Massive roots on tree plugs

[homegrownbucks]

Put some plugs in pea gravel for 7 or 8 weeks to see if I could get some goods roots going, seemed to work, watered them once daily. We will see if they grow faster than regular plugs.

 

[jaximus]

its going to be a lot harder to plant than a plug. i think thats why they are made the way they are, for ease of planting. you can plant a whole lot of plug trees in not a lot of time.

 

[homegrownbucks]

No doubt that is true. I'm hoping to get a faster growth rate at the expense of slower planting rate. The plugs I have planted do ok but don't grow as fast as the bare roots, but give more flexibility in planting time, I'm trying to get both I guess.

 

[homegrownbucks]

Yeah just a small experiment. To clarify, not talking dibble bar bare root but digging a hole. To be fair the bare root im talking about are bigger than plugs. I'm lucky I got a retired guy to do most of my planting (and plots ) but he says he has pulled the plugs out a year later with little root expansion. Maybe it's our soil not sure.

 

[SD51555]

Keep in mind the growing cadence of any tree.

Year one: sleep
Year two: creep
Year three: leap

When are you planning to transplant those plugs? You may want to keep an eye on transplant shock if you're doing it inside the growing season. If you can move before they break dormancy, you're golden.

 

[homegrownbucks]

From what I read the advantage of the gravel bed is you can plant anytime. These ones I did will prolly be put in a air pruning bag and planted next year. One issue we have is the dormancy window is too short to get the trees we need moved (I need a month off in spring for habitat work!) so I may try doing something similar with bigger trees to be transplanted.

This is the dream but time is too short lately for sure.