did you leave out that you are building a house????

then you say:

The rest of the lot is covered with birch and poplars with a few pines also present.

then you say you want to add all kinds of other trees ... bushes ... shrubs .... and conifers ...

the lot is either covered with woods.. or it isnt ....

then say you want to add value .... in a garden sense.. or timber sense???

OK ... i am confused .... about the 5 year plan for the property .. beyond wanting to plant the heck out of it ... more info please...

yes.. by late may ... you will only be planting potted stock ... which will require watering ... will you have a water source ???? say 3 to 5 gallons for every plant you plant ...

yes.. you could accumulate potted stock .. for planting in fall ... where your water requirements will not be as brutal .... since you will have two cool damp season before summer 2009 ...

frankly .. the project is daunting ... and i think you hit the nail on the head by suggesting you wait until fall ...

learn the property .. and more fully think out a 5 year plan to plant things ....

start by defining what will become the backbones of your property .. to me meaning.. the heirloom trees ... gotta get those in this fall ... since you will need 20 to 40 years to get them to size ...

next year.. think about shrubs ... and conifers ...

contact your local soil conservation district .. [you just missed their plant sale ... maybe not in zone 3 .. call them ASAP ... white pages under USGVMT ... they most likely sell many of the things you list.. at minimal cost for SMALL stock .. which could be potted and grown on ... my z5 plant sale was 4/15 ...

anyway.. i wish you luck ....

ken

Msmity29

Sounds like fun! You can plant potted or balled-and-burlapped stuff any time the ground is workable. Bare-root should be planted only when dormant, or nearly so. Therefore, you do have a number of options. You can do as you were wondering about, and plant bare-root stock in pots for now, and then put into its' permanent location once you have a better idea about where you want things to go. You can plant bare-root stock right now, extending perhaps into May, and then again in the Fall.

Your selections list is fine, with one or two caveats: First, I'm not familiar with "American Mountain Elm". Is this actually just American elm? If that is the case, I'd suggest looking for one of the newer Dutch elm disease-resistant cultivars. There are recent threads right on this forum about those. The only other issue I'd mention is that grape vines, though attractive and providers of tasty fruit, will climb up into your trees if they're close enough, eventually shading them out and killing them. This is an increasing problem everywhere I look in N. Wisconsin. So be aware of that possibility in where you site them.

I'd add too that some of the species you mentioned, most notably balsam fir, are "weed trees" in N. WI. I absolutely mean nothing bad by that. I like balsam fir very much. What I'm suggesting is that you may not need to actually purchase these. They are VERY common alongside roads and ditches, and transplant with ease. I once moved some from a ditch where they would surely be whacked, to a location near a cabin in Marinette County. I did this at the wrong time of year, mid-June-at which time, they'd already started to grow, on a hot day, yet not only did they all survive, they continued growing as if nothing had happened. They are big trees now.

Best of luck, and be sure to report back..........+oM

I'd take a pass on planting any ash species. Google "Emerald Ash Borer" for the reason.

Yeah, I was going to say that (About the ash) but as long as they're not a major component of their project, I see no harm. And while this pest may get to N. Wisconsin eventually, so far, there is not a single confirmed siting in the entire state.

+oM

Most of the trees you mentioned have some appeal and would fit into your setting, though I agree, no ash and go easy on the vines and brambles, they can over welm. I'd add winterberry, basswood, hop hornbeam.

I spend a lot of the summer in Vilas county. I think planting in May and June should be fine for your location. But I'd go a little slow and try to really understand how your land works and how you'll live on it.

Northern Wisconsin is a really complex and amazing forest. Drive down any back road and you'll see a maple/basswood forest, then huge white pines and paper birch, then an oak woodland, then yellow birch and hemlock (some of my favorites), then a tamarack bog, then more and more. Each tree has its place and its companions and is happy there for a reason. Start figuring that out and you'll that will help you decide on trees for you small part of the forest.

Ted

Yeah +om I might have said that, too, a year or so ago before it got over to the Chicago area so quickly. And just as bad, it crossed into Michigan's UP so Wisconsin seems to be in the crosshairs.

I won't argue against the notion that ash are a bad bet! We're watching that very closely, and the municipal forestry dept, for which I work, quit planting ash 4 years ago.

I like teds' advice too, to live with the land for a while, get to know what you might already have there, what's going on around you, etc.

+oM

I wonder if you meant American Mountain Ash rather then mountain elm. Mountian Ash (sorbus) is a nice small tree related to hawthorns and crabapples, native to cool forests. It really has nothing to do with regular ash (fraxinus) or the emerald ash borer.

Ted

Consider Norway spruce--one of my absolute favorites--disease resistant and well adapted to your area.

--Spruce

Thanks everyone for the advice/info. I am going to wait until this fall to plant. However, I would like to get a head start by planting a few bare root trees in pots now. I figure this might be beneficial since I won't be able to water the trees once they are planted (this is land we are buying that is about 5 hours away from our home). Can anyone give me any tips on which trees from my list above that would benefit most by being planted now? And what size pots, what kind of soil, how often to water/fertilize etc should I use? Thanks again!

