We did the Arbor Day thing years ago. We got 10 "sticks", only 2 eventually survived but turned out to be nice trees once they got going (spruce).

I joined the Arbor Day Foundation years ago, and every spring they would send me a bundle of "sticks". I never put those sticks directly into the ground, rather I potted them up individually, and let them develop until the following spring, then I would transplant the most vigorous ones in their intended location.

So thanks to the ADF I now have these healthy, magnificent trees growing in my property: a Japanese Red Maple, a Crabapple, a Chinese Dogwood and a Blue Spruce. Of course a few of those seedlings didn't make, but I also gave many away to family and friends, and they are thriving.

Look at the Arbor Day web site. there is lots of information there. Also if you have certain varieties in mind, Google that variety. You can turn up lots of information that way.

I have about 100 trees and shrubs on my place now. Some were started from cuttings. Some were started from seed. Some were ordered from nurseries and came bare root. Most of the fruit trees I got that way. They seem to actually do better than trees in buckets.

I was a member of the Arbor Day Society and planted some of their trees. They are usually one year old seedlings and about six to ten inches tall. They need to be watered and cultivated for two years.

The Arbor Day society had a bird lovers special for the West, and I got that a couple of years. The problem is they didn't seem to have a clue what would grow in our arid and alkaline
West. Some of the trees were acid lovers and some were swamp trees. Well I got three out of ten to grow. I wrote them two years in a row about that, but they are still offering the same stuff.

Another thing I have done is dig up and transplant some of the native trees to my yard. Of course you need permission to dig. I got them off private ground. You need to do this when they are dormant.

Willows and poplars can be easily started with cuttings. They need lots of water. The poplars are good in a large area, but don't plant them near the house or near your garden spot. Maples, walnuts, ash and likely many other varieties come up from seed, and you can often find them when 3 or four feet tall and dig them and transplant them. Friends and neighbors are good sources of these kinds of trees. Again, move them when dormant.

Oh, my experience tells me they do much better in the ground than in a bucket.

Good Luck!

From all the research i have done i would like to plant a big veriety. about 20-25 different trees in total.

Flowering dogwood
American beauty berry
Callaway crab apple
Southern crab apple
Arkansas black apple
Yates apple
Kieffer pear
Methley plum
Chickasaw plum
Blackberry Navaho
Japanese Honeysuckle
Sawtooth oak
Shumard oak
Dwarf Chinquaoin
White oak
Bur oak
Chinese chestnut
Willow oak
Water oak
Nutall oak
Probably left out a few but you get the idea.

I think the title of the thread may be a little miss leading. I have no problem buying seedlings (10"-18" tall) and starting with that. I am planning on using a drip system while they are in the "tree farm" area but after transplant it is going to be a lot more difficult to water seeing that they will be placed all over the ranch. So part of my question is should i put them in pots so they have 100% of their roots intact when I go to transplant or should I use these tree bags. I like the idea of the bags because i think they would fall over less than a pot would.

My first love is bonsai, so my world is colored by little trees living in pots.

I preffer trees grown for 4-5 years in ascending sized pots befor setting them out to field. I graduate trees from a 5" paper white pot to a 1 gallon pot to a 3 gallon pot before planting to feild. Even then trees need supplimental water for at least the first year in-field.

Bigger little trees (2-hand or bigger) need a period of years in the field before returning to a bonsai pot. Sort of the same pot thing in reverse.

I have some beach-plum fruiting this year remind me in the fall if you want some.

Some trees ARE tap-root dominant, and can not live long in pots but even those do better in nursery pots to start. Ya still gotta water the first summer in feild.

Please, please, PLEASE rethink your Japanese Honeysuckle choice.

If you really did any research on this plant you'd find that it's not only a highly-invasive non-native, but is actually banned in many areas of the U.S. Why oh why would you want to plant such a monster?

I literally spend every single year yanking the stuff out - over & over & over. The roots run very deep & any little piece left behind will resprout the following year. Granted, the flowers smell nice, but the vines strangle & choke out everything in their path. And I mean everything.

If you truly want a honeysuckle, at least buy one of the somewhat "domesticated" cultivars. They're much easier to control.

If you know where you want to plant the trees, plant them as soon as you have the trees!By potting the trees the roots are crowded, and don't have room to grow, thus saving you from
watering all those pots, and trees receiving heat damage from the pots! Just plant trees in wide holes with plenty of leaf mulch from already established trees, and then water when the holes are dry!

quote:

Originally posted by BreezyGardener:
Please, please, PLEASE rethink your Japanese Honeysuckle choice.

Done. no more Japanese honeysuckle. that name was given to me by someone else doing the research.

Thank you!

I'm not joking when I say you can practically see the stuff grow in real time.

Have you considered the Red Bud and Dog Wood, they are for beauty not shade.