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Originally Posted by
broom_jm
OK, given that I didn't get my seeds going until about a month after ya'll, will I be in good shape? I mean, here it is 2/9 and I don't even have one stalk of top-growth.
While I was able to convince the missus to let me put five flats of trees in the bay window, for all those passing by to see, I think she may put her foot down over grow lights. Also, I just can't see spending hundreds of dollars on specialized lighting for what may be a one-time process for me.
The grow bags have 4"x5" openings and are 9" tall. Is that not sufficient, given that these will be planted roughly 2 months from now? Should I wait and not plant these until after the last normal frost date?
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Jason,
First, no specialized lighting is needed. I use shop light fixtures which are $13 a pop at Lowes and regular fluorescent light bulbs. It may be late enough to start them with natural light. I'm not sure. You are probably on the cusp.
Chestnuts put down a deep tap root quickly. If you don't use root pruning containers, you run the risk of the tap root hitting the bottom of the bag and circling. When the tap root is air pruned in a rootmaker 18, it forces secondary and tertiary branching to occur primarily in the last 4" above the prune. So the tiny 18s can keep a tree for 12 to 16 weeks. I don't recommend planting directly from 18s. If you go this route, I recommend at least moving to a 1 gal RB2 after 12 to 16 weeks and then planting them in the fall.
Given your situation, here is what I would do:
First, if you have any nuts that have not yet produced a root radicle, I'd put them back into a ziplock bag with out added moisture and put them in the fridge to see if you can delay them. I'd then direct seed them as soon as you can dig into the ground.
For those that are already actively growing, I'd just consider this a learning experience. I would keep going the way you are for now. When it comes time to plant them, check out the roots closely. If you find the tap root is circling at the bottom of the bag, prune it manually before planting.
Root pruning is not for every situation. Direct seeding can work very well. However growing seedlings in non-root pruning containers can be problematic and I wouldn't recommend it. Circling or j-hooking roots may not present a problem until the tree is much older and they cause a constriction. When a root pruning container system is used, the circling never occurs and the energy used to grow those roots that will be cut manually instead goes into growing a denser root system that will be kept.
So, if you prune any circling roots by hand, you will loose a little potential growth, but you won't have the root constriction issues later in the life of the tree.
This thread gives you an idea of the growth you can get using a root pruning container system if you really want to maximize growth: <
Maximizing Growth
This is just for reference. For now, just have fun. Once the addiction of starting trees indoors over the winter sets in, you can worry about the other stuff. My wife was gracious enough to let me take over the basement. I grew her some yellow twig dogwood from cuttings for landscaping around the house. That helped with the permission.
(INTERNAL IMAGE LIKE EMOTICON REMOVED)
Thanks,
Jack