MAJOR Sunday fun in the yard!

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My old “amp planter” was looking a little empty after this winter because the “Dusty miller” was the only thing surviving in the planter:

A trip to the local hardware store yielded these little beauties for about $10.00 :

As usual, with transplants, you will see a root bound condition in the small 4" pots that looks like this:

The circling roots will present a problem later in the plant’s life and cause stress that invites predatory insects and other problems.
The solution is to do a “bare rooting” of the plant, soaking it in a diluted mix (1/2 oz per gallon) of compost tea, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and liquefied fish. While the plant is soaking, manipulate the root ball and break up as much of the potting soil as you can, leaving the basic roots intact. This will remove all of that nasty chemical “nursery crap” from the root ball and the roots will look like this after soaking for about an hour:

When planting the little guy, spread those bare roots out in a 180 deg circle and back fill with a mix of the native soil and some “worm castings”. That will prevent any “transplant shock”, regardless of the type of plant.
Woody plants like Roses respond well to this!

To make a long story short, my little “amp planter” now has a fresh look with all of its’ plants “bare rooted” and thoroughly hydrated into the soil:

I just love it!

There was also a small tree that had been growing in a container for the last two years and it was time to get the little guy bare rooted into the ground. Here he is soaking in that same mix, in a 5 gallon bucket:

The little tree was just starting to bud and it was a prefect time to bare-root him into a new home.
Small trees respond especially well to the " organic bare root technique". I let the tree soak for about an hour to make sure that the roots were fully hydrated before planting it:

This is what we want to see! No circling or gurtling roots and lots of small “feeder roots”!
It was placed in the “new home” and the smaller roots were spread out and stretched like this before back-filling the hole:

Now that the native soil has been back-filled, note the color of the tree’s trunk above the soil level.
Yes, it was planted too deep in the container and its’ root flair has been buried too deep. Not a good thing!
Here is the tree at the proper level with the root flair fully exposed:

Now that the little tree has been watered in, he’s one happy camper and does not require any staking for support:

The winds were blowing out of the south at 15-25 mph today and the little “bare-root” tree didn’t move at all.
Gotta love it,
_N2O

• 14 Mar, 2011
• 5 likes

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