Progress Update

I have started, with the help of my mom, the monstrous task of planting the 250 seedlings on our property. My mom has been an unexpented mentor, providing knowledge and experience as we plant together. Currently 80 are in the ground. It is hard to find time to plant them, because of sports, school and work. Also, the trees can only be planted on certain days, when the ground is not to wet or dry. The 170 remaining seedlings don't have much longer before they have to be planted, which means I will have plenty of late nights ahead of me.

In total so far, I have (trans)planted 206 trees. If the trees were to remain where they were originally, they wouldn't grow successfully, or be killed by lawnmowers or other causes. The willow cuttings however, didn't survive. My mom says that the bucket in which they were soaking was in a too hot location for the roots to grow. It is a major blow to my project, losing 30-40 trees, but I hope to make up for it with other trees.

Progress update

Willow cuttings

Our order for trees will be available by May 7th, at which point my project will take off. Currently, we are preparing the willow 'trees' for planting by letting them soak in water. I will ask my mentor his opinion on when they will be ready to plant.
This weekend, the first time I won't be busy in a while, I will start to transplant some of our older trees to our other property. They are currently much too close to each other and it is hindering growth. With the spots I free up, I will fill next weekend when our tree order comes in.
The next few weeks will be a lot of hard work, as I get the bulk of my project done.

Slight Change of Plans

Due to a misconception I had about the state of our tree order, my plans had to change. Originally I had hoped to plant 600 one year old evergreens. I was told that my family had ordered the trees, when in reality my parents only had 600 trees in their online cart. When we returned to finalize our order, the trees were sold out. In place of those trees, we purchased two year old trees that were more expensive. It ended up costing around $275 for 250 colorado spruce trees. The website is run by the Manitoba Forestry Association, called ThinkTrees. In addition to providing a cheap source for purchasing young trees, it also offers information and classes to learn about planting trees. It is more most efficient way to plant large amount of trees, as the cheapest tree costs only 50 cents, and can be bought in large quantities.

To make up for the smaller order, I will be taking some willow tree cuttings. In the spring, willow trees have yellow branches that are filled with the young plant cells that allow them to create roots while sitting in water. After leaving the branches in buckets of water for a couple of weeks, I should be able to plant them successfully.