Planting Arrangements and Spacing
The spacing and arrangement of your planting will be critical to achieving your specific objectives.
Commercial forestry, Christmas tree and Nursery planting demand straight regimented rows with equal and appropriate spacing to meet the desired objective. The row width spacing is strongly influenced by the necessity to conduct mowing, spraying or harvest operations. Most commercial forest production plantations have 7 to 8 foot wide rows and 6 to 7 foot spacing in the row. Christmas tree spacing is usually 6 or 7 feet between rows and 5 to 6 foot spacing in the row. Ornamental nursery production spacing must be geared to the size of the product to be grown and the harvest method. Conservation, recreation and wildlife planting can be much less regimented in the pattern of planting and in the mixing of species. If you do not like the appearance of rows and are not concerned about access between the trees, give your plantation a more natural appearance by planting trees in a random pattern. In general however spacing of 6 to 8 feet between trees is still suitable.