Establishing a shelter belt with trees

Gerry, I recently asked you about the best ways to get my shelter belt of trees growing after I incurred many losses through failures. You recommended adding more trees from pots (not bare rooted) as they would survive the harsh winds better. You also recommended spraying off weeds from the base of the existing trees and giving them a boost with some fertilizer.Just to update you, your recommendations were spot on. I did plant some pines (from pots) into the areas where there were failures and I sprayed and added fertilizer (7-6-17) to all the trees.I guess along with the great rush of growth that April offers, the results have been instantly positive.As the trees are breaking out of dormancy they are soaking up the fertilizer and without the weeds to compete against, they are getting a great start to the year.I should have been less ambitious when I planted large bare-rooted trees to begin with. The strong Atlantic winds just hammered them, leading to numerous failures and severe die-back Those that survived now look shrubby, not like what trees should look like. From here onwards, I’ll stick to your advice and plant from pots and take more care of the trees I plant.