You have 2 choices, I figure. You can pull the 2 branches to horizontal and cut the top when it reaches your desired height and get fruit maybe a year sooner from a weird shaped tree. You can make those 2 branches your main frame even, if tree sends out no lower branches, which it probably would. The other is to start the tree over as has been suggested here and shape the tree in the conventional manner. If the tree was just transplanted you may not lose time by doing this- unless the roots were undamaged in transplant (potted tree). Pears are one tree that I think may benefit from aggressive pruning after transplanting (with due respect to C. Whitcomb). They don't transplant well and dehydrate from root damage much more than most species. I have too often had pear trees runt out after transplant when they aren't cut back significantly.

Hi all, Lots of suckers (about 8" inches above soil) have sprouted around my 10 years old crabapple trees. I usually cut away suckers to prevent them from robbing nutrients. But for this summer, I wanted to experiment with them and see if they will grow into some baby crabapples. I was digging one today and as it turned out, it's hard work! The woody part of it extended at least another 6 - 8inches into the soil. There was a mini root system - at least 10 little tiny roots (2cm in length). I dipped it in liquid rooting hormone (Plant-prod 5-15-5, the only thing I can find in my area) and potted it with moist soil. Then wrap the entire pot with a plastic bag with a couple air holes to give it some humidity to grow. full sun for leaves to photo. Here's my questions: 1. Should I even cover suckers with mini root systems with plastic bags? or should I only use plastic bags with suckers without roots? 2. I kept the used diluted rooting hormone solution in a separate container. Realistically, can I re-use the solution for the same type of suckers for a week/month? Takes me forever to dig them up..... won't be digging/potting them all at once.... None of the suckers seem diseased, a few holes on the leaves maybe. 3. What are the cons of soaking the plants in liquid rooting hormone for too long? Mine says to soak plants for 30min, if I soak the suckers for let's say 2hours, would this kill the plants? 4. Full sun or shade? 5. Is this even the right time (mid-summer) to dig up/snip off suckers for potting?! Tks!!

