My neighbors tried to do something similar and the deer ravaged all the trees. They had to cage them or put the sleeve things on them.

Ramps???

Thank you for your feedback!

ShadyWillowFarm - Yes, we will absolutely be putting the sleeves around the saplings. Deer in our area are very aggressive.

cecily 7A - The total acreage of trees will only be about 2 acres, wildflowers will be the rest. We will also be planting the trees far enough apart to get a mover between the rows. We also have a 3 year maintenance plan to be sure all invasives are removed and the saplings have the best chance. In addition, more trees are being planted than what we expect to survive due to disease and animals getting to them.

Ambitious goals!

Get in touch with local Native Plant folks in your area to help you out.

https://indiananativeplants.org/

What do you mean by killing off 5 acres? What is your plan for how to do that?

1,000 trees on 5 acres? The University of Kentucky recommends 1 black walnut/acre, preferably 1 BW/2 acres. Based on the Spruce's Tulip Tree instructions, you could put just under 8 tulip trees/acre. 4.5 Silver maples/acre. And this is for a canopy that is completely filled in, where few wildflowers or understory trees will have room.

And, I note, your picture of your 5 acres is not covered with tree. Frankly, I'm not sure you should plant as many as one each of the tall trees in your plan. I strongly recommend you talk to your local extension agent to make a more realistic plan.

The other thing is that if you use a broad spectrum plant killer like Round-up to clear the area for the planting, you are likely to kill the microrhizal fungi that aid tree growth. Most trees don't do their best in a sterile soil. If you plan to smother the existing vegetation, then you will probably leave your soil structure intact. So, talk to your extension about that, too.

I don't understand why you would have to kill everything that's already there in order to plant more? Please talk to someone who can give you advice about how to plant trees and wildflowers without destroying what is already there.

I agree with Sigrid, that is way too many trees for five acres, and you certainly won't have any space left for wildflowers. Also, I would advise against planting black walnut trees unless you want seedlings popping up in places where you don't want them. I would think twice about Silver Maples, too. They are are not strong, sturdy trees like oaks and constantly loose branches when there's a storm or high winds. Good luck with your plans, and please talk to someone besides soil conservationists.

When the Herbicide Roundup is used in a limited way to prepare weedy fields for restoration it will not kill 100% of soil microbes. See

https://www.prairienursery.com/media/pdf/five-steps-to-successful-prairie-establishment.pdf

As mentioned above, get advice from local people with experience in native plantings.

Keep in mind that Black Walnuts produce the toxin Juglone, which kills non-tolerant plants.

https://gardenerspath.com/plants/landscape-trees/black-walnut-juglone-toxicity/

Another issue with black walnuts is thousand canker disease. Please determine whether TCD is in your area before planting walnuts.

Mary Iverson - thank you for the resource! I will be sure to take a look at their website.

beesneeds - Yes, we will be starting from bare ground. Currently the 5 acres is densely packed with invasives. It is regularly mowed, but we will now start to kill off everything and start again. Without doing this, planting any native trees or flowers would not be possible. The invasives would suffocate and crowd out any natives we would try to plant. Regular treatment will also be necessary for years to keep the invasives at bay. They are very aggressive in this area.

Sigrid - I am curious where you found these recommendations. According to Kansas State, you should plant 48 black walnuts per acre for good nut production (https://bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/l731.pdf). According to Purdue University, you should plant at least 300 black walnuts per acre if you're looking for timber production (https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-119.html).

I have been working with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Department of Natural Resources (DRN), and a local forester. I am pretty confident with our plan. Although, I was looking for recommendations on design and orientation because none of these organizations focus much on beauty and design.

woodrose - I will do a little more research on silver maples. Thank you. All of the current vegetation has to be killed because it mostly consists of invasive species that would not allow saplings and wildflowers to grow.

Mary Iverson - I understand that Roundup will not kill everything. We will be using a commercial Glyphosate 54%. This is used in the agricultural fields that surround our house.

cecily 7A - Black walnut trees are already naturally occurring on our property so we are comfortable including them in our plan. Thank you for your concern.

