Al and Nathan, I hope that you don't mind my sharing a humorous story about Turface, that really highlights your points and underscores how respected a product Turface is in the industry. My son is a Turf Grass Agronomy major at a large Southern university, and did an internship last spring/summer at one of the major league baseball spring training facilities in Florida. Turface is used for excess water on the fields that occurs during rainstorms, especially those "popcorn" showers (downpours) that occur frequently in Florida. It has helped prevent many a game "rainout" due to its effectiveness. It takes many bags of Turface to do this (for one game), which can become a bit pricey---so it's a protected commodity in the baseball industry. During one sudden torrential downpour, the Grounds Crew quickly pulled the tarp over the infield, and then took cover in the visiting team's dugout to wait out the storm. The Turface bags were kept to the side in the visiting dugout, near where the Grounds workers were standing. The visiting team's pitcher had a bad inning just prior to the rainstorm, and came into the dugout kicking and throwing things, as they sometimes do. As he looked for things to use to vent his frustration, he eyed the bags of Turface to the side, and the Grounds workers caught his glance, and could tell that he was tempted to kick them, also. They immediately, in *unison*, said "don't even think about it!". Throw your glove, knock over some bats, kick the bubblegum containers over, but don't mess with the Turface...unless you want to take on the Grounds Crew... :)

The first bend in the trunk is result of a previous pruning. I noticed that when I was looking at the first images. Looks like the trunk bifurcated (split to form a 'Y') at that point and one side of the bifurcation was pruned off. In mid-June, the lowest branch marked in yellow should be cut back to 4 leaves. The long branch moving left/ marked yellow in the image above, and the branch moving right/ marked yellow should also be pruned back to 2 leaves. The leader, above these 2 branches and marked in yellow, should be pruned back to a leaf that points in the direction you want the leader to grow. This is called 'directional pruning'. Example: With the above pruning cut made, the new branch (shows as a leaf only, but it's a new branch) in the axil of the leaf on the right will want to grow to the right. If you wanted the new leader to move left, you would prune lower, to just above the leaf on the left. A cut above the leaf attached to the severed part would give rise to a branch growing away from the grower. Because there are other forces in play, like phototropism (tendency for plants to bend toward the brightest light source), there is no guarantee the branch will grow where you wish, so you might need to encourage the new branch that forms in the axil of the leader's top leaf to grow where YOU want it to. I mentioned this already, but I'll reiterate that your tree will respond to pruning with a much higher degree of enthusiasm if you do the pruning A) while the tree's energy reserves are highest, and B) when the tree's current ability to carry on photosynthesis is peaking, both of which will occur during the summer solstice (21 June). 'Father's Day' is easy to remember. If you intend to repot, do it at the same time you prune. While you could probably remove a little soil to cut through (2 cuts) the kinked root that emerges from and returns too the soil, I would do it at the same time you prune the top. Reason: Pruning the top decreases the volume of foliage the roots must work to keep hydrated. It also makes it less likely that a branch on the same side of the tree where the kinked root is attached will die. When a tree is unable to keep certain parts hydrated, it sheds those parts. Unfortunately, they seem to always choose to shed parts the grower feels are essential to the o/a composition/ shape/ style of the tree. Some trees, like junipers/ yews/ arborvitae/ .... , develop a dedicated relationship between individual roots and branches, such that damage to a particular root will kill a particular branch. Notice the live veins connecting roots to individual branches below: This tree ^^^ has 4 branches and 4 live veins. Other trees lack the direct relationship between particular roots and branches. For the genus Ficus, the relation is moderate, but the lower a branch is (and the shorter the tree is) the greater the likelihood that death of a branch or root will result in the dieback of it's counterpart on the opposite side of the root to shoot connection. When serious about earning a green thumb, the largest step a container gardener can take in that direction will come from understanding how water behaves in container media and what that means to the health of your plants' root systems; this, because issues with root function and/or health cause the most problems by far, with some of them seemingly unrelated to root health. Two examples that lend support to the later contention are infections by disease pathogens and insect predation due to a less than robust metabolic rate, caused by limited root function or poor root health. A healthy plant will remain forever elusive unless and until we are able to maintain root systems in an elevated state of vitality (health). Al

I was reading about muscadines and found a reference to Jaboticaba. At first I did a double-take, because the webpage was describing what muscadines tasted like and said they tasted more like a Jaboticaba fruit than a regular grape. I looked further and realized the website was for Austrailian gardeners. Then I thought, "What is a Jaboticaba?" and searched for the word. The first thing I saw was a picture that showed the fruit stuck to the trunk of the tree rather than on the tips of the branches, which really peaked my interest. After reading about the Jaboticaba on wikipedia, I immediately went to google shopping, because I had to have one if at all possible. I found an Amazon merchant, Hirt's Gardens, that had them for $15, so I ordered it. The tree is small but darling. Since I live in Zone 7, I may never get it to bear fruit, but it will make a great looking houseplant during the winter for years to come. It can provide company for my ficus tree that I've had for 30 years. The place where I ordered it, sells them for Bonsai growers. It would make a great Bonsai because it has tiny leaves the size of my fingernail. From what I've read, they grow very slowly and make great Bonsai specimens. I'm planning to let it grow as fast as I an get it to grow by keeping it outdoors until frost and then bring it indoors for the winter. My tree from Amazon/Hirt's Gardens is a small leaf variety of Myrciaria Cauliflora. It's funny that the Latin name is "Cauliflora", because when they bear fruit, they remind me of Brussels Sprouts. The one I got is actually prettier than the picture they have online. It is about 9 inches tall and really bushy. They had it pruned to look like a little oak tree or something. How much has yours grown in the past year? I got mine about 2 weeks ago, and it has already put on a new set of leaves over most of the top. It has about 2 inches of fresh new growth this season. Here is a link that might be useful: Jaboticaba Fruit Tree Plant - Bonsai or Houseplant

"What to do with the trees in the block that don't sell? You can't just hold them for another year and dig a larger rootball if they are in a RCB. " You pot them up same as any other good container nursery would. To be fair RCB cost more, and so you would probable want to salvage the old RCB which takes more labor. But at the same time, the root systems are much less likely to need real work, so that is a labor savings (again assuming everything else is done properly). " If they were in RCBs by the time you pulled the bag off you have a bareroot tree which in short order will defoliate. Imagine the look on your client's face when you go to make your collection. " FALSE ARGUMENT! 1. You do not use native soil in RCB. Therefore that scenario will not happen. 2. Even if very loose native soil was used, dense root systems will hold that material together one the pot is removed. Same principle that dense fibrous root system plants are planted on slopes to prevent erosion control. Therefore the scenario of planting bare root RCB plant is not going to happen. 3. Even if the plants ended up bare root, virtually all the roots will still be present. So once planted properly and waters as per proper procedure, all the roots will be surrounded by very moist native soil. Therefore the stated scenario will not happen. "They "pamper" every tree and every one is a winner, no deer damage because of fencing. Soil is sandy loam typical of the Eastern Shore" What about the other thousand growers? Very of them will take such care. Nor do I live on the eastern coast, so their trees will not be coming my way. Nor do I have soil of this type. Clay is much more common over most of the country, and that can lead to drainage issues. With that said, I would love to have access to the plants grown in the pictures. No doubt a well run grower. However, that is simply not the case for most of us. Plus as nice as the pictures are, they both clearly show buried root flares. One of the most common causes of transplant failure is readily visible in those photos. Arktrees