Root starter your opinions please
- Thread starter WTNUT
- Start date
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
I usually can take pretty good care of the bare root apples I plant in pots over the summer, so I have not bothered with root gel and my trees seem to do fine. However, on an impulse, I purchased some of the dry stuff you mix with water just this week. It only cost $4.95, so I figured I'd give this years trees a little TLC. I don't know if it will help, but I don't think it will hurt. I'm not much help WTNUT, but that's my story.
WTNUT
5 year old buck +
cavey
5 year old buck +
I'm guessing he does what I usually do for my better grafted varieties; pot them up after grafting, keep them in the garage, bring them to the front of the garage, move them to a shaded area by the garage, then out into more direct sun.Then finally planted later or heeled in-potted for the winter,.. I will baby them also and can do that better if potted. I just tend to have a higher survival rate that way and when I'm only getting 2-3 grafts per scion and usually one scion per variety I tend to want to take extra care... When they are potted up at the house I usually take a peek at them on a daily basis and can keep closer tabs on any issues. I have direct planted grafts too with little issue. This year I'm forced to pot all 100 of my grafts, I got the root stock early, have scion cut and stored early... the longer it sits in the fridge the less viable it may be. We are just buried in snow here and I'm not sure when we will get stuff into the ground. Later this week I'm going to graft, they will sit in damp saw dust for a bit then get potted and kept in the garage.,... again I'm just assuming that is why -
SmallChunk
5 year old buck +
I bought some of the crystal get stuff that expands once it gets water. I'm in terribly sandy soil and I really do think it helped my plantings last spring!
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
My camp is an hour from home, so I like to plant bare root trees to pots during their first spring/summer so I can take better care of them. In the fall, I transplant to their final destinations after they've gotten off to a good start. For me, this works much better than planting bare root trees directly to the field and hoping they get enough rain to get their footing.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I do something similar with the trees I start from seed. I've grown some trees that are 6' tall and 5/8" in caliper in one growing season and they have done pretty well when planted the first fall. For slower growing trees, I found that if I keep them for a second growing season in 3 gal RB2s and then plant them in the second fall, they do even better.
Keep in mind with the root pruning containers, not only is the top growth better, but the root system is becoming denser with no chance of circling. The upside here is the trees get great care on my deck. The down side is that when you group trees so closely, if you get disease or insect issues they can spread quickly.
When planting bare root trees, I've used watersorb and waterkeep. The way I used it was to mix a cap full in a 5 gal bucket of water and make a slurry. I soaked the rootball in it before planting. In my climate, I doubt that I really made a difference with fall planting. With spring planting, it may have some benefit if we have a dry summer. I can't really say for sure.
Thanks,
Jack
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