I doubt you did something wrong. Those little over-the-counter soil test kits are just that way. Most people I know who have used them also get pale test results even in soil we believe should have more than adequate nutrient levels, so I kinda take the paleness with a grain of salt. Also, be sure you are looking at them soon and deducing the color. The longer they sit, the more the color will fade and that can give you an inaccurate reading. I didn't want to cause you undue concern over adding a handful of lime. It is just that every one of us has soil that differs from other folks' soil, so we have to be careful not to add anything that might negatively affect our soil pH or nutrient levels. A lot of damage is done, unintentionally, by new gardeners (and sometimes by older, seasoned ones too!) adding some of this and some of that because someone told them to do so without them actually knowing if their soil needed to have that substance added to it. Some folks in OK have very acidic soil, some have very alkaline soil, and some sit squarely in between with neutral soil. I just believe it is important to know whether your soil needs something instead of just adding it because someone said to. I'm sure the guy you were watching on TV is a wonderful person and a smart gardening expert, but that doesn't mean his recommendations are right for every person in the state, depending on what sort of soil they start out with. Folks like me with very alkaline soil and/or with soil naturally high in calcium wouldn't and shouldn't add lime. That's just the point I was trying to make. One way to figure out what will work best for you would be to add the lime to some holes and not others (preferably with all other things being equal) and then see if you see any difference at all in plant performance. The way I have found what works best for me with my soil and growing conditions has been to try many differnt things, regularly using methods that work and discarding those that don't. Don't sell your native soil short. Just because it has not yet been amended doesn't necessarily mean it isn't great soil. Even my crappy red clay had a lot going for it when we bought this place---it was high in nutrients, but just had texture/tilth/drainage issues due to a lack of organic matter. And, of course, it has been a constant battle to keep the pH as low as I want because our local water is high pH also. So, all we really had to fix was the organic matter to fix the clay and that's not a hard fix. Trust me, that's relatively easy compared to starting with poor sand, for example, that is low in pretty much all nutrients....and filled with root knot nematodes on top of that. In my lifetime, I have seen people add all kinds of weird stuff to their tomato holes, and I haven't felt compelled to copy what they were doing because I couldn't see that it made a difference. Generally a lot of what people do to their soil to make their tomato plants happy is more about them than it is about their soil. Even in our earliest years when our soil was nowhere near as well-improved as it is now, we got incredibly good plant growth and great yields, so I mostly just tried to add enough organic matter to ensure the soil would drain well and didn't worry or fret about this nutrient or that one. When you consistently add organic matter to your soil, the nutrients pretty much take care of themselves. It sounds too good to be true, but it is true. Epsom salts may or may not be helpful depending on the soil you're starting out with. Just be sure to use the recommended amount if you choose to use it. Sometimes people think that if a certain quantity is recommended, then they'll use twice as much because it will be twice as good. Instead, they sometimes overdose their plants. Remember that nutrients all work together in balance. If you have an excess of one nutrient, it can interfere in the plant's ability to take up and use other nutrients. I try to add lots of compost and steer away from adding one particular nutrient or another specifically to avoid getting my nutrients out of balance. The use of epsom salts won't really affect how your soil looks. It is just a water-soluble nutrients the plant roots can take up and use. I don't bother with soil tests much. I just watch my plants. If they look happy, are growing well and are producing well, I assume my soil has all it needs to feed the plants what they need. If the plants are unhappy, I look at all the available conditions---rain or lack of such, air temperatures, soil temperatures, etc. and try to figure out what is making the plants unhappy. It isn't always a nutrition issue. Often it is too much of something I cannot control---rainfall, wind, abnormally high or low air temperatures, herbicide drifting through the air because someone near me is improperly applying it, etc. I would not necessarily use last year's plant performance as a benchmark because last year's rainfall was abnormally high in most areas of the state, and too much rain is worse than not enough rain as the excess moisture can clog up roots and prevent them from taking up nutrients from the soil. It sounds bizarre, but it is a common problem in wet years. My best guess about your Seminole pumpkin is that it either wasn't getting enough sunlight (it is a sun-loving beast) or that the soil was too wet for it. It is rare for Seminole to grow poorly or to be non-productive, so I'd chalk that up to the weather being too crappy for it last year. Be sure you don't plant it until the weather and soil are really warm. If planted too early into cold soil, it can stay unhappy and nonproductive for months. Wait for the heat before you plant it and all winter squash. Don't get so caught up in trying to perfectly prepare and plant that you forget to have fun. One of the most successful tomato growers I know did exactly this: she rototilled her soil to get rid of the existing plants. She planted her tomato plants into the ground with no fertilizer added and no soil amendments. She didn't cage or stake her plants. She didn't water or weed. Soon she had 6' tall tomato plants surrounded by 6' tall grasses and weeds. She just waded through the weeds and grasses to harvest her tomatoes and she was perfectly happy with that. She got huge yields that made her farmer/rancher dad a little green with envy. He couldn't figure out how she got such great yields from such a messy, untended garden when his yields from a beautifully-prepared, well-tended garden plot weren't nearly as high. It made him crazy. Tomato plants want to grow. They have a biological imperative to produce seed to ensure another generation will follow them, so one way or another, they will set fruit. I don't think they need all the soil prep and fertilizer that some folks give them. If the nutrients are in the soil, the roots will find them and use them. It can be very simple. It doesn't have to be hard or complicated, and it isn't rocket science. Just keep it fun and (if possible) relaxing. Happy Growing! Dawn

Think about it. The digging season in the lower 48 is too late for the growers in Alaska to plant in the ground unless there is an exceptional year. They receive roots that have been kept in cold storage in the spring for planting then. If they can do it you can too. Most of the roots you see in packages have also been kept in cold storage unless they have been shipped from the Southern Hemisphere. The only thing is that the plant growth can be retarded by Spring planting but that will happen if in the ground or in a pot. The reason is that the small roots needed to absorb nutrients are not triggered to grow until the ground is cooler. Being planted close to the surface there may also be some thing about the daylight be coming shorter that can also cue the plants. Planting in pots and waiting until fall is up to you but I would recommend placing those pots in the ground rather than exposing them to the heat of the air surrounding the pots. If you do get them established you may have a problem with some of the nematodes eating from their roots as they are more prevalent in certain types of soil. Your soil may also be too alkali for good growth but in that case I do suggest a raised bed. There are some peonies whose ancestors come from alkali areas of the world. Next year the American Peony Society is planned to have their annual meeting in Oregon again. There will be people there that have much more knowledge of the geographic areas that peonies are from than I am. If he is able to come I would suggest finding Don Hollingworth and asking him about the topic. He is either in his late 80's or may be 90 this year. Kind man and loves to answer questions.