rfwp

14 years ago

Ugh, what a long haul, thankfully I decided against making the round trip in one day. Spent about 3.5 hours on the road Sunday, stayed the night in Woodstock Sunday, few hours at RFWP on Monday and then the 4 hour drive home (slower with trees in the back). No cruise control and bench seats in a single cab small pickup.

Definitely worth every minute of driving pain! Although I didn't make an appointment, I did call last week to check availability and talked a bit about driving up. They knew exactly who I was when I got there and had taken notes when talking to me on the phone. I was impressed. Rich was at the farm when we got there so we spent 2 hours walking around with Todd. After seeing it all I was dumbfounded, probably looked like a possum in the headlights. I did finally get some stuff tagged and we spent probably 30 minutes looking for the 4 Pinus sylvestris 'Gold Coin' that inventory listed in the wrong spot (imagine looking for 4 trees in amongst hundreds, if not thousands!). I was in the office checking out and talked with Susan for awhile, got loaded up with brochures to various botanical gardens and arboretums (enabling). She got on the radio, "We got another Dax referral here". In comes Rich and we talk about what I got today, what I'm getting next time, and when I can come back to see the farm. Definitely good people.

Pinus contorta 'Taylor's Sunburst'

{{gwi:805443}}

Pinus strobus 'Niagra Falls'

{{gwi:805444}}

Pinus leucodermis (heldreichi) 'Mint Truffle' - (why do we list leucodermis if it's heldreichi now, just a legacy name or will it get dropped after awhile?)

{{gwi:805445}}

Pinus sylvestris 'Gold Coin'

{{gwi:805446}}

After the 4 hour ride home on its side the soil had slid to one side exposing this. Looks like I should scrape away some more soil and cut it out, carefully.

{{gwi:804530}}

Temperatures have been wonderful here lately, 70's during the day, 50's at night. Going to pickup a load of mulch tonight after work and start in on the planting this week.

I guess this is it, no turning back now.

MWD (lotsa Dave's here)

Here is a link that might be useful: RFWP

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Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
seriously ... you let her give DAX credit ... pshaw ...

otherwise ... was it the best thing ever?

did it feel like they sliced open a vein .. and just shot pure heroin in your vein... [metaphorically speaking of course.. since if you knew that.. you probably wouldnt have $$$ for conifers.. lol] ...

whats your native soil .... you may need to bare root them???? ... to avoid problems with the interface between the potting media and your soil ...... and you can take care of that root then ...

was it better than cruising the WWW .... ???

ken

ps: nice sum and substance back there ...
Embothrium
14 years ago
Based on what I have encountered here chances are most or even all of them are on deformed rootstocks, the one exposed encircling root the tip of an iceberg. The stake on the one tree is probably another indicator. Otherwise one or two of them are in rather small pots for the size of their crowns, so even if they are somehow blessed with not being on the badly deformed rootstocks that seem to be pandemic they probably need some work anyway.

Â Plants with woody roots often need corrective root pruning before transplanting
Â Containerized plants are notorious for concealing fatal root flaws
Â "Bare-rooting" container plants is a more successful transplanting technique as root flaws can be
corrected and container media removed
Â In a healthy, well-watered plant, root pruning at transplant time will induce vigorous new root
growth and assist in establishment

Here is a link that might be useful: The Myth of Fragile Roots
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SilverVista
14 years ago
That sounds like Rich and Susie's style! When he visits nurseries in Oregon, he even remembers the names of farmworkers at many of the nurseries and makes it a point to stop and chat with them in Spanish. By all means, make it a point to go back to see the farm soon! While the "landscaped" presentation at the nursery is great for seeing the possibilities for using different trees, the farm lets you compare row after row of field-grown stock and pick just the right shape and size to suit your spot. Very different from the original nursery. If I lived there, I would have to have groceries sent in because I would never, ever leave the property.
midwest_dave
Original Author
14 years ago
Yep, best thing ever. About half way back I thought to myself, Carp!, didn't take any pics inside the nursery, was too distracted, again, deer in the headlights. Couldn't believe driving by so many tree farms up there, probably 5 or 6 between Rockford and Woodstock. Planning the spring trip now, err wait I don't have room, well maybe I do. One thing at a time I guess.

Soil here is clay, not the orange/red stuff you dig up and dry into a pot though, a milder version. Some of these will be going on a berm I have in the backyard which is a much better clay/loam soil and the berm has a 12" perf drainage tile running along the base.

I've done bare root before with fruit trees, but I'll admit a little more intimidation here with these. Not just cost but travel time, etc. I figured I'd at least have to monitor the root ball moisture seperately from surrounding soil. A lot of you bare root container conifers at planting? I figured getting a few inches of media off the ball was OK. 'Gold Coin' probably going bare root, she's in a 3g, others are 6g, 'Niagara Falls' was just recently up-potted from 6g to 10g.

Lunch is so short when you spend most of the time outside walking the garden...

MWD
barbaraincalif
14 years ago
Wow...terrific selection of cultivars you've got there MWD (isn't that the name of a beer?).
As to the roots: when receiving small rootstock plants this year it seemed like most of the plug grown stock already has the circling roots shown above....a time consuming mess to correct. My favorite root structure is found in field grown seedlings.
Be sure to read bboy's link above. It will give you the courage to tear apart that rootball!

Barbara
gardener365
14 years ago
Very nice Dave.

I've been hinting to my gal she needs a new conifer ;-). How evil of me as number 1 may just get lucky in the process. I am bringing her flowers tonite. Hopefully she doesn't read any of this stuff or I am busted.

Glad you had a good time. You'll never regret good trees.

Chow,

Dax

rfwp

Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Embothrium

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Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Embothrium

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