Go with natives, plant to coincide with a rainy season and plant more than you think is necessary. That's what they do when they replant logged areas here. Some loss is to be expected but I doubt 5x the quantity is really necessary ;-)

Tr, your question is right in my wheelhouse. So, on land I own which happens to be 60 miles north of my driveway apron, we've been afforesting what had been a farm field. Initially, I started with smaller numbers, perhaps 250 seedlings in a given spring. These I tried to do a Cadillac job with, watering, weed control, heck we even mulched the first bunch with wood chips! Fast-forward to 3 springs ago: We then finished up the job via planting 6000 seedlings with a machine planter. Well, prior to this planting, the farmer I'd been renting my land to had planted "Roundup-Ready" corn. The thinking, this on the part of a DNR forester I was working with, was that this would be an ideal start for the trees, corn leaving behind a relatively clean field. Hehe, not quite what happened. I'm not saying that guy was wrong, but the Roundup-Ready stuff means there's zero carry-over effect from the herbicide. Every-and I do mean every-weed seed in that field germinated in that first wet year. I had 20 solid acres of ragweed, higher than my head. When I drove down my lane right around this time of year, the pollen coming out of all that ragweed looked like smoke. good thing I'm not especially prone to allergies! Never saw anything quite like it.

So, what to do? I quickly realized there was simply no way I was going to be able to control those weeds, so in partial desperation, made up my mind to ignore it and see if it would go away! Well, in one year over year period, that entire field transitioned from annual junk weeds to 100% perennial forbs and grasses, mostly giant Canada goldenrod and asters. I wish I could somehow indicate how crazy this transfer has been, but I kid you not-all of the annual weed junk went away after just the first year.

So why all this talk about weeds, and nothing about watering? Well, for one thing, attempting to water all those 6000 new trees was utterly impossible. No attempt was made. As I said, we got some luck from the skies that first year, it being very wet. So no need to water.....ever. The following year was decent for rainfall too, and after just three growing seasons in the ground, I've got pine and larch "seedlings" that are now over my head.

One note about Gal's statement to use natives: I generally agree with this, but if you're an expert on forestry, there are some non-natives that can be used to good effect. To wit, some of my planting-this in northeastern Wisconsin-consists of Norway spruce, one of my all-time fave conifers, and hybrid larch, about which I will only say, they are almost miraculous in terms of their growth rate..

I did also plant lots of native white pine, red pine, white spruce, and some others, as well as lifted native Thuja occidentalis from areas in my woods where it was coming up thicker than what would have survived, to be moved up into the field. All of these lived and are growing rapidly. But those are details. what you want to do is study up on large-scale planting of seedlings/plug stock and make your plans from there. You're not alone-thousands have done exactly what you propose-so no need to reinvent the wheel. Do you have DNR foresters or equivalent to work with in your area? I already knew what I was going to do-I'm not exactly new to this sort of thing-but the help was still valuable.

Get back to us if you have more questions. As I said, this is really near and dear to me.

+oM

wisconsintom can no doubt tell you if this still done, but at one time tree seedlings were dipped in a slurry of water holding polymer of the Soil Moist type just before planting. The intent was to reduce the need for water and to reduce transplant shock. Replanting of conifers in the remoter areas of Maine and other New England states used this technique some years ago, but I have no idea if continues or if it proved effective.

I have helped out with large scale reforestation efforts and we watered only during dry spells. We hooked a water tank to the back of an atv and attached a hose. As we drove we watered.

Yup^...still used in some cases. I think the polymer slurry is more useful to prevent roots drying out prior to planting, not so much after the fact. And as Spruceman has often said-this for bare root stock-if you can, get the roots down, not sideways, as this alone will do the most to keep them in moist soil. Now some of mine were plugs and that doesn't apply there, but for bare-root, it's good advice.

I don't personally think the polymer dip to be at all necessary, unless you are certain your plants are going to dry out before you get them in the ground. Stuff's not cheap, and you sure don't want to breath in the dust as you mix. Very very bad.

+oM

talk to your state forester.. thru your county extension program .. for local guidance ...

i am positive.. having followed tom for years ... that everything he said is prime ... but its nice to have a local influence ...

my soil conservation district sells plants every spring ...

planting should be done like at the link ...

do not compare what i might call foo foo fruit... with forest trees ... thats like saying your high maintenance girlfriend ... is more high maintenance than your wife.. lol ..

best part of this reply ... working dibble into it.. lol .. see link for planting .... use a dibble bar ...

ken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUzeruQT8xE

trpnbils(6B) We have planted seedling pines in mass. They were planted in Z8 Louisiana in January when trees were dormant and soil moist. Avg. rainfall is 55". Over 80% of them survived. The tree companies plant thousands of acres every year like this and succeed. Seedlings are 6-14" tall and obtained from state or commercial forestry nurseries.

In Z8 Texas with 30" of rainfall, every thing I plant has to be watered weekly during warm weather if it doesn't rain. Here mass plantings would required mass watering for the trees to establish.

Hope this was helpful.

At the end of the day, it is not so much amount of rainfall as it is available moisture that matters. So, up at my tree plantation-that first wet year-there might have been 40 inches of total precip for the year. 40 inches would not be enough in an extremely hot region, but in this cool area with many months of the year not even requiring any moisture to the plants-ie winter-40 inches is great plenty. We're talking consistently moist soils. That's why a very hot place like parts of Texas can be utterly drought-stricken at the same annual rainfall amounts that would be more than enough up north. Stuff like that.

+oM