Planting Seedlings in with 6ft tall EW pines?

[IndyIan]

I'm in S. Ontario and have ordered 500 Red Pine seedlings to scatter over a few places on my land.  The previous owner planted some White Pines on the edges of some fields and had a high mortality rate, so there are areas with 6-8ft tall pines but they are 10-40ft apart.  Mostly 20-30ft apart.

Is it worthwhile to plant some red pine in between the wihte pines?  The white pines have only been growing a foot a year or less.  I'd like either the white or red pines to grow up instead of out, i'm not picky
Thanks
Ian  

[Ron Scott]

Do you know why the white pine aren't doing well, blister rust; wheevil, or whatever? It may be better to fill in plant the area with red pine for a mixed pine stand.

[Mark M]

Could it be deer ate the young trees? They can have a big impact on white pine, or at least ones that grow from seeds.

[IndyIan]

I think the main reason the White pines aren't growing better is that there was no competition control done at the time of planting or anytime after.  They are not dense enough to shade out the grass so they are still competing for the water and soil.  Also we've had a few years of extremely dry summers.
About a 1/3 of the white pines also have weevil damage and some quite severe, we've got a few WP shrubs... :
Almost every mature WP on our land has had weevil damage at some point and multiple times for some so I guess we are going to live with it.
The few mature red pines we have don't seem to have any weevil damage so I'm hoping the seedlings we plant will avoid that as well.
As for deer, we do have a lot that pass through and bed down but I've been watching for excessive browsing but they don't seem to eat to much on our property.
Thanks for the help,
Ian

[Ron Scott]

It sounds like it is best to go with the red pine as you plan to do. Do the appropriate site preparation in advance of planting.

[IndyIan]

Site preparation...  That's my next question.  We haven't done any and its a bit late to start now.  

The plan is try some newspaper, about 2 sections of fullpage spread stapled together with a hole in the middle for the tree.  If that's a horrible failure, we will do some spraying with round up around the tree while covering the tree with a length of stove pipe.  
Has anyone tried the stove pipe and spray method?  Its only 500 trees so I don't mind if its a bit slow compared to other methods.
I've read about using burlap bags around the trees but there is no source of free or even cheap burlap here.

[chet]

Do you have access to a farm tractor and a single bottom plow. I have had very good results with red pine, by flipping a row of sod and then planting in the furrow.

[OneWithWood]

I used newspaper when I planted Black Walnut.  I used at least four layers of newspaper and mulched over the top.  The newspaper/mulch worked well for controlling weeds and grass for about six months at which time I did another application.  I used chipped hardwood for the mulch as I happened to have a lot of it.  
Yes, I have workde very hard providing the deer in the area with trees to strip during the rut! :'(

[IndyIan]

I going to go with newspaper first and then if that fails roundup.  I don't have access to a tractor other than renting one but the terrain where I want to plant isn't easily accessable anyways, also we are filling in the gaps of a previous planting.  I do like the idea of planting so the roots are in the mineral soil but I haven't read anything that says that is a requirement for red pine.

I'm a bit worried about deer eating them but lately we've heard coyote's(maybe wolves) and yesterday I found where they have been sleeping under some cedars at the edge of a field.  So hopefully they will stick around and keep my seedlings safe this spring 8)

OneWithWood,
did you buy walnut seedlings?  I planted 150 nuts last fall here and there without any preperation and was hoping to find them before the grass got to high but I now read that they may sprout in in june/july.  The grass will be too long by then...  I did keep 60 and put them into my old sandbox to stratify over winter.  Hopefully they will sprout and I can plant them and keep the competition to a minimum.  
I hope some of your walnuts survived!  I've read that they can come back from a good amount of damage.

[OneWithWood]

Yes, I bought 1-0 seedlings from the state nursery.  I think I paid $120 for 400.  When I plant again I will order 2-0.  The 2-0 seedlings are already tall enough to plant in grass or around any tops I DonT get cleaned up.  Walnuts do seem to come back from considerable damage.  Unfortunately many times they come back as a shoot from the root stock so the growth is lost.