Camilla, I am on board with your tree selections. On my small wooded Indiana acreage naturally are Black Walnut, Silver Maple, Bur Oak, and Hickory. No concerns with Silver Maple in a natural space. My neighbor also has Kentucky Coffeetree, and i have planted a couple of these - as well as Blackgum. The KCT is a very handsome native so take a look at that too. I also have dogwoods. I did have tons of ash trees but lost all to the borer. Now I’m fighting hard against Callery pears and Japanese knotweed wherever the ash trees left holes in the canopy. My advice is to take a walk through the wooded acreage you already have, as well as any nearby state parks, etc. Focus on how the trees are growing naturally. No straight rows, no methodical spacing. If you’re looking for a natural feel, you’d do well to mimic what you see. I think you’ll do fine, and wish you best of luck!

With climate change happening, our parks are starting to look at native plants from further south. Something to consider. Are your summers hotter, drier, winters colder? All questions to consider before going all native with what is currently considered native. The plant world is migrating northward.

Farming is much different than growing trees for a hobby. The 300 trees per acre accounts for mortality and thinning. They have to be grown in rows and spaced correctly at maturity to allow harvesting or logging equipment through. And they are not planting them all at the same time - it takes years for the trees to grow, so the plantings are staggered. But I do like your idea, just keep putting plans out there and seeking feedback before you invest a lot of money (or blood, sweat and tears) into your land. It’s a cool thing.🙂

Ok, you are planning on flat poisoning 5 acres and overplanting a tree farm and open flower meadow combo to replace it then is what it sounds like. Since you have been mowing, you might be better off getting in there with a prescription burn and a till to set up your field. It can kill off the field as effectivly as poison. A benefit is a burn can help kill the invasives and trigger dormant natives- and not side effect poison beneficial insects and up the animal food chain while you are poisoning off the plant food chain there. A till isn't always necessary after a burn. But it can be easier to plant a large volume in a tilled field than an untilled one.

You might also want to think about putting up your deer barrier now before any plantings. A fresh salad bar is always tempting to the wildlife.

What's your irrigation plans for your field? At least while the trees get established it's good to water them in on the regular and mother nature is not always helpful. I can't tell for sure if the deeper green on the right and a couple of the curvatures in the tree shadows are existing water sources you can utilize. I kind of hope not considering the poison plan and it's potential impact there. If not you might want to make some plans for human sourcing water.

Something else that is to be considered is your garden cleanup you will have. A lot of trees that drop leaves and can have deadfall needs to be cleaned up or else garden turns back to wilds pretty quick. Flower meadows need to be mowed down or prescribed burned for maintenance and seed happiness. Otherwise they too will do what mother nature wants more than we do.

Trees. I'm going to suggest you use less. 50 trees on 5 acres is a gracious plenty to have lots of trees and also enough open sun space for lots of flowers. Since your current list is pretty much leaf droppers, I'm going to suggest adding in a few evergreens to the variety. Again hard to tell from the map pic, but it does not look like there is a lot in the surrounding woods. They can add in visual interest and year round wildlife habitat.

I now see what your plan is. Groups rewilding spaces often massively overplant because they expect many of the trees to die. They basically plant and pray because they don't have the ability to water or otherwise help them. If you are going to nurture them: watering while they get established and in dry spells for the next 5-10 years, mow around them and protect them from deer, you may not need to overplant as intensively. You could plant fewer, larger trees --- it will take less time to start to get some canopy, without which understory plants might not thrive. Wildflowers that will be happy in a forest generally don't like too much sun and ones that thrive in sun are going to be unhappy when your woods starts to mature.

I prefer to plant fewer at a time and make sure they thrive, adjusting based on the results. I absolutely hate to cut down big, healthy, thriving trees, which is what you'll have to do if too many of the 1,000 thrive.

The 1 or 2 acres per black walnut was to start a tree in an existing forest.

"Forest Openings and Conversion. Black walnut requires full overhead sunlight for proper growth and development. For this reason it is best to clear a circular area of at least 1 acre or 236 feet in diameter. Two acres are even better (333 feet in diameter circle). If deer damage is a problem, then even larger areas should be cleared"

Kansas Forest Service, Black Walnuts.

