Before shaking a fence post to remove and re-use in a new location, be sure to check to see if the post is rotten at the bottom. I caught that sucker square in the face, abrasion on my forehead, across the bridge of my nose and a cut along side my nose. You should see the looks I get out in public… It’s OK, you can laugh, I did…
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Good tip but it hits to close to home for laughing.
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An idea came to me when reading about your mishap.If possible,push first,instead of pull.bb
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I was well into the shaking process… then bam ! Set me right back on my arse!
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Once you hit middle age, it’s time to stop trying to save money by buying the smaller-sized plant. 
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This was a great topic so I thought I’d renew it with a couple of my own self discovered tips.
When I repot vegetables into larger containers in my greenhouse as I was doing with tomatoes, eggplants and peppers today, I make the wet potting mix at the bottom inch or two of the pot as dense as possible by putting pressure on it with my fist and fingers. This assures water won’t quickly run out of the pot before moistening the soil above it and provides extra density without damaging drainage (for some reason the water keeps draining well and roots grow into the packed pro-mix type mixture I use).
Because I sometimes fail to water plants in the greenhouse I place pots in large trays that have a heavier mixture with lots of compost in it. The trays have holes to let excess water escape but the mix is too heavy to use as potting soil inside pots. Since starting to do this years ago I’ve never lost a single plant to dehydration. Roots do grow outside of pots into the tray mix so every week or so I lift them and thereby root prune them which improves their ability to plug in quickly when they are transplanted.
Incidentally, the trays are on heat pads that allow my plants to survive very hard frosts if I throw landscape fabric over them when there’s a frost warning of threatening lows. My greenhouse is technically a glorified cold frame with no artificial heat. It even has lots of holes in it now because of rotting planks. Plants recently survived 21F.
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Thanks for the tips.
I had some left over underground dog fence wire that is small and flexible and plastic coated. So I used chunks of pool noodle to pad the tree limbs. Sliced open, the noodle goes over the limb easily and the wire wraps around it. .
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You have to be careful with wire within soft material. It works fine as long as there is enough soft material to prevent the wire from girdling the branch or trunk, but landscape contractors and others often use hoses wrapped over heavy wire to support trees that have fallen over or other situations and then forget to check them later. Eventually the tree can expand to the point that the hose doesn’t help and trees or branches can be killed by being girdled. Synthetic twine is as dangerous as wire.
Usually the best way to support a tree is with eye-screws is the current guideline, although a bungee chord type system is being increasingly used to replace cables in codominant trees- big forest-type trees. That is for their elasticity which reduces the shock created by strong winds whipping the cabled leaders, but they require periodic readjustment as the trees grow. Not a good solution as far as I’m concerned. They are also more of an eye sore than conventional metal cables.
In the case of your tip, such readjustments wouldn’t be much of a liability but one you need to be aware of. .
This method is new to me but I can see where it would eliminate girdling and I’m assuming the eyebolt can be left embedded with no harm to the tree. I have mostly moved away from wire to a soft cord. With a small orchard I can keep a close eye out for issues.
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The downside is if the eyescrew is swallowed by the growing tree and one day meets a chainsaw.
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Thanks, Alan. I only have 6 trees so can keep track of it. Also, I guess I assumed that the tying was not forever. How long does the wire/strap/string need to be on the limb? Probably depends on size, etc
Trees on fully dwarfing rootstock will need support throughout their lives, and in general the more size-reducing the rootstock, the greater the need to give the tree support.
That said, following advice I read on Growing Fruit elsewhere (can’t find it right now though), I’ve waited until the dwarf trees are of fruit bearing age before I stake them. That allows the winds to help the trees’s roots to develop better and the trunks to grow more securely with less fragility.
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i have a mountain of disposable utensils, courtesy of takeout during the pandemic. (even when i asked not to receive them, restaurant staff would resort to routine and include them in my order.)
it turns out the handles of plastic spoons, forks, and knives make pretty decent plant identifiers. i use regular scissors to cut the utensils where the handle ends, then scribble with a permanent marker. so far, the ink hasn’t faded.
sticking these labels into my pepper planters. with the variety i’m growing, the labels are helpful in keeping track of the plants.
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Great tip. Thanks
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Goggle before purchasing. I live near a lowes and Home Depot and other stores. This morning I was looking for 500’ of 1/2" drip tubing and some drywall screws. Looks like I will be heading to Home Depot. They have what I want and at the best price.
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Good sense fruit grower.
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If you wear laced boots when you garden and your laces tend to pull towards your stronger arm (the right one for most of us) you regularly have to take a couple minutes to shorten the longer side in order to keep them the same length which is helpful when tying them. I had an epiphany that if a put a simple knot in the exact middle of the lace it can never pull offside more than an inch and I no longer have to bother making an adjustment.
Wow, what will I do with all the time I’m saving! 
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Fig sap works great for bee stings. I have used it multiple times in the past when I am picking and get stung on the finger, but unless it is near the nail bed those don’t hurt much.
But I was kicking through the clover in sandals yesterday and a bee got me right on the tip of my second toe, and I could tell right away that is a bad spot to get stung. Picked out the stinger, with my fingers like you are not supposed to do, and rubbed in a couple drops of fig sap from a fresh picked leaf stem. Couldn’t even feel it after a minute.
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That is an amazing discovery! 
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