Spacing your Christmas tree rows. I have never tried this.
Hello rob here from the flanigan Homestead and esport christmas tree Farms i just got done with my visit with Glenn thornton He allowed me to come out to the farm And just compare notes and talk today He is the largest grower in clark county The largest u-cut grower In clark county he sells about 5 000 you Cut christmas trees a year he does Really well and so and he was nice Enough to bring me out there but the Single thing that stood out the most Different because we do most things the Same we’ve both been farming for a long Time He’s been doing a lot longer than i have But you know we have most of the same Practices But the thing that i noticed most Different was the spacing of his trees And i’m not talking about just how you Line up the rows But i’ll show you some video here in Just a minute on how he Actually starts another tree before the Previous tree is ready to harvest Okay but generally spacing of a Christmas trees Are if you’re doing it tight is five by Five Rows and that’s what glenn does he wants To get the most uh perjury that he can And he pulls a chain and he’s got
Actually a cable he’s got black tape Every five feet so he stretches that Tape really tight and he just starts Planting trees right on that Cable and he pulls it tight his rows are Nice and straight And he’s really proud of his straight Rows but five by five you get about 1700 Trees per acre Which is about the most you can get five And a half feet by five and a half feet Which a lot of growers Are doing you get approximately 1400 Trees per acre So you’re losing 300 trees but you’ve Got a little bit more space to work And a little bit more space for the grow Trees to grow wider glen Shears his trees pretty tight which is Not a bad thing but then you know when You’re doing five by fives you have that Same room And if you do six by six which some People are doing You only get about 1200 trees per acre Uh so that’s Uh 500 less than the 5×5 But there are some advantages that as Far as having room i will say i’ve Watched some of you Other growers that have uh christmas Tree videos going on out there and i see You Some trees planted way far apart uh what
It appears to me to be way far apart and I was like wow they’re giving up A lot of space they must have a lot of Land or they don’t need to get that many In there Or you think they need room but if you Have more than six feet by six feet You’re you’re wider than the kind of the Expected spacing uh our trees when we Started We did six feet apart one way and five Or five and a half the other way and the Six feet apart road We figured being a u-cut it’s always wet Out here in November december so when the you cut People are walking through they’re not Gonna be brushing up against the trees All the time getting wet plus the six Foot row way We could drive our quad with spring Equipment or if we ever get The small christmas tree tractor it’s Easier to drive that way to do The spraying and whatnot so we have six By five and a half but uh The trees that were plant we planted Most recently we’re doing those tighter And trying to get more trees per acreage But What i wanted to really talk about and The thing that i noticed what was really Different Is glenn will plant a tree and when it
Gets about four or five feet tall it’s Not unusual for him to have another tree Planted only a few feet away So if the tree is going to get uh four Feet wide total on the bottom or three And a half so it’s going to be sticking Out a couple feet he’ll plant another Tree Just a couple feet from the trunk of This tree and so the branches will be Coming down here And the small tree will be right there And the advantage that he gets out of That Is nobles and nordman’s are the number One tree uh Those are the trees that we grow the Most here and they’re slow starters So what he does is he’ll plant a few Years before this one’s going to come Out And the nobles and nordmans might still Only be Two feet tall after three years And the other tree is getting bigger Ready to harvest and they’re starting to Touch each other But then he knows this big one’s gonna Be harvested out and instead of being Like me Where i’m planting a tree now to restart The cycle He’s already got a tree that’s two or Three years old
It’s got its roots established which uh You know both the nobles and normans are Slow starters And then it’s ready to take off and so Right when it’s ready to take off the Other one’s gone and he’s already Rolling And so he can get more trees in and Through His cycles than i can the way i’m doing It so I’m going to show you some video on what That looks like on his farm And this is definitely something that Barry and i will be discussing about Doing on our christmas tree farm is this Something that we want to look at So we have right here a super Young tree a big tree that’s market size Another small tree so On my farm we tend to wait till the tree Is gone and then plant another one but It looks like you have the strategy of Letting The seedlings get their roots Established get started and then You know this one’s gonna go out so They’re already started is Is that typical of what you do here For sure it takes seven to Plus years to grow a noble fur So if you start every year with a Bearish Bare ground it’s going to take you seven
Years at least But by end by planting after the tree is Getting a good Size on it then this this tree right Here has been around three years Yeah and it’s still not big enough to Interfere with the other one yet But it’s getting established A lot of these have been around only Three years but look what i got here Yeah i’m gonna take this tree out well Next year i’m gonna have two i meant This tree’s gonna be here Yep so instead of on my farm i’m gonna Have A tiny little seedling sitting there on Your farm you’ve got a three-year-old Tree ready to go Well but if i do it next year i got four Years Already now this is gonna be up here There’s um not quite five They’re six feet i’m gonna i’m gonna Have another tree here in three or four Years Yeah you’re gonna have a marketable tree In less than half the time Instead of seven years i’m growing up in Four years And are you doing that with every Variety of tree as much as i can now Doug fur’s different i don’t I’m pretty pretty uh i pretty much don’t Do that with doug fur because they grow
So fast And uh like i wouldn’t planted a little I dug fur against a tree like this now This tree should go this year Yeah so how far apart are your rows five Feet Five feet okay and my trees Originally is five Feet on row five by five you get Seventeen hundred Trees seventeen hundred trees an acre at Five by five now if you do a five and a Half by five and a half You’re going to cut it down to around 15 100 1350 i think it is yeah yep that’s Kind of where we’re at On our farm our newer section that we’re Planting we’re planting closer than we Originally did Well but yeah but the trees themselves Like when i take this tree out here These two trees are a little close But if i but if i take this tree out Here That’s pretty close to five feet yep and This one here Probably close about i’m five feet Let’s remind us a few Thanks for joining me on flanigan Homestead where christmas trees are my Business Teaching and cleaning horticulture is my Job and outdoor projects are my passion
