Some Trees Are Almost Growing TOO Fast
Good morning from wood street farm i’m Phil today i’m going to show you a few Of our christmas trees that are doing Really well i’ll show you a couple that Aren’t doing so hot as well but there’s One in particular that i want to show You that is growing super fast i’ll tell You more about that in a minute right Behind me here is our flower patch we’re Going to be opening for pick your own Flowers here in about a week and a half And it is coming along nicely these Flowers these rows that are up close to Me are already blooming really nice and Then we planted this over the course of Like five weeks six weeks something like That so the plants that are further down The patch in that direction are still Coming up but that’s because we plan on Being open into september and we want to Make sure this has blooms through that Entire five or six week period that We’re going to be open so we’re gonna be Trimming some trees today i’ve got here In the four-wheeler i’ve got one knife I’ve got one Set of hedge trimmers this is actually a New pair i didn’t even take the label Off yet And i’ve also got a set of hand clippers Let’s get out to the field show you what We’re working with Right here we’ve got one of our big Failures of the year
Our austrian pine i think we got a Hundred of these in the beginning of This year and there is a 100 Loss rate in here that is because our Spring was actually pretty dry and we Didn’t come back through after we Planted and water these trees and we Didn’t follow up a week or two later and Made sure they get more water so they Were in here probably four or five weeks Before we got rain and i think that’s What did it we also planted some white Pine at the same time and we’ve probably Lost over half of those for the same Reasons so that was a big oops these Probably would have survived a little Better if we came back through and Watered but Here we are So back in this area we’ve got some Carolina sapphires and these seem to be Growing pretty well we’ve lost very few Of these these have been in the ground For two years now and they seem to just Kind of get a little bit more wild every Year they have required constant Attention to keep them straight and uh You know growing upright they tend to Kind of want to go everywhere uh but we Just come through here you know once a Month or so and make sure any new growth Is going or any new top growth is going Straight up if it’s not we’ll go ahead And tie it to the pole that we have here
And that’s it but now this is the first Time that i feel like i really need to Come through and start to give these Trees a little bit of a haircut and get Start giving them some shape so uh what What i’m doing is just giving a light Trim on any of the really uh the Branches that are just sticking out a Lot and this should go pretty quick The 20 minutes work on those carolina Sapphires got them straightened up There’s a few that i need to come back And tie up because they’re you know Their tops just keep growing and growing Off to the side and being crazy and that Just seems to be what we have to do with Those to keep them growing up straight So a little bit of extra work and Monitoring and maintaining those trees But they’ve been in the ground like i Said two years we got them as little Tiny seedlings and I think they’ve done reasonably well i Think they would be taller than they are Right now but i didn’t really fertilize Them much their first year and i’ve come To find out you can actually fertilize Them repeatedly throughout the growing Season and they really take it up pretty Well so I think the growth on those will Accelerate in the future now i’m up in My first planting of norway spruces and You can see in here uh these trees are
All about two to three feet tall some Are a little over three feet by uh Stretching out their tops and they look Pretty good i actually trimmed these up Just the other week so nothing to show You here but as i look at these trees I’m thinking shouldn’t they be a little Bit bigger and In reality though it’s uh you know three Years on the ground these went in uh 2019 spring of 2019. here we are in the Summer of 2022 And this is probably about right three Foot tree three and a half foot tree uh For You know Three years on the grounds probably About right if i did a little bit better Job with weed control and if i fertilize More heavily the first year which i Didn’t do These might be a little bit taller but In reality you know maybe these probably Need about three more years that would Be six years in our ground to get to Market size and that’s about right but My expectations are messed up a little Bit because of the next thing i want to Show you which are the leland cypress All the way up by the pond So here i am in the area of my first Leland cypress when we got these it was Two years ago they were about 24 inch Tall trees at the time and we put these
In the ground not really knowing what to Expect but i have heard i have been told That these are fast growing and here i Can show you that yes they are Absolutely fast growing and what really Made this stand out to me was just the Other day i got a comment on a video That i filmed back in september of 2021 Less than a year ago from right now Because i’m in july of 22. These trees i was trimming for the first Time in that video and you can see in That footage how much shorter and how Much thinner these trees looked less Than a year ago so one year of growth is Pretty remarkable and you can just Imagine what an additional year is going To do some of these trees in here and I’m standing next to one this one’s Taller than me i’m five foot eleven and You can see this thing is just about to Mark it height but we’re gonna give These another year try to get some good Seven to eight footers in here and then We’ll go ahead and open these up i’ll Only end up next year having maybe i Don’t know 40 at the most 40 or 50 trees Of this size or larger that we might be Able to offer as a cut your own tree and That’s it these have grown so fast there Isn’t anything else in the field ready No pines no spruces no furs nothing else In the field that’ll be ready for next Year so i don’t know what we’ll do maybe
We’ll have to do some kind of a lottery Or something offer our first 30 or 40 Trees up for cutting but we’ll just kind Of have to see how it goes the other Thing that has me a little bit nervous About these trees is that no one else in Our market sells these as christmas Trees so we’re going to have to Introduce them for the first time and I’m a little bit nervous that people Won’t want to come and cut them Probably won’t happen but that still is A thought in the back of my mind you can See the rest of the trees down this road They’ve been trimmed they’ve all got a Pretty good shape going on and i figured When i come out here this morning and Finish these up i’d film this video for You guys share with you the progress and Show you a little bit about how i’m Shearing these trees i’ve told you Before i’m not an experienced tree Trimmer um i am basically just trying to Get kind of a conical shape here i’m Going to cut off some of the some of the New growth i’m going to cut off some of This excess top and that’s it this tree Here already has pretty good shape so i Don’t think there’s too much to do But uh you know some of these other ones Get a little bit more wild i’ll show you [Music] This one’s got a bit of a double top Going on so i’ll trim that way down
There Got everything trimmed up everything’s Looking pretty good we haven’t actually Sprayed any fungicide here in several Weeks and we’ve had Consistent rain and we have not had a Dry summer like we have in previous Years i haven’t run irrigation in the Tree field once I should have during the spring like i Mentioned in the beginning of the video These trees are doing great they’re just Susceptible to a number of different Things that require fungicide to be Straight so uh farms down south i here Do like a 14 to 21 day rotation of Different fungicides i haven’t been Keeping up with it that aggressively but Early in the summer i did do several Treatments about three to four weeks Apart But now we are Probably about 45 days Maybe 50 days or so since i last sprayed And they’re due for it there’s rain in The forecast tomorrow so i’m not gonna Do it today it’s all just gonna wash off And uh i’ll look at maybe doing it again Next week but you can see trees are Looking good and that’s primarily what i Wanted to share with you on this video Just how Aggressive those trees grow and it’s Just really remarkable to see especially
When you’re able to look at photos or Look at videos and compare six to twelve Months worth of growth it’s pretty Impressive you guys got questions or Comments about these leland cypress or About anything else we’re doing on our Farm make sure you leave those in the Comments below this video i appreciate You guys spending a little bit of time With me i will catch you on the next one See you later
