On a dusty Friday evening in mid-April we tree-spade planted 200 spruce seedlings from the Berrien County Conservation District tree sale.  The rows and spacing were premarked and this took about 4 hours.   Although some of the seedlings are 18″ tall the tree flags will become critical in a month or two when rapid weed growth can be expected.  This year we intend to mulch transplants that look healthy in May to reduce the amount of mechanical weed control and provide some protection against dry weather later in the summer.  Spruce grow rapidly once established, and could reach 30′ in height in 25 years.