Fruitnut, I have 2 methods and I'm sharing my trade secrets here (what the hell- I'm 6 months from 60 and hope to retire in 25 years anyway). I start some plants straight in the ground, planting them way too close in a fenced off area. Planting them close makes maintenance per plant much less expensive given that it's all done by hand (don't ask). For apples in my climate it takes about 3 years to size them up to about 1.5" diameter- at least when planted this close. I carefully dig up these BR and put them in short 20 gallon pots (wide and shallow) in a mix of 1 part peat, 1 composted wood chips or stable waste ( almost pure humus with some carbo lumps) and 1 sand, plus a little wood ash. They limp the first season but I sell them the next for around $180 per. At this point they are bearing, 12' tall and well branched and the foliage is back to mormal. Other trees I transfer to Carl Whitcomb grow bags in real soil and let them grow about another 3 years and sell them for $250 per, or less to contractors. The grow bags I use are his last edition because they allow more root out of the bag and I can grow them without any irrigation at all- even through drought. Irrigation would reduce production by about a year, I'm sure, but in my operation only my potted plants get any and they are set in the soil as well. I always take some trees in the grow bags, remove the bags and put them into 25 Gallon pots with the soil intact but surrounded by my potting mix which allows me to sell some larger trees during the growing season. Surprisingly the soil surrounded by potting mix works very well and you might want to try that method for your trees as the soil gives you much more bang per square inch and costs less. Repotting would require only replacing the artificial soil on the edge of the soil ball. It makes things real heavy though, and my soil is not too fine so I don't know how it would work with a more clay soil but I bet it would work just fine. I'm sure my prices seem outrageous by your regional standards but I'm less than an hour from NYC and here it's more than competitive- it's the best deal around- because I have scores of varieties and they're actually properly shaped for fruit production. They also plug in better than the competitions BB'd trees, especially the ones I have in pots.

McT, Iron Gate Delight is in front of Big John. Who is in the top, right corner behind your Ebb Tide? My Ebb Tide gets morning Sun and has always had the edge. Maybe you could ask about your Ebb Tide's edge on the main Discussion board. Someone there may have insight as to whether it will eventually get the edge. The edges of Ebb Tide, Satisfaction, Liberty, Montana Aureomarginata and Magic Fire are favorites of mine. Ebb Tide and Satisfaction were purchased from a local nursery in '06. They sold their Hostas for $6 a Hosta or 4 for $20. The catch was most of the Hostas had crispy edges and slug holes; they also had huge roots. Here are two photos of Abiqua Moonbeam purchased from that nursery about the same time as Ebb Tide and Satisfaction. I didn't get a photo right when Abiqua Moonbeam was planted, but you can see the new growth without the slug holes. How about the plant the following year? No six month photos until after Christmas for me, I don't know what I was doing not to get photos for about a week back in June. Cowboy Abiqua Moonbeam 7/25/06 New growth doesn't have as many slug holes. Abiqua Moonbeam 7/2/07

I always gave our babies water (boiled) especially after feeding them milk, but then that is was the dr's did. It really never seemed to hurt them. In fact, my DD gave her children 12 & 14 water also and they drink water and fruit juice without a problem. Just read the article, and I should say we did not feed very much water, just oz or so. As to pedilite, I see no problem if it is controlled and Dr/ recommended as it was for my GGB after he got out of the hospital. Control is the idea. We also fed cereals at 3 weeks, again no problems, but again that was the way it was. But I do notice one thing, children who eat early eat better with less fuzziness. We can only do what the dr's suggest to do. Common sense and your Doctor should be your guide.

Laura, you may want to read this. I have made truce many times and even further..) http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4897055/iron-deficiency?n=21 In particular this) Silica Trickyputt, WTF ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Like Bookmark October 5, 2017 at 3:36PM Susanne Michigan Zone 5/6(6) Silica don't feed the troll please :) 1 Like Bookmark October 5, 2017 at 4:22PM trickyputt(8a AL) But Trolls need feeding too. Because you do not care for people learning how to grow on their own I deleted the post that offend you. mikerno_1micha(Zone 6a, Massachusetts) Tricky point, get lost since you have nothing nice to say or I shall have to report you to my friends at Houzz...I have never seen such a crude and rude person here in the ten years or so since I have been helping. There is no place for you here I will make sure of it if you can't be respectful or considerate..I suggest you delete your last one too silica. Just a heads up. Houzz will be coming by as soon as I talk to them. and probably mistake your post for something inappropriate. I don't want him to think anything bad about you since you have been a wonderful help here and I would miss all you have to offer if they banned you by mistake. Waiting on you