We purchased 560 trees from the local Soil and Water Conservation office annual tree sale this year. These are not what you may think of when you see trees at the nursery. These are not ball and burlapped. They are not even in a 5/10/20 gallon bucket. They are so small, most people would probably not pick them up if mowing their lawns and these were sticks on the ground. Don't get me wrong, some of them might be the size of your pinky finger, but many are about the size of a sucker stick.
Here is what we are doing to ensure maximum success. This IS going to be more work. I also feel the additional work will be well worth the effort if it means a greatly increased survival rate. Here is the plan.
Gather up as many 1 gallon buckets from the local nurseries as you need. If you can't get any, then they can be purchased reasonably at places online. We have purchased items such as this from AM Leonard in the past and they are right here in Ohio. We filled approximately 1/3-1/2 the pot with top soil, a handful of sphagnum peat moss, then topped it off with some more top soil. Water them in, sprinkle some 6-24-24 fertilizer on the top of the pots, and put them in the ground pot and all. I am going to dig several rows and heel them in right by my garden. I might even cover them with some mulch to help retain more moisture. When I water the garden, the trees will be watered as well. Come fall I will pull them out of the ground and place them where they will continue to grow. The tap root with a handful of shoots should completely fill out the 1gal pot by fall. At this point the trees will stand a much higher success rate.
I will continue updating as the progress continues. Hopefully we finish potting tomorrow. I doubt it, but hopefully not too far away from being done. Depends on how much help I get.
Here is what we are doing to ensure maximum success. This IS going to be more work. I also feel the additional work will be well worth the effort if it means a greatly increased survival rate. Here is the plan.
Gather up as many 1 gallon buckets from the local nurseries as you need. If you can't get any, then they can be purchased reasonably at places online. We have purchased items such as this from AM Leonard in the past and they are right here in Ohio. We filled approximately 1/3-1/2 the pot with top soil, a handful of sphagnum peat moss, then topped it off with some more top soil. Water them in, sprinkle some 6-24-24 fertilizer on the top of the pots, and put them in the ground pot and all. I am going to dig several rows and heel them in right by my garden. I might even cover them with some mulch to help retain more moisture. When I water the garden, the trees will be watered as well. Come fall I will pull them out of the ground and place them where they will continue to grow. The tap root with a handful of shoots should completely fill out the 1gal pot by fall. At this point the trees will stand a much higher success rate.
I will continue updating as the progress continues. Hopefully we finish potting tomorrow. I doubt it, but hopefully not too far away from being done. Depends on how much help I get.