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not a power line but an internet provider cable. Usually the city does not groom/chop your trees in this case. I do have a front crab apple tree that gets chopped from time to time by the city butchers
It's your call.
You could add another cable a couple/three feet higher up the trunk, above the existing one and pull the tree more upright. It might take leaving the cables in place a couple of seasons before it would stay that way and the trunk will not be perfectly straight.
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder so if that works for you that's what counts. ;-)
Other than that, I think you've done about all you can.
Good Luck!
I have a lot of nickle and quarter+ sized stones in the soil I have for a lawn. They really don't seem to hurt anything. I do have to make sure that if I dig to plant a tree, I throw the stones in the hole early so they're no right on top.
They never seem to float up to the surface and a few are fist sized.
Also, If I had a lot of dirt to mix with compost or whatever, I'd pick up a used portable cement mixer, or rent one for the day. You could mix a wheelbarrow at a time and be done in a few hours.
Stones and rocks in the soil will not be a problem, unless they stick high enough above the soil that they get hit by the lawn mower. As you are spreading the dirt, ,you can remove the big stones while you are spreading it.
Don't make a lot of extra work for your self by making the removal of rocks a separate process, Doing it as a separate process will only mean you have to handle the dirt twice. It is heavy enough that moving it once is enough.
If you find big stones, they are a valuable landscape feature. I use small 8" and up, to line our flower beds. Check out the prices on rocks at your local landscaper.
Once you have grass, you will forget about the stones. My lot was wooded, the trees were between 30 and 50 years old. When I plant anything a pick axe is just as important as the shovel.
I can only judge from a single pic, but that soil "looks" pretty darn good.
Rocks release minerals into the soil via moisture. acidity and bacterial action. That's how minerals vital to much of plant life get into soils. Granted, some processed soil will not have any rocks and already contain the minerals, but thinking rocks are in general "bad" is not realistic.
Reasoning is good, trying out is better :-)
Bio sciences aren't exact sciences, I have been told.
I didn't pay attention to the whole video but it talks about grafting exotic scions to balsam fir root stock. You might find this interesting:
There appears to be a stake, tied to the dead stem. Was there wire ties or something that could've strangled it?
After two years it shouldn't need stakes at all. Unless it was bent by ice or snow.
But no loose ties won't hurt although doesn't help either.
I'd certainly investigate the possibility of a water issue. Both too much and too little water can produce similar symptoms. And either will not necessarily affect the whole tree. The only way you can determine which one it might be is to dig down into the soil just outside the rootball and to its full depth and physically/visually examine the soil moisture level.
How the planting areas was prepared, how the plants have been irrigated and how level the planting site is can all have a substantial bearing how water moves through the soil profile. It is quite possible to have very dry areas very close to very damp areas.
Aside from normal cultural concerns, not much bothers these tough conifers.
Thank you! I will give that a try as well since in the worst scenario it doesn’t make it and I’d want to replace, I’ll want to know if anything in that spot is causing the problem. This has all been really helpful!
Maybe I shouldn't show my pot of trilliums :-) They have a long back story but this particular clump (part of the original plant I acquired going on 20 years ago) has not been in the ground for 5 years.
If I wasn't already convinced it's spring, the pollen this last week has been incredible!! Everything has a thick dusting of gold powder, you see clouds of it lifting when the wind blows and I have been sneezing my head off!! I don't remember it being this bad before.
Robins are often the harbingers of spring where I live, but it seems like I always see red-tailed hawks return before I see robins.
Well, still haven’t swapped out my snowblower, but my blooming serviceberry is a good sign.
tj
Epsom salts won't do bupkus for peach leaf curl!! That's like taking an antacid for a broken leg. 😆There is nothing in ES that could possibly be construed as an effective fungicide. Neem oil or other horticultural oils are considered "natural" or organic and may have a limited effectiveness but anything else - other than a proper registered fungicide - is just a waste of time and money.
If you are unwilling to apply a proper treatment to address this disease, then you should look into replacing your peach with a leaf curl resistant variety. Or just stop growing fruit trees, most of which will have a plethora of insect and disease problems.
Sorry, but that's just life. You have to have the right tools to do the job.
No shortage of examples. This is a common sight in my area. The attitude is that the shrubbery has been "taken care of". This CM had the beginnings of a beautiul shrub. How do we reverse the murder rate?
Old thread, but I have to comment. I've seen some local crapes cut way back and then sprayed with dormant oil as one remedy for the awful crape myrtle bark scale that has moved into the region. There's no way you can treat an entire plant if it's full sized. Sometimes you gotta do whatch gotta do.
It was a low cost plant in a small container. After reading through the thread Bill linked to, I'm not at all optimistic about it. It's a seedling, so maybe that will improve its chances. On the other hand, besides our cold winters, I've got sharply drained soil that dries out quickly. It probably has one root in the grave. We'll see how it does and I'll hopefull remember to update the results.
Pennlake, that setting is pretty as a postcard.
4-3-24:
Another thing I'm trying on the Tsuga(s) this year, is leaving space from the ground to the bottom of the burlap, to allow sun to penetrate closer to the tree, helping thaw the ground at the base of the tree, earlier in the spring. The frozen ground is the real culprit for these trees.
It's a challenge to not want sun on the crown and yet still want sun at the base. No good way I can think of to do that without a lot of messing around and no, I'm not installing an electric blanket.
Even with the space under the shade, it allows sun underneath only part of the day and shade the rest, slowing the thaw process. I'm sure it must help to a certain extent and things can vary from year to year.
4-21-2024:
Just for the record, I took sunshades off the two Tsuga canadensis today.
For there not being any snow most of the winter and very high winds at times, enough so I was out there doing repairs on the shelters, I would say things came through exceptionally good.
