Zarn Tree Farm Growing Spruce

Growing Spruce

Trees grow well if they like the environment. Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) and Alberta Agriculture recommend Colorado Blue Spruce for the Calgary area and describe the preferred planting location as follows.	Zarn Tree Farm Airdrie, Alberta 912-1733
Colorado Blue Spruce Prefers moderately moist, well drained, acid soils. Does not do well on unprotected sites. Likes full sun. Has a low tolerance to saline soils and flooding.
Some nurseries offer a one year guarantee with the purchase of trees. I prefer to share information about establishing tree plantings which may grow for a lifetime. Following is a description of the growing conditions on my dry land farm which is located in an area with many mature spruce plantings.

Well Drained Soil
A well drained soil is defined as an upland soil that allows excess water to drain quickly through the root zone. This soil rarely becomes flooded during the growing season.
    The land that I selected for planting has high ground and low spots, but there is no ponding of water. I dug a few test holes to determine the internal soil drainage. The underlying soil at a depth of 2 to 3 feet varied in color from brown to gray. The brown soil was on the higher ground and appeared to be well drained. The lower ground near the pond, showed rust colored stains on a gray subsoil. suggesting a poorer drained soil that is frequently saturated with water.
Five years after planting, I noticed the Colorado Blue Spruce are 25% taller on the well drained soils compared to those on the poorer drained soils.
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Salinity
Saline soils can develop in groundwater discharge areas where high evaporation rates cause the deposition of salts on the surface. According to a salinity report for the M.D. of Rockyview, discharge areas are found in coulee bottoms, slough rings, or depressions, but they also occur at slope changes or where an aquifer approaches the surface.
The poorer drained soils near the farm pond are beginning to show salts on the surface. The recommended control is to plant salt tolerant vegetation to intercept the water before evaporation.
   I recommend digging a test hole in your proposed planting site to check the internal drainage of the soil.
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Moist Soil
I use the following method to determine the water content of a soil. Dig a hole, grab a handful of soil from the root zone, and roll it into a ball. If water is dripping off your hand the soil is water logged, if you cannot form a ball the soil is dry, if the formed ball keeps its shape, the soil is moist.
Moist soil conditions in the spring provide optimum growing conditions. However if August is drier it will encourage the new growth to harden off for the winter. Moist conditions in late September and October increases the trees resistance to the drying effects of the chinook winters.
The annual rainfall at the farm has varied from 6 to 20 inches. This doesn't sound like ideal growing conditions but the clay loam soil was my savior. Clay has a high capacity to hold moisture and during the drier periods there was available moisture deeper down. Once the spruce develop a root system they are able to tolerate dry periods.
   New transplants require two to three years of good growing conditions to re-establish their root system. I recommend monitoring the soil moisture in the root zone and water when necessary.

Wind Protection
The westerly winds cause high evaporation rates thus reducing the moisture content of soil and plants.
The tree farm is located on land sloping to the east. It is not directly exposed to the westerly winds and there are some mature poplar and willow which provide protection.
A four foot tall snow fence produced the following results. The trees planted within 40 feet of the fence had 15% more growth after 6 years compared to trees planted 100 feet away from the fence.
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Acid Soil
Positive Hydrogen (pH) atoms are measured on a log scale from 0-14. A neutral soil has a pH of 7. Soils having a pH lower than 7 are acidic. The farm soil test reported the pH at 7.6 or mildly alkaline.
    The soil sample also tested low for phosphorus, copper, zinc, and iron which is typical of alkaline soils. Composted manure is an excellent source of major and micro nutrients. The field transplants receive compost spread on the surface.
   Young seedlings are very sensitive to the environment and truely do need to be nursed. I compared the growth rates of seedlings planted into compost enriched soil with those planted into black dirt. After one year, I noticed 50% more growth on the seedling trees planted into the compost enriched soil.
To minimize transplant shock I recommend applying compost.
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Nutrients
Weeds and grass compete with trees for nutrients. To control the weed and grass growth on the tree farm I cultivate. This allows the majority of the nutrients to be available to the trees. I did plant some poplar in sod and compared them to the growth of poplar planted in cultivated soil. After 10 years the cultivated poplar showed 35% more growth.
    To increase the available nutrients I recommend controlling the weed and grass growth around the trees.

YAHOO, it's organic !!

Research Links
Alberta Agriculture	Shelterbelt varieties for Alberta - Colorado Spruce
PFRA	Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) Shelterbelt Centre
PFRA	Trees and Shrubs for Prairie Shelterbelts
Alberta Agriculture	Designing shelterbelts in Alberta