We have done this similiar situation in Maine. The climates are not that dissimliar. We have a place 4 hours from where we live fulltime and have planted many trees and shrubs. The key here is to plant in the earliest of spring that you can. This will allow the plants to experience the shock of coming out of their pot or burlap with cooler and hopefully some damper weather that spring can bring. If you see a major drought coming, you would need to get there with some water and assist the plants through the dry weather. When you plant, add a good deal of peat to the mix. This will assist in moisture retention and be very helpful. The service berries will do very well and like dampness. You really cannot kill a chokecherry but they are not a frontline specimen plant. Ninebark like full sun and are very hardy. Wild roses will also need full sun to bloom properly. I would skip the ashes for the reasons mentioned above. River birch love damp soil and can grow very quickly. The maple trees will thrive here and grow large. They will sart off slowly and grow much more quickly after a couple of years. White pine are very fragile trees when larger and tend to break branches with when snow and rain come together as many storms do. They cannot take the weight and snap. They can also grow extremely large. Willow trees grow very quicky and love damp soil as well.
You can plant all of these trees in the spring, and in your situation, plant them in the early spring so they can adapt before the really hot weather of summer. I cannot stress this enough in your situation.
All of these plants will need some water should you get 2-3 weeks of drought in the summer. They will all be new and will not be able to survive if the drying gets too severe.
Also, you can monitor the weather in your area to see how much rain your property is getting. With a little luck, you will get some rain and augment with some watering once in a while. These are tough plants that you have selected and will survive. Also, the first year will be the most difficult. After that, they will begin to thrive on your land.
Goodluck.

I'd like to adress a couple points Victor5 made. First, in view of all pertinent research, I cannot condone the addition of peat into your backfill soil. We've discussed this subject a great deal on this forum. The gist of it is that when you make the soil around your new transplants very different from the surrounding soil, you invite a number of problems: Possible drainage issues, possible circling roots if they like just that soil too much, and the overriding idea that for the tree to succeed, its' roots will need to grow beyond that smallish backfill area anyway, so that even if none of the above occur, it is meaningless in the long run, to ammend this small area.

I consider my above paragraph to be facts. This next one is just an opinion. Knowing well the area where your lot is, there are two native birches that both exceed the river birch in suitability and aesthetics. They are paper and yellow birch. Though I usually don't recommend digging trees out of the woods, in this case, I think doing just that-if you have a place where you can do so-would give you the best possible birch in terms of being adapted to your location. Both the species I named abound in N. Wisconsin. Sometimes, young trees can be "rescued" from a roadside, where eventually, they would just be destroyed anyway by clearance activities. The same holds true for balsam fir, which transplants with the greatest of ease in that area.

White pine can get very large, obviously, but aside from planting them too close to where the house will be, don't shy away from planting one or more of these trees. They are simply wonderful trees.

Aside from these points, Victor offers some good advice. Your fall planting idea has merit too.

+oM

Thanks for the additional advice! Is there one or more species of trees i mentioned that would benefit more than others to pot planting now before final planting this fall (maybe one or more species that need more water/care than others)? Also, is there a certain size of tree that would be most beneficial to start this way (1-2', 2-3', 3-4')? Finally, what size pot should I use to start these plants in? Should I just use regular potting soil or should I use the actual soil i will be planting them in this fall? Thanks again!

Thanks for the additional advice! Is there one or more species of trees i mentioned that would benefit more than others to pot planting now before final planting this fall (maybe one or more species that need more water/care than others)? Also, is there a certain size of tree that would be most beneficial to start this way (1-2', 2-3', 3-4')? Finally, what size pot should I use to start these plants in? Should I just use regular potting soil or should I use the actual soil i will be planting them in this fall? Thanks again!

With respect to the addition of peat, if the plants are placed in an area where they cannot be watered on a regular basis, this may be the only way to assist them when the weather begins to dry in the summer. Soil augmentation is useless in most applications, but we are talking about a situation where the new plants could potentially not be watered enough.
It would be wise to dig extra large areas around these new plants as this area would hold on to additional moisture in time of drought.
If the plants can be watered enough during the summer and fall, this would not be needed but it may be the only way that these plants will survive.
I have planted around 100 trees and bushes on a lot 4 hours from where we live. I do manage to tend the plants at least every few weeks, but mainly, they are on their own for most of the year.
I have lost three of these plants to winter burn and that is all. I have used the method above on some of the more moisture sensitive plants and have had good success. The sun and wind on this site are extroadinary for most of the year, and the summers have been droughty here the past few.
Certainly the paperbark and yellowbirches would be outstanding trees for this site.
Goodluck

I would suggest using compost or rotted manure rather than peat if the ground is going to get very dry in a dry spell/drought - peat can be very hard to re-wet once it dries out, and water can just run off it. When kept constantly moist and not allowed to totally dry, it does hold moisture well, but once it dries.... Only a long soaking will re-hydrate it - there is NO guarantee that an inch or more of rain will fall with each rain.

When planting trees in pots, which you will be watching and watering as needed - which MAY mean daily - then you need to be more concerned with drainage. Ordinary dirt is not good for use when planting in pots - use potting soil, maybe one specifically for shrubs, that provides good drainage.

While I am open to correction by more experienced growers, I see nothing that is especially "fragile" on your list - if you can get them now, and can nurse them over the summer, go for it, if you can't they all SHOULD be fine for planting in the fall. I may be wrong, but I don't see any that would benefit from spring planting. It is late in the season for getting bare-root plants, so that may be your limiting factor. You MAY need to move the trees on into a bigger pot as the summer passes and the roots grow, but it depends so much on root growth - once they fill the pot, move the plant up to a bigger pot. Select the size of pot initially by how big the roots are - you want couple of inches for grow-room, but don't over-pot into a huge pot - you are looking for overly wet soil and root-rot if you do so. Your initial pots will probably vary from one to five gallons, depending on the size of the root area of each tree. (Nursery pots come in 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 gallon sizes, with the next jump going to 10 and 15-gal., in case you didn't know)