I note that some black walnut is grown for wood. Those trees are better straight. My 100 year old white walnut (butternut) has huge, horizontal branches over 50 feet long. Pictures I've seen of black walnuts suggest a similar growth pattern, obviously, they can be grown more closely together if you prune off all horizontal branches.

@Camilla C I think most of your plan sounds terrific. If you're working with SWCD and those other agencies, they'll know which trees will do well in your location and how many need to be planted. I'm in the east, so some of my trees and wildflowers will be different from yours, but there are many native meadow plants in common. When you plant your meadow, consider native grasses like gammagrass, big and little bluestem, and indiangrass. Native bunch grasses are great for ground-nesting birds because they stand up through all seasons rather than flopping over like nonnative grasses, which create a dense mat that birds and small mammals can't move through. For flowers, look at aster, goldenrod, and milkweed. Those will provide habitat/food for monarch butterflies and other beneficial insects, food for birds, etc. Part of the reason the monarch is in decline is because a lot of farms in the midwest spray the areas around their fields and that kills off the milkweed, so the butterflies have fewer places to pause and lay eggs on their migration route. Also, wild bergamot is a great plant for native bees, you might see if it grows in your zone. Variety is the key, because so many insects are specialists that only eat or pollinate a handful of plants (or only one plant).

I'm also planting trees on large acreage, and we're doing 300/acre; they assume over time a 50% survival rate--some trees will shade others out, get eaten, etc. Also, watch out for voles; they like to hide from predators inside tree tubes and eat the seedlings.

Black cherry trees are terrific food sources for birds, and lots of butterflies lay their eggs on them. Don't worry if they get leaf galls, which is common--there are beneficial insects that feed on the galls--they won't kill the tree. I'm surprised you're not planting any white oaks? They're slower growing but an even better food source than red oaks, because their acorns taste better. They also host hundreds of caterpillar species, so provide very important food for birds feeding their new nestlings.

Be careful where you plant the black walnuts--they're allelopathic, and certain trees won't grow well near them. They're great trees, though. For small trees, if redbud grows in your area, I'd consider that, too. It's a great early-flowering plant for native bees that emerge early.

I might be concerned about spraying too close to when you plan to plant, but I understand that many invasives can only be eliminated that way quickly. Burning works well for some plants--I've burned some of my fields, but it works best where there are already a good number of native plants. And for some invasives, burning actually encourages them. You could consider bringing in goats to hard browse the invasives a few times, and combine that with mowing repeatedly up until planting time. That might work well enough. You'll still get invasives competing even if you spray them because many are annuals and will have dropped years of seeds in the soil. So you'll have to fight those for several years, regardless.

I've done a lot of research on this subject for my own project, and I think it's great that you're doing this!

What an exciting project! I recommend finding a local permaculture designer to help plan this - they will know all the possibilities, pitfalls, and complexities to consider. For one off questions there is the forum on permies.com

If you want a native food forest I would also include Red Mulberry and American Plum. Your going to have to protect these trees from deer. Deer will eat everyone of your trees to the ground and rub their bark off. Your going to need tree tubes or a deer fence around the perimeter of this space. For pollinator plants include Wild bergamot, Asters, Goldenrod, Ironweed, Butterflyweed, Joe pye weed, and Mountain Mint. You can purchase pre made native wildflower seed mixes for your area from American Meadows or Praire Moon Nursery.

This sounds like a wonderful, ambitious project. Your property will be a haven for yourselves and wildlife for many years to come. There have also been some great suggestions here re additional trees and plants to consider. Remember, this will be an ongoing adventure, and you can make additions for years to come. Enjoy the process. Maybe consider a Great Pyrenees dog to guard the property and decrease deer pressure?

I would add other nuts: hazels, heartnuts, etc. (Less juglone than black walnuts and easier to crack!) Also, consider other fruiting things like Hawthorns--amazing heart medicine and animal fodder, and mulberries. Serviceberries are also amazing trees.

what about native persimmons Diospyros virginiana