@kiwinut Great point. Starting in early May, I will make sure to slowly harden them off with the rest of the 70-80 or so potted fig/other fruit trees and hundreds of garden vegetable plants.
Unfortunately, even my potted Oscar and Kokuso mulberries started leafing out inside my garage and will need to give them the same treatment before putting them in ground.
I would let the soil dry a bit so it sticks together when transplanting. Easy enough to do in the greenhouse. skip the last watering day supposing it is every 3-5 days and wait a couple more days and plant it then the soil prolly sticks together nicely so roots don’t get pulled apart. Everything seems top quality where it is getting planted so it seems like you know what your doing and the tree will grow very well next to those warm rocks!
@DroppingFruit I dug those rocks from the ground late summer last year and placed them like that in an attempt to create a microclimate of sorts.
That’s an interesting idea. I prefer to do the exact opposite, myself. I want to make sure that rootball has as much moisture as possible when planted, as that’s where the tree is going to get all of its water until the roots have a chance to grow into the surrounding soil. A tree with a well-watered rootball at planting time doesn’t skip a beat in growth.
if that leads to the soil ball falling apart and roots tearing as is often my experience I wouldn’t see the benefit. but if you are careful enough, more power to your plants and choices.
Cool. Thanks for sharing. When I get to the point that I have some choice seedlings to grow out, like some kaki hybrids, I’ll do them the way you describe. I’m guessing soil temp has a lot to do with it, and nutrients.
Even though bigger, faster, etc. IS better in lots of ways, I don’t always want everything to ACTUALLY grow fast. Ive been known to get a little overly enthusiastic at a certain stage, like sticking the seeds, and to not actually have the time or gumption when the time comes. Having them grow slow is a bit like keeping em on ice, so to speak.
My Nikita’s Gift from spring 2022 was extremely tiny upon receipt from One Green World. Mine was similar size or maybe even smaller than the one you showed.
I immediately up-potted carefully into a gallon pot filled w/ a compost/peat/vermiculite/worm casting mix. Using the pot allowed me to protect/baby the delicate tree a much easier. Later that summer, when roots starting visibly poking from the bottom drain holes of the gallon pot, I carefully transplanted the tree to the field and it grew more without any notable shock.
When transplanting to field, I inverted the tree, gently slid off the pot, placed the tree into a very shallow (1 or 2 inches deep) indention on the ground, and just mounded native soil around the roots. I patted firmly around the mound to make sure the tree was snug. I would recommend this planting method over digging a hole in the ground since your growing medium also appear to be “soiless” as well (I see perlite). It’s important to avoid creating a bowl below grade if you have heavy soil.
@sockworth thank you for the feedback. Similarly to you, I received the grafted trees in 3x8 treepots in native soil from Buzz at Perfect Circle and uppotted to 2-gallon pots. I was careful in not disturbing the roots during the first uppotting and they went into the 2-gallon pots with their original soil in the same shape of the treepots. Then I carefully added my mixture of 1/3 ProMix MP, 1/3 Happy Frog potting mix and 1/3 of my garden soil to fill the pots.
I will plan to dig a hole just deep enough to cover the current soil line in her pot, place the pot in the hole, then cut the pot with a box cutter and peel off the sides of the pot and slide off the bottom. I’ll do most of the pot cutting before I even put it into her final destination.
I’ll keep the other one potted for now just in case.
Yeah sounds like a good plan. My potting mix was less dense than yours so if you dig a deeper hole, I think that should be fine as long as you don’t have drainage issues. Organic matter in the mix will shrink down quite substantially, so it’s good to keep the planting elevated going from pot to ground.
Here’s my little guy today after one seasons growth. It’s about 18-20 inches tall now and as thick as a pencil. I consider it pretty good growth since when I first got it, the scion was a mere 4 inches tall and could fit inside a juice box straw…
