My potted Nadia is struggling to leaf-out.
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Just put my Nadia in the ground today. It was breaking dormancy. Came from Raintree and was a very nice caliper, should do well. Planted next to Burgundy plum, Dapple Dandy pluot and two Sweet Treat Pluerries, so hopefully, plenty of cross pollinators.
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I ordered one for my best friend yesterday, so hopefully Raintree would send it this week.
I’m thinking of ordering one more Nadia, but I’m running out of room. Well, I do have room for potted trees in my yard, but I’m saving that space for whatever Dave Wilson Nursery releases next year.
That seems kind of odd.Does this one have any developing fruit? Brady
No fruit at all. About a quater of the flower buds failed to open, then they suddendly died. We have not even gotten any late- frosts.
Plants are harder to keep going well in pots. It’s too easy to stress them. In small pots they dry quickly, roots can become overheated easy. I would try fabric containers to reduce heat and promote air pruning of roots. Try it at least.
Use larger containers too. The smaller the container, the more you stunt the tree. I know frutinut uses small containers, but he is older (like me!) and it’s harder to move them, but he is very experienced, and keeps them in a greenhouse with closer to ideal conditions. If you have to keep them outside the plants are subject to more stress factors.I think Steve let’s some grow into the ground through the container too.
Make sure your soil has structure, that you manage nutrients, that they have access to all the trace elements they need too.
AL’s posts on gardenweb explain things well, start with this one, everybody should read this if growing in containers
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/2842847/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention-xxii?n=418
I don’t agree with everything, but it has some very good info.
The larger the pot, the easier it is to keep them happy. You need to be very careful if you think the pH is off. Too much lime/too much sulfur… not good. I tried correcting what i thought was a pH problem once…it made things worse and took a while to correct. Always use a fert with micronutrients…and fertilize often (in the warmer months). The problem with pots is everything gets washed out pretty quickly, especially in the heat of the summer when you might need to water several times a day.
I make the cheapest soil mix i can find. Sure it breaks down quickly, but early in the spring…i pull the whole rootball out and just add more to the bottom of the pot. I use a mix of perlite, lots of woodchips, some compost…sometimes peat moss…whatever i have.
Container growing does suck (low fruit yields/watering/moving pots around)…but its the only way to get those fruits that would never make it through a winter up here…it also does a great job at dwarfing a tree (not much pruning necessary).
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Excellent points Rob, i agree 100%. I grow figs in containers as it is the only way to grow them here, and I have tropical trees that are older than my kids.
This Pony Tail Palm is 38 years old. It needs to go outside, lot’s of weak growth from being inside all winter. I just took this photo.
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The tree could also be one like Scott had and maybe someone else,that didn’t fair too well.If Ulises’s other plants are doing fine in their containers and the same approach is being used,then the problem might be elsewhere. Brady
Sounds like you got a dud. Could give it some time and see what happens. I had a tree last year that started to leaf out and just puked. Leaves shriveled up and died.
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I fertilized it yesterday, so I hope I could bring it back to life.
the white pots attract less heat than black colored pots
I think I’m going to order another Nadia this week. I wasn’t planning to order one more tree, but now, I might.
Yeah sometimes they just fail to thrive. I lost 2 blueberry plants last year. I have no idea why? All treated the same and the others were growing well.
Thanks Drew for that GardenWeb link. It was very informative.
@itheweatherman this may peg the wierd meter, but I have a concoction that has revived some pretty sorry looking plants, both in ground and in pots. I call it ‘kikapoo joy juice’, LOL. It is kinda like ginseng for plants. And plants’ positive response to this convinced me of the need to balance the microbials in the soil (not just texture and minerals/pH) because microbials affect uptake, just like in our own gut.
Recipe: In a large pitcher put ~1 gal of water (I use rain water) mix a scoop of live vermicompost = fresh, not dried, worm poop, and about 2 T milk. I’ll also add ~ 1/2 tsp seaweed based soluable feriliizer but you have already done that part. Amazing turnarounds with this simple stuff. You can research using milk to revive plants and see I’m not THAT far out there, LOL.
I wish you the best.
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Regarding black vs white pots…
I know of one indoor citrus grower who paints one side of the pot white, the other side black. Which side faces the sun changes with the seasons. Black in winter, white in summer.
Seemed like a good solution.
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I need to stick my kitchen (probe type) thermometer in my pots this summer just to see how hot it gets…Mine sit on a driveway that has sun from sun up/sun down during the summer months. I usually water 1 or 2 times a day in July/Aug unless rain falls. I’ve never noticed ill effects, but i do group them together so some get shaded out by the others.
Anne,
I may try this with my Meyer Lemon and if the thing(doesn’t even look like a plant any more) revives,I’ll be singing your praises. Brady