Could use some advice with fruit trees.
pitcom
11 years ago
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11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
could use some advice and suggestions...
Comments (21)As usual you have ALL come through with great ideas. I will show the area as it used to be and then I planted it and now all these years later it looks the same...sigh...nature is telling me something and I am not listening :) But I am going to start listening. Ianna,prariemoon,lavender,serenae,new, irene and thyme,,,you are all equally wonderful for taking the time to help. The over all view is : don't fight mother nature...use pots and decorative features and droughty plants when possible. I am more and more agreed that it is the way to go. We had someone on here that used to post about " staring"...that is what I have been doing as I clean and trim and sweep and think. The funny thing is that I thought or hoped that I was done with that when I added lots of soil and amendments and planted all these things. sigh....quite a humbling experience. A gardener is NEVER done learning.They looked so good for 2 years. Ah well on to new and better ideas. It does no good to lament what will never be. I can't and really don't want to get rid of any more trees. I can't add anymore soil as it only encourages the adventitious roots. At first you think , OK I have conquered the roots....but they come on up and through and mat worse than ever. So other than " pocket planting" , adding lots of soil to the hole and not bothering to amend around the area, I am done with topsoil additions. I used to have a small pond , ianna, when we first moved here. It had koi and was wonderful. They knew me and came right up to feed. One Labor day a neighbor sprayed for mosquitoes and my fish all died. He never admitted it but you could smell it. I took out the pond. Also with the leaves it is almost impossible to keep it cleaned out. I have a fountain in the pool area it is wonderful and I am going to add another out here too as I think your idea of water and a feature is perfect. I don't know what kind of tree the " big one " is. Irene I had lamiums but they only lasted one hard freeze here...funny that they do for you and not here. prarie: there is enough hot sun in areas as the tree is very very tall so here in the SOUTH the sedums are happy. lavender I have lots of pots so that is no problem. Ok I hope I have covered all you have suggested. Here are some pics...this is how it looked when I first built the rock wall and started out...2-3 yrs ago . big tree ( second tree behind little house is gone too ) ....there is more in this area now than is showing but this gives an idea: this is how it looks with pots and my purple table and chairs that I salvaged a couple years ago: this is when it looked wonderful...sigh: other direction toward the small maple, there are only 3 trees in the back now ( I forgot the wonderful fragrant pineapple smelling tree by back porch) ...when it looked so good... another nice view: OK ,,,it was nice to see this and I am GOING to get it back to this. The rose campion still looks good and there are some grasses that are still OK. The salvias are so so...iffy. The sedums are OK. The pots are easy and some have roses that are OK as the whole bricked are is HOT sun for hours. There is nothing at all under the little maple now. 2 heucheras look sad and that is all. I had stone walks and took them out. Will see about putting them back... THANK YOU ....you have all helped me " get a grip". c...See MoreDamaged Apple Tree -- Could use some help from the experts
Comments (5)Konrad and harvestmann -- thanks again for the insight. Interesting -- hadn't thought about tying up the side branch and turning it into the leader -- will give that a shot. As to rootstock -- I'm not sure about the specific rootstock, but pretty sure it is Semi-Dwarf (possibly standard)... one of the local fruit old-timers who owns the nursery where it was purchased doesn't believe in dwarfs (non-natural) here in the harsh conditions of CO. No grass or weeds... the front yard was actually scraped of grass 3 years ago, and low water local flowering plants were put in, with compost turned in and mulch elsewhere -- still a work in progress. However, it is pretty dry here... and there are some crocus bulbs around the tree (beyond the current drip-line) and 4 gooseberry and current bushes. This spring I'll setup dripline irrigation... peaches and pears in the back already have it. However, I haven't done much in the way of fertilization, and will probably auger some 2" holes and pack with compost and fertilizer this spring -- if that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Just a note -- the only reason the tree was topped was due to the fireblight... there were some small branches at that point, but being a newbie, I didn't make the connection about re-directing that other branch upward, as Konrad pointed out. Thanks for your guidance and for the link -- there's a lot to learn!...See MoreHelp! Adopted huge (and unruly) Rubber Tree & could use some guidance.
Comments (49)That's the best part about using the turface. It's almost like cat litter in regards to its change of color from wet to damp to dry. When I initially stuck the cuttings, I loaded the first cup with turface I had just rinsed to reduce the dust particles. Therefore it was damp when stuck. After inserting the dusted cutting, topping with another upside down cup (with hole cut in bottom to slide over stem), I then poured additional turface thru the top hole. Then I watered just until saturated. Lastly, I cut slits in the bottom cup until I was sure it was adequately draining. Other than sticking them in a shaded location and adding water anytime I saw the turface drying out... that was it! With these, just having them next to other plants that were regularly watered on the porch was sufficient. The hole let in just enough, but not too much!...See MoreNewbie could use some sage advice
Comments (71)Biggest advantage of watering from below is being able to keep the tops from getting as soggy, where mold/fungus/gnats are more likely to be a problem. But some people prefer to water from the top. It can certainly be done, although if you do, it needs to be done with something that's more of a drip spout rather than a wider pour spout, or else you may wash your seeds out. Most of your seeds will just go 1/4" deep in rather loose, fluffy seed-start soil that's disturbed pretty easily with much water force. You just need to play with it some. But I think you'll find when using the standard thin 6-cell packs, it gets pretty easy to tell when they dry out. Even if you choose to water an entire 10x20" tray (72 cells) at once rather than pulling each of the 12 6-packs out and dipping them individually like I do, you'll figure out the approximate watering balance before long. Just give the tray maybe 1/2" of water. All or most should get absorbed within 5 minutes or so. It may take another 10 minutes for it to creep up to the tops of the cells, and you'll see those turn darker in most spots, but with maybe some light (dry) edges still. That's good. If it all turns really dark, and almost shiny, you've probably overwatered and made it soggy. You don't want the trays actually sitting in water for more than a few minutes, otherwise they will sop up too much water. Better to add less and see if it all absorbs than add too much at once and find you've saturated the cells and made them soggy. You can always add more if it looks like it needs more. I water roughly every 2nd or 3rd day. If you have a fan gently blowing on it, then a bit more frequently. Don't sweat the details, because it varies and there's a lot of different ways that work. Just need to start some and play with it, even if you end up discarding it as a test. One of those little $1 12-cell trays would be perfect for testing on. It's really not as difficult as I'm probably making it sound....See Morefranktank232
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKippy
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agocapoman
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agospartan-apple
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agofranktank232
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoolympia_gardener
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoribs1
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRenee Barone
8 years agoparker25mv
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoparker25mv
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoBev Lu
8 years ago
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