hey dave ... he used the sleeve that goes around the black tubes .... not the tubes.. yes???? .. the ones i have seen are white ... i would get rid of the sleeves.. as soon as possible ... but the most important thing.. will be insuring water in july, august and early sept ... what i call the heat of summer ... they will need constant amount of water.. letting them nearly dry in between waterings .... and they will need to be watered into early november ... but insuring that they are NOT standing in water.. when the soil freezes ... all, of course..... based on what mother nature provides ... i did basically the same thing.. without rototilling.. and without mulch.. on pure yellow mineral sand ... and the little 6 inchers.. planted in 2000 are going on 12 feet ... i ended up using a drip irrigation line ... to avoid the cost and work of proper mulch ... all lived ... dont recognize the name .... welcome to the GW .... cant wait to see the pix ... do keep in mind.. trees that blow in the wind.. grow up stronger... but i like your idea of protecting them since they are freshly planted ... if any of yours dont make it..in oct or so... move the end ones.. into the line.. so you dont have gaps .... good luck ken ps: PEAT pot ... made of peat .. lol on PEA pots ...

Thanks for all of the advice guys. @ davidrt28 - thanks for the advice and ordering info @ kato_b , tsugajunkie - the larger 5 gallon plants don't look as bad. there is still some green, but they don't look that great. I actually started planting the smaller trees further back from the road because I was worried about the salt spray. I think they're around 28ft from the road and have those hedges in between the road and small trees. I thought that would have been enough protection... also before they even started salting last fall, they were starting to turn orangish. @ davidrt28 - nope.. I didn't fertilize them @ tsugajunkie - thanks for that link, I may have to look into a different species what a discouragement ... it would have been nice to see the majority survive after all the time and money I put into the project I'm thinking the best thing to do is look for several species that's resistant to salt spray and add a mix of trees This post was edited by duke90 on Thu, May 2, 13 at 0:53

well, so far so good. i ended up placing them in 3 gallon planting bags and did my best to keep them watered. i placed them about 1 foot apart in a tripple row until about 2 weeks ago when they were planted. i did not cover or protect them through the rather severe winter we just had, and they have come through beautifully. Most are well over 2' now, a few probably 2.5'. i planted in a double row about 8' on center. i am in the midst of laying landscape fabric and mulching an area 180' x 15'....darn, its a lot of work! i found a company that specializes in installing ceader windbreaks and they strongly recommended a drip system for watering. their advice was if the budget is tight, get smaller plants, but GET some sort of watering system. I followed that advice and ran a 500' 1/2" poly line with 1/4" rubber hose t'd off and terminated with 1 gallon/hour emmitters. i also put an inline fertilizer tank where i can put watersoluble (or liquid) fertilizer. i have it set for a very low dilution since it is basically constant fertilizer. the trees seem to like this arrangement, their colour has greatly improved and i am seeing some good grotwth. currently i'm using a 20 20 20 fertilizer. would their be a better choice for giant greens? now, since i am watering directly at the root, how much water should i give them considering a dry spell with temps in the mid to high 80s. i have a 7 day timer with up to 4 cycles/day. any advice on the amount of water is greatly appreciated. the soil is very sandy loam...good to excessive drainage

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures of Green Giant, which I grew this past summer, also from Victory Seeds, but I would describe them as potato-leaf vine with 50 - 100% larger on average than the Cherokee Green fruit, about the same sweetness but a little bit less zingy and more fruity. Problem I had with Green Giant is the ONLY indication they give you of readiness to pick is feel, and they bruise so easily, that once you "feel" their ripeness, you'd better take them directly inside and eat them within 12 hours. The ones I left on the vine to full ripe consistently began decomposing while on the counter for more than a few hours. First, little round indentation began appearing in the skin which soon began spreading into the flesh as large, soft, grey spots. Green Giant is NOT a mark tomato, which is too bad, because when eaten at the peak of flavor, they are as good in their own right as Cherokee Green. Unfortunately, over half the Green Giants I grew ended up rotting on the vine because I just didn't discover them soon enough. But I did succeed in crossing Green Giant with Yellow Submarine this summer, so who knows what might evolve from that. Other attempted crosses of Green Giant with larger tomatoes failed to take this time around, though. For someone who likes green-when-ripe tomatoes, I'd suggest they grow Cherokee Green as first choice and Green Giant as second choice, but be prepared to prune away excess foliage so you can find and pick the fruit when ready. Another great one is Lime Green Salad, which is a dwarf suitable for 5-gallon containers, and makes cute little salad tomatoes with quite a zesty zip ... ... and the yellow epidermis will always give you the amber blush that let's you know they're dead ripe. But for me, they're much zingier tasting when picked a day or so before the stage shown in that picture. Also from Victory Seeds. Bill