::)

Apart from that, your project seems to be going well  ;)

Thank you for the update.

Laurie.

Offline roiphil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 989
  • I did the 10,000 forum posting
    • Limerick Xmas Tree Centre
Re: Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2012, 12:41:26 PM »
yes very lucky it turned out to be a spring and due to the rushes etc i could not see it and the tractor went straight down to its axles  :o didnt have time to do anything like raise the topper put it into difflock to lock the front wheels for better traction, it was already in four wheel drive, just sink in the blink of an eye

Offline roiphil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 989
  • I did the 10,000 forum posting
    • Limerick Xmas Tree Centre
Re: Phils Christmass Tree Enterprise
« Reply #8 on: November 01, 2013, 12:09:59 PM »
Been a long time since i updated this, and i have have also learnt a lot, and trialed some items, at the moment i am trialing what is the better option of nordmann fir to grow plug cell grown or bare root this is a long term trial the bare root according to the suppliers they are supposed to be ready within 4-5 years whereas the plugcell could be 7+ years plus but the bare root cost 4 times as much you can read about my trial here

http://limerickxmastreecentre.blogspot.ie/p/bare-root-v-plug-cell-experiment.html

Has anyone else done a trial of this sort

Phil