Forestry field day at the Jerry Rediger farm

KALONA - Acknowledging the slow growth of trees, most foresters will tell you the best time to plant one is 20 years ago.

But Jerry Rediger, who broadcast more than 325 bushels of nuts on 44 acres of worn out farm ground in November 1997, will tell you that 17 years ago is also a fairly auspicious planting time.

'I'm excited about what we've got to show you today,” Rediger said Wednesday at the start of a forestry field day showcasing the dense hardwood forest, red and gold leaves aglitter, towering in some spots 35 feet above the once badly eroded slopes on which they were planted.

Rediger said he bought the farm in 1993, one of the wettest years on record in Iowa, when heavy rains washed 8-inch-deep gullies between all the rows of his corn.

That 'sickening” experience, he said, got him thinking about planting trees, and he took action in 1997 after he met forestry consultant Steve Hamilton of Cedar Rapids.

Hamilton recommended the then experimental technique of direct seeding, rather than planting rooted saplings.

They roto-tilled 5-foot strips, with 8-foot spacing between the strips, and tossed acorns and walnuts onto the tilled soil from the back of a pickup, Hamilton said.

The following May they were delighted to find slender saplings poking through the soil, he said.

With Rediger mowing and applying herbicide to control competition from sod grass, the trees grew rapidly, establishing after five years a canopy that eliminated the need for further mowing or spraying, Rediger said.

Today a diverse forest of walnut, black cherry, basswood, ash and five species of oak - red, white, bur, pin and swamp white - cover the fields in densities exceeding 3,000 per acre.

More than two dozen tree enthusiasts, including many engaged in growing their own forests, toured Rediger's plantation, accompanied by several state foresters.

Department of Natural Resources district forester Ray Lehn said the high density of Rediger's trees forces them to grow straight and tall. In another few years, he said, some of them will have to be thinned to ensure the remaining trees have enough crown to ensure continued steady growth.

Commenting on the dense stands of well formed trees, Jesse Randall, an Iowa State University Extension forester, said: 'I'd love this forest if it were mine.”

Randall said Rediger will eventually have to select the 30 to 50 trees per acre with the most commercial potential and start grooming them, through trimming and pruning, for maximum value.

'You have so many nice ones to pick from, it won't be easy, but that's a good problem to have,” he said

Someday, perhaps another 30 years in the future, Rediger or his heirs will begin to reap the commercial benefits of the plantation.

In the meantime, Rediger said he and his family will enjoy watching the timber's progress.