Been admiring this tree for over 20 years driving pass to pick up groceries, right in the middle of that rock. Just had to take a picture today. No fertilizer, no watering, just rainwater, amazing!
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its crazy where trees grow sometimes. i have a 6ft. mountain ash growing out of a v in my big black willow. i dont know how it gets nutrients. maybe the roots tap into the cambium of the willow.
I think good soil, nutrients, rainwater etc. as a requirement depend heavily on the plant and of a tree the rootstock. Things like mulberries and raspberries just live. Meanwhile things like strawberries need constant attention. A standard size fruit tree will just live while a dwarf will need more attention. It is the reason I have switched over to all standard rootstocks. I want something that will just live even if it means less trees now that I work all the time. I still want and intend to grow things like strawberries but I would grow them in more of a patch where I can water them quickly. Part of the reason we have such a hard time growing things is because of our practices. Like I said practices planting dwarf trees and doing things like picking up the leaves. The trees will act as a free mulch, add nutrients to the soil and compost into the soil but we all pick them up and put them in bags to the landfill. As you can see from my previous posts I used to be a big advocate for dwarfing trees but have stopped because I realized it was too much work.
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My wife and I grow Christmas trees as well… kind of infuriating a bit when you go to the mountains and see trees growing out of every crack in a rock, but you cant always get them to grow on good soil with lots of attention. LOL
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Leaves serve as the overwintering site for apple scab. They get sucked up with a mower and dumped on the compost pile here.
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More trees are killed from more attention than lack of it. I’ve been guilty of overwatering, overfertilizing, etc…to the detriment of the tree
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agree
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Roots find soil. I live where there are lots of big boulders, but often, in between, there is lots of well drained, humous rich soil. I bet if you look there are some huge roots growing behind the photos side reaching well past rock into a rich area of soil. The rock may have even created a crevice to catch leaves over the years. If that tree is getting what it needs just from the rock, I will eat my hat and probably be well nourished by it.
Great photo.
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Here’s a few pics I took of some cool trees. The roots on rock one was taken a few years ago at Hocking Hills. The fence one was at a park by my house.
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Yes, every kind of tree or plant has its specific needs. Wineries brag about how their soil has a lack of fertility, so the plant has to struggle. Madronas and peaches need good drainage, but quince doesn’t. Pomegranates need lots of direct sun, but pie cherries and pawpaws don’t. Blueberries thrive in acidic soils, but asparagus doesn’t.
John S
PDX OR
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That’s a Poplar Bob, fyi. Probably Populus deltoides.
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Thanks to know. Among trees on my property, red/black/white oak and gum, cedar, bunch of dogwood, wild cherry, oh forgot scrub oak.
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Same here basically. No sweetgum native but all the rest for sure. This area of IL has more species of woody plants than anywhere else in the United States.
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That fence picture, and those similar, just always make me smile. Life finds a way. I’m just impressed that it grew in such a way as to not get girdled completely enough to fail. Several times, it would seem.
Everything needs the right soil, which does not always match our ideas of good. And how a tree struggles determines whether the effort goes into seeds, fruits, foliage, or reaching for different light by growing or shrinking away from a space.
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And yet, I’ve seen scaffold branches of peach trees killed by a single, very thin wire used to hold a label. Apples tend to grow over as thin an obstruction as that.
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Yes, Steve. Natural grafting.
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Do you, by any chance, apply any endo or ecto mycorrhizae to your tree roots when placing them in the ground or containers? The more I read about it the more of a believer I am becoming in the notion of that all plants, with very few exceptions, carry on a mutual or symbiotic relationship with fungi living in the ground helping each other through exchanges of energy, carbon, water, etc. If that happens in the world’s forests it only makes sense that it can happen in your orchards and other gardens. As an example, last year I made a change in how I pot up my tomato and pepper seedings. I added Espoma starter fertilizer with mycorrhizae plus worm castings, rock dust, and a bit of pulverized egg shells to my Earth Mix potting soil. I was very nervous about this exercise since I knew that if it didn’t work out well I would find myself at the local garden center buying ready made plants to replace any mistakes that I made. I had the best tomato and pepper harvest in the 39 years of gardening. It was a game changer. I believe that the tiny amounts of mycorrhizae and rock dust made a huge difference. It doesn’t take much to get a big result. I hope my simple story helps.
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We do not use any of mycorrhizae products though I could see how they might be beneficial. Especially when we are planting into formerly prairie and crop ground where those mycorrhizae found on tree roots are likely non existent. Something to ponder for a small trial planting.
I think it’s also useful in potting soils, even for veg starts. Get the relationship going early so when planted into real soil P deficiency is less likely to affect early growth. It is not uncommon in cool soils of spring- or so I’ve read.
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kinda off subject but what mycorrhizae do you guys add to your soil? only ones ive found are stupid expensive. i like to make my own soil.