|
EXOTIC COMMITTEE UPDATE
We are enjoying a mild winter again so hopefully our exotic plantings will get through another winter in good shape. So far the Korean, Siberian, and Meyer Spruce have shown the most promise of being viable trees for Christmas tree growers in Minnesota. This spring we will be trying three new trees: Abies Nephrolepis or Manchurian fir and a Doug fir variety-’Glauca’ Kaniksu, and a cross between the Veitch fir and a Balsam fir recently purchased from Itasca Greenhouse. The Manchurian fir is native to China. I have had it in my nursery for two years and so far it has done well considering there has been so little snow cover. Bob Girardin had had good luck with it and recommended it to me.
The Doug fir is a variety selected by Lawyer Nursery in Montana. They have it listed as zone 4 hardiness and being very adaptable. It has a nice blue color so it would make a nice Christmas tree. North Dakota State University has made some other selections of Doug Fir that have shown some promise, so maybe there is a variety that will make it there.
We will be trying these new varieties at five new farms. They are Neil Kruegers Sprucegate Farm in Lake Elmo, Wolcyn’s Tree Farm in Cambridge, Happyland Tree Farm in Sandstone, Turck’s Tree Farm in Litchfield and Terry Howard’s farm up in Orr. Along with with Doug Hoffbauer’s farm in Proctor, these sites should give us a broad range of soil and climate types. These are all experienced growers and should be able to manage the trees well.
We would like to try Korean x Balsam and Korean x Corkbark fir in the future, along with a trial of various Balsam fir seed sources to evaluate which has the best qualities for Christmas tree production.
~~
The winter of 2002-2003, the acid test for exotics
Mike Laine, Northern Minnesota Nursery, Floodwood , MN
Located in northern Minnesota , west of Duluth
Well there is always something good that comes out of bad situations. It was hard to find anything good after seeing a field of orange trees. My seed bill has been getting larger every year trying out the different trees, but now there are some trees that I just won't have to bother with anymore.
Here is a list of trees that we had planted and how they fared.
- Bornmueller Fir: Grafts I did with Bob Girardin's trees didn't survive and 1-0 seedlings died.
- Canaan Fir : This tree did the poorest 3-0 seedlings were nearly all wiped out. Transplants had a lot of aborted buds. May do better once it gets larger.
- Concolor Fir : Had a lot of winterburn but some survived. Tree needs well-drained soil.
- Fraser Fir : Larger trees did better than young ones.
- Korean Fir : Did very well. Had trees from 1 year to 6 years old that had very little winter damage. I have trees in pots now that are as green as any tree. Needs fertilizer or it will be yellow.
- Nikko Fir : Grafts had damaged buds. New growth was small. It did survive though. Expensive seed.
- Kingham Fir Plugs I had planted did very well – no burn at all. Tree has needles that are sharp maybe detriment for Christmas tree. But if people buy Blue Spruce they will love this tree.
- Nordmann Fir : I am giving up on this tree. It was winter burned in November.
- Nova Scotia Balsam Fir : Tree did ok.
- Sheet Harbor Phanerolepsis Fir : Like the Canaan fir this tree did not do so well, but it was better than the Canaan fir. Elevation does make a difference in hardiness.
- Siberian Fir : Did great, no damage.
- Veitch fir : This tree did all right, not as good as the Korean fir. Grafts came through without any damage.
- Veitch x Balsam Fir : survived.
- Korean x Balsam Fir : did well. These will be interesting to see how they look when they are bigger.
- 4886 eastern Balsam Fir from Bill Sayward at Itasca Greenhouse had no damage at all.
- Meyer Spruce : This tree did the best of all the trees. No damage whatsoever. If we can get it to grow a little faster when it is small it will be great. I have a tree near me that has grown over a foot a year the last 3 years and is as blue as any Blue Spruce.
- Blue Cook Balsam Fir : it did the best of the Balsams.
I would like to add that this winter was very unusual and this situation may not happen again for many years. We also lost a lot of Blue Spruce and the native balsams also had winter injury.
One last thing – deer like all fir trees.
|
