Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
I'm planning on planting various acorn and fruit trees for deer and Turkey. Which ones would be the best to consider for turkeys? Open to any and all recommendations.
Best trees to plant for Turkey
- Thread starter Gobble4me757
- Start date
Dogwood, crabapple, persimmon, goobler sawtooth oak, staghorn sumac, native oaks (white and red)
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
^These pretty much cover it. Adding black cherry and chickasaw plum to the list.
Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
What are the producing times for these? Like how many years before acorns/fruit?
Here's my best guess as soil, light, competition, and other factors impact production.
Summac, Dogwood, Persimmon 5 - 8 years
Sawtooth oaks: 6 - 10 years
Native oaks: much longer... > 15 years, but much longer lived trees
Where is the best source for sawtooth oaks?
Boone25/06
Well-Known Member
It used to be tngov trees , but they have recently stopped offering them because non native. I have got some form mossy oak native nursery since and they are good trees at a decent price.
1 good shot
Well-Known Member
bicolor lespedesa is good turkey food
yellalinehunter
Well-Known Member
Only if you want a highly invasive plant that is damn near impossible to get rid of plus the thorns poke holes in tractor tires. Folks have planted it for quail refuge and food but regret it later
Interesting. Are the Willow oaks located near wetlands? I have several located on upland hills. Even squirrels leave their acorns alone until most other food sources are gone.
I hired a contractor to machine plant our trees in old fields. I think he bought the seedlings from Mississippi, but I don't know the vendor. I have purchased smaller quantities of trees from TN and MO Forestry nurseries at very good prices.
Use caution with this non-native, invasive.
Creek
Well-Known Member
Yes
What some call Willow Oaks is not the same as others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_phellos
1 good shot
Well-Known Member
I may be calling this by the wrong name.
That's what my dad said it was.
But this stuff doesn't have thorns and has been there at least 20 years and hasn't really spread
yellalinehunter
Well-Known Member
Maybe it was the stem that would pop a tire after they were cut, not thorns . Was a royal pain on a quail plantation I worked on in central Alabama.
Yes these are what I'm talking about. I have them in my yard and the deer love them. My dog keeps them
Run off now but before I got it the deer would be on these all the time. There may be better options im
Not a tree person but they seem alright to me.
rodeojoe
Well-Known Member
For Turkeys, really really big and old trees are best.
So, they can roost there ASAP. ;)
So, they can roost there ASAP. ;)
Holly, white oak and pin oak
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
Might be thinking sericea lespedeza...incredibly invasive.
Wooden Arrow
Well-Known Member
if you were anywhere near Knoxville, they grow all over the campus area. good friend fills his pockets every time he goes to a ball game. those he planted in SW VA starting dropping acorns at 7 years old, when about 8 ft tall.
Biggun4214
Well-Known Member
Bicolor will grow 10-12 feet tall if not mowed.
Sericea was used a lot to sow right of ways in the 60's-80's.
Kobe or Korean lespedeza might be better choices
Makes it easier to shootem out also
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
I joined Arbor Day foundation in 2008. They sent a pack of trees and I got to pick ten additional trees. I picked all Sawtooths.
Planted as seedlings. Twigs about 20" tall. As of now they are probably 30'+ with the base as big as my thigh. Started having sparse acorns about 2017. This year they were absolutely loaded.
When they were young, I put fence around them to keep deer away. Used roundup carefully to keep weeds away from the tree. I had some five gallon containers with a top on them. I'd drill a couple of small holes in the bottom. Fill them up with water and place them at the base. When they got about 6-8' tall in 2010/2011, I got them tree fertilizer packs and dug holes around the root line.
That is all I did with them. The turkey and deer really like them. I am very pleased with them.
Planted as seedlings. Twigs about 20" tall. As of now they are probably 30'+ with the base as big as my thigh. Started having sparse acorns about 2017. This year they were absolutely loaded.
When they were young, I put fence around them to keep deer away. Used roundup carefully to keep weeds away from the tree. I had some five gallon containers with a top on them. I'd drill a couple of small holes in the bottom. Fill them up with water and place them at the base. When they got about 6-8' tall in 2010/2011, I got them tree fertilizer packs and dug holes around the root line.
That is all I did with them. The turkey and deer really like them. I am very pleased with them.
Biggun4214
Well-Known Member
Sawtooth oaks need lots of sunlight. Shade will slow their growth or even kill then.
Wooden Arrow
Well-Known Member
they plant them in rows in the center of linear food plots down in 'bama. some of the saplings we saw when we first started going down there are large enough to put tree stands in now. :)
They're awfully hard to find.
Soft Talker
Well-Known Member
Rather than planting trees, best thing a man could do to draw Turkeys to his property, is running a hot fire through it ;)
Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
I want to and will do at another property but unable to create a fire break around the 15 acres due to being so thick. I want to do both trees and fire
