Hi Y'all, Mmmmm! Sand plum jelly. That's a mouth-watering treat. Here in our part of Oklahoma, sand plums, also referred to around here as Chickasaw Plums (after all, our part of OK is the Chickasaw Nation) are predominantly fenceline trees. They often form extensive thickets, and I usually see them growing in poor sandy soil, poor clay soil and sometimes in pretty decent sandy loam. I'm not sure how they'd do on rocky soil as our part of Love County isn't very rocky, and the folks I know here on rocky soil don't have sand plums on their land. Here's what I can tell you about sand plums, and I'm no expert either. First of all, there are a lot of wild plums and the ones I knew as sand plums in Texas were Prunus texana and were somewhat dwarf, bushy plants with fruit that tended to ripen in June. The plums usually referred to in Oklahoma as sand plums are Prunus angustifolia and in Texas we usually called those thicket plums because of their tendency to sucker and form thickets over time. And, if you have wild black cherry, escarpment black cherry, harvard plum, creek plum, black cherry, chokecherries of flatwoods plum, they all are related to sand plum and they all grow the same way. Mexican plums are a little harder to start from seed. GROWING FROM SEED: To grow from seed, collect the plums from the trees after the fruit is fully filled-out and firm. Let the fruit get as ripe as you can but be sure to collect some before the birds strip the trees of all the fruit. Clean the seeds of pulp and let them air dry before you store them. You only want to air dry them for a short time--just a few hours if it is very humid or up to one day if the air is very dry. It is better to dry them indoors in moderate temperatures and out of direct sunlight because too much heat/sunlight can induce a tougher dormancy period. If you want, you can sow your summer to early-fall collected seed without drying, or you can cold-stratify the seed in the refrigerator. The idea temps for cold stratification of wild plum seed are 31 to 41 degrees according to Jill Nokes. If you want to plant in the fall, get your seeds into the beds in September so they have time for some after-ripening before cold weather arrives. You can winter sow plum seeds (pits) in late January to late February or you can plant them in a cold frame at about that time. Cold-stratified plum seeds germinate best when nighttime temps are in the 50s and daytime temps are in the 70s. GROWING FROM CUTTINGS: You can grow native plums from dormant hardwood cuttings, softwood cuttings, semihardwood cuttings or from root cuttings. The easiest way for most people (especially if you haven't raised trees or shrubs from cuttings before) is to use semihardwood cuttings taken in the early to mid summer. Take your semihardwood cuttings from the tips of branches, from new stems that are just barely beginning to turn woody at the base. If you cut them before they are beginning to turn woody, they are likely to rot before they root. Dip your cuttings into a rooting hormone (you can try willow water if you don't have or can't find rooting hormone) and place them in a tray of moist perlite/peat. Keep moist either by placing them under a mister or by misting them frequently. Some people place the tray of cuttings in a sealed plastic bag (like a giant zip-lock) to hold in moisture. Generally, they should begin to show root growth in 30 days or less. My favorite way for any of the native plums is to dig one up from the forest (for black cherries and Mexican plums) and transplant them into the yard. For sand plums, you often can sever a newer smaller sprout with a sharp spade and transplant it into a new area as long as the sprout or sucker has developed some root to sustain it once it is separated from the mother plant. To plant them, give them the same conditions in which they are found in the wild. Many native plants grow best in native (unamended) soil and with as little supplemental water as possible. Because these plants are adapted to survive in the real world in tough conditions, they can have trouble adjusting to enriched soil, and heavy fertilizer/water. One reason you don't transplant native plants into rich potting soil or heavily amended native soil is that the native plants are very susceptible to the kinds of bacteria common in such enriched soil since they have not been exposed to those bacteria in more lean, more arid native soil. Sandgrass, I am not sure how well they will do in rocky soil although most trees can grow roots that will slowly make their way down through the rocks and into deeper soil. I wouldn't amend the soil with anything because you can only amend a relatively small area and the tree is going to have to grow (over time as it enlarges) in the native soil anyway. When I plant/transplant a native plant, I try to make sure it has adequate water for the first 3 years of its life, but I don't give them extraordinary amounts of water. The key is to keep them moist enough that they don't go into transplant shock in the heat, but not so wet that the roots develop fungal diseases from the constant moistness. After a native plant has been in its location for 3 years, I don't give it any extra water. After three years, it has to survive on rainfall alone, unless we have the kind of prolonged drought that is causing trees to drop their leaves in the summer because of drought stress. As far as spacing, you can plant them at whatever distance you choose. After all, in the wild they sucker and form dense thickets so they are used to growing in close quarters. To make it easier to pick the plums, I'd plant them a good 8 or 10 feet apart so they aren't impossibly dense once they start to sucker and form thickets. If they do well, they'll get very thick over the years. If I had a choice, I'd plant them at a higher point in the landscape where they'd be likely to have better drainage. If your soil drains very quickly, as many rocky soils do, you could plant them in lower spots. The best location will be one that holds some moisture but not where water puddles for weeks on end. Hope this info helps. I can just about taste the sand plum jelly right now. Good luck with your trees. Dawn

I'm fairly certain it is against the law to dig up any plant on property which is not your own. However, would you be prosecuted? Maybe, Maybe not. If I saw someone digging up a tree on our acreage, I know I would not be happy about it. But, you know, if they asked permission ahead of time, I'd probably be OK with it, as long as the tree they wanted was a common one, and not a one-of-a-kind type. One thing to consider, though, is that the chickasaw plum (Prunus angustifolia) is a suckering plant. You may plant only one, but over time that plant will send up suckers and form a good-sized thicket. Eventually you'll have a very large thicket. If you don't want a thicket, you will have to work hard to prevent that thicket from forming. Finally, I think that the Oklahoma State Forestry department offers tree seedlings at reasonable prices for wildlife and conservation plantings. You might try contacting them. Every year I see their ads/order forms in our local newspaper. I think they offer several of the wild/native plums. It might be too late for this year, though.

When changing stain colors you want to get down to bare wood, otherwise you'll be applying new stain over old and it will be uneven and blotchy. 100 grit might be too rough for that wood. Poplar is a soft wood and often lower grade sandpapers can tear into soft wood and create splinters like fibers, gouges, etc. I'd probably stay at 120 for lowest grid, or see what you can do with 150 using a little more elbow grease. Agree with Casey, were it me I'd bypass all that sanding and strip the door to bare wood. (I like Bix Orange but you have to be very careful, even a pinhead size splatter on your skin burns like fury!) Have refinished lots of projects but none poplar. Since pine often responds best to a wood conditioner pre-stain, I googled "staining poplar" to see if poplar were viewed as the same. Lot of different takes on how to 'prep' the wood for stain, but personally can't make a recommendation based on experience since I've not stained any poplar. It does appear to be tricky to work with, though.

Hi Lisa, totally understan, I have roses in and out of shopping cart as well : ) Cyndita - thank you, I believe she dose like the spot and all the sun Ingrid - I noticed that I have a spot in the garden, there is 4 roses dont do well at all, but spot nexts to it is fine, not sure yet what is wrong with it.. I will no longer plant roses there..