Chambersville Tree Farm using organic fertilizer

14 years ago

I have to admit that the trees looked good to me when I saw them at least in Root Trapper fabric bag (10g or larger) which has white outer covering to help drastically reduce temperature in the mix which probably kept microbes from dying, who knows for sure? The 5g Rootmaker container which is black plastic containers with a bunch of holes to help control circling roots probably do not work too good as the mix gets too hot being fully exposed to the sun during the summer. I'm curious to see how exactly they did it.

I'd still buy their trees mainly because of the way they put emphasis on proper root growth.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chambersville Tree Farms

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Comments (3)

justaguy2
14 years ago
The 5g Rootmaker container which is black plastic containers with a bunch of holes to help control circling roots probably do not work too good as the mix gets too hot being fully exposed to the sun during the summer.

I am not familiar with this specific brand of container, but in general plastic containers with lots of holes all over are superb containers to grow in, even besting unglazed clay or wood containers in some ways. This is because those holes all over allow for superior gas exchange.

They come at the cost of the need to water more frequently, but for the grower able to keep up they lead to greater plant growth. Evaporative cooling also moderates the interior temps on really sunny/hot days, but again at the expense of needing to water more often.

They also encourage roots to branch out instead of wrap around the inside of containers which is very healthy.

On the topic of organic fertilizers, they can work just fine in a container assuming one can get them to break down and release nutrients at a rate that at least very roughly approximates what the plant requires. It's not easy, but I have no doubt some dedicated to this methodology have acquired sufficient skill to make it work. I have tried it and consider it well beyond my own ability, but I am sure there are those who have found ways to make it work very well.
lou_spicewood_tx
Original Author
14 years ago
justaguy,

You could head over to www.rootmaker.com to learn more about it. The purpose of it is to prevent root circling like you'd see in conventional nursery containers. It's great as long as you cover them with something to keep it cool in hot Texas weather from the sun. That's where Root Trapper bag comes in (you can learn more about it from root maker website).

I have all the organic stuff that tree farm uses but I have no idea how exactly they did it. I mainly use them for in ground plants because my soil is pretty bad and need to improve the soil as rapidly as I can.. Very compacted from heavy machinery when the house was built 4 years ago. It's like trying to dig a hole in concrete street.

Anyway, I just potted up a dozen trees into 15g root trapper bags and will experiment organic vs synthetic just for the fun of it. That took forever. That's too much mix to be making. 5g is my max from now on and just sell them at dirt cheap that people can't refuse. I just like to look for unique look of Shantung maple (Acer Truncatum). Most are nothing special and some had poor forms (lacking strong central leader) early on. I'd kill for strong columnar shantung maple...
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jodik_gw
14 years ago
They sound like really large orchid pots, actually... a concept that allows excellent oxygen/gas exchange, among other things. It's difficult to tell much from the link provided... do you have a link that shows the pots a bit closer? That might be interesting.

Nevermind... I'm including a link to the company that makes this system. I haven't had time to peruse the site, or to think about the products very much... but anything allowing better root growth is worth looking into, at the very least.

Here is a link that might be useful: Root Trapper & Root Maker Products

Chambersville Tree Farm using organic fertilizer

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justaguy2

lou_spicewood_tx
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Chambersville Tree Farm using organic fertilizer

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justaguy2

lou_spicewood_txOriginal Author

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lou_spicewood_tx
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