No brown needles or any other signs of degradation. Rain forecast end of the week. Bring it on. ;-) State champ seed:
Rocky gorge seed.
On the computer, something out the bay window distracted me. Looked, and a big yellowish "dust" cloud went by the window. I mean big. Something from the nearby road? Construction nearby? Then another wind gust -- it was a pollen-cloud blown from one of my Table Mnt pines!
Bill, no, that particular one has been loaded w/cones, male and female. Biggest female cones are baseball-size and bigger (I wish I could fetch one, but they're too high). The other, a bit older one upwind has much fewer cones (it's shaded by my sugar maple).
I've read the description by Donald Peattie in 'A Natural History of Trees' that it's impossible to pull/twist a TM pine cone off its stem, you can only cut it off somehow or cut off the branch to get it. I don't want it bad enough to cut off a branch :)
Might be planted too deeply and is that burlap sticking out of the ground?
tj
About a foot up from the base is a large oval shaped area where bark is missing. I'd replace the tree while it's under warranty.
The Dawes zone rating is surprising. You’ve got the right attitude when it comes to woody plants. If one is afraid to lose a few, it might not be the right hobby.
This winter was so mild, I dont think I lost a single plant, which is almost unheard of. Maybe I’m not trying hard enough.
Zone pushing -- works sometimes, others not. My crape myrtles are miserable clumps of base sprouts, but my longleaf, loblolly and pond pines (all southern pines) look healthy and grow like weeds (longleaf pine is over 50 ft tall).
Bill, my Manchurian fir is "winter" cold-hardy, but pushes buds too early and most years these get burned by late frosts. Then it responds by putting out disheveled secondary sprouts in all directions and kinda looks like a mess.
Bill, do you know what your "free gift" is? Some type of juniper/falsecypress?
This year in southern Alberta we had the lowest temperature (-39.7C) I've recorded since I started systematically keeping track back in 2008. So this year is going to be the big test for all the borderline plants I've planted over the past several years. Nervous to see what does and doesn't come back!
This has been such an odd winter - higher than normal temperatures and lower than normal precipitation. That being said, there's an inch of snow out there this morning! That's not exciting in itself, but it does mean moisture, which we and the prairies west of here are sorely lacking. In spite of the milder temperatures, spring has been slow in coming. Maybe next week!
Really cold high temps here, but the lows not mich below average. 26 f or so the last few days
10-11-2023: just for the record.
Went past the tree I collected nuts from yesterday and the tree was completely devoid of conkers. Nothing on the tree nor the ground. Didn't see any husks or anything except some leaves. It appears that Mr. squirrels were hard at work last week.
4-19-2024:
With the warmer than normal winter/spring and the fact that back in March I had to steal a bag of mulch that was covering my tote 'cold frame', I moved everything from the tote over to the outside plant table about 3 weeks ago. Nice sunny days with no freezing temps at nights the whole time.
Now with 3 nights in a row of 27df forecast, I moved all the pots into the house last night.
The little first year lilac (syringa vulgaris, left) from last fall, did defoliate in the cold frame but then sprouted new little leaf buds by the time I removed it from the tote early April. Hardy!
Next left to right, Picea glauca seedling, I grew on the bench all last summer, is a little off color but has buds that have been swelling now that its outside with warmer temps.
The 3rd pot is an Aesculus glabra seed in bark mix (511) that so far has not shown a sprout.
The Fourth pot next to it is a Black walnut seed found in the yard last year (511) no sprout yet.
Last (right) is the pot I planted (peat moss) the extra randomly collected buckeye seeds that were collected during the last 2-3 of weeks before the squirrels put an end to the harvest by removing all signs that seeds were ever there. ;-) <continued below>
There were 9 seeds total. So, let's see, 9 divided by 9 = 1 x 100 = 100% ;^)
I don't know if these results are enough to dispel the myth that aesculus germination rates are on the low side but does give you an idea of what proper (long) cold stratification can accomplish.
Just wanted to provide an update on what happened to all this in the tote since last season.
Without a positive identification of the plant around the tree in the original post, it would be impossible for me to tell.
All the vines I can discern in the OP's picture have alternate foliage and no winter leaf buds so that would rule out honeysuckle.
American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) can do some of the same damage.
American B. has orange seed coats while Oriental are red.
Some information and pictures below:
While we knew that there was many forms of wild life on our lot when we got trail camera we were surprised at the number. One of the things we learned was there were many semi feral cats in the neighborhood. In addition to the many raptors, we had the full spectrum of small animals. from moles, mice, rabbits, squirrels, deer, etc which every one has seen in their yards. We have all so got possums, raccoon, coyotes, and foxes that we have seen on the trail camera. We have no idea what we have not seen.
So the point of my messages is just because you do not see the wild life, does not mean you do not have many small animals in your yard, so you can not assume you have no ticks
@BillMN-z-2-3-4
thanks so much! This seems easier to implement .
We will try to find the tubes to protect the bottom of the tree.
It might stll look like a mound, but I did rake the mulch from the base so it does not touch the stem.
Thank you so much!
@BillMN-z-2-3-4
Bill, you are a classy example of helping people. Your demonstration is always clear and easy to follow. Thanks so much for taking this trouble🌹
Hi kitasei2, https://www.flickr.com/photos/marylanddnr/albums/72157664538015870/
here is a link to photo page of my state's tree nursery. I suppose all states have something similar. This gives you an idea of how millions of tree seedlings are grown, we call them bed-grown seedling liners. No reason to grow them from cuttings, AAMOF I've never heard of growing pawpaw from cuttings. BTW shipping has come to a halt because bare root season is just about over.
FWIW pawpaw is blooming at this moment, flowers smell like bread dough. I use a small artist brush and transfer pollen from tree to tree, otherwise no fruit.