When should I plan to plant walnut seedlings in the spring. What should I sidedress them with. I plan to put fence wire around each tree and black poly with multiple holes around each to keep weeds down..

Trees will be planted in Crawford County. Is there a local state forester I can talk to?

Thanks.

Greetings Dick:

I am an advocate of spring planting, especially bareroot seedlings. In Illinois, we recommend tree planting whenever the soil can accommodate planting equipment. Therefore, most large-scale tree planting operations in central Illinois occur from late March to late May. Remember, these dates are not set in stone. As a rule of thumb, avoid tree planting during periods of high temperatures and low soil moisture.

I am not a big fan of using weed fabric mats and fencing. I believe it is easier and cheaper to simply plant more trees! Pre-spraying planting strips with herbicide (glyphosate) is also recommended. Depending on your overall goals and objectives, I would highly recommend contacting your local Department of Natural Resources District Forester to help you formalize your tree planting plans, especially if your venture is large in scale. Your local forester can assist you by developing a tree planting plan that will guide you from start to finish. Contact information for your local DNR forester can be found through the following link

http://dnr.state.il.us/conservation/forestry/DISTFRSTMAP.pdf

Good luck!