NOT FOUND: plant lady.jpgHello again. God bless you all as you continue to bless me! We’ve made it this far through the storms of mid-fall. The good news is we received the much needed water, and the bad news came as unique to some or common to others. This is a perfect example for the need to deep soak new trees when planting. Many of the trees you saw tipped over were victims of improper planting resulting in shallow root establishment. The trees just laid right down. Remember, when you initially plant a tree, the roots will follow the path of least resistance to establish themselves; and if you don’t encourage the roots to grow downwards in the beginning, they will grow outward, close to or at the soil surface. Surface watering, such as drip systems, sprinklers and rain encourages this problem. After the tree is in the ground, place your garden hose on a SLOW DRIP at the base of the tree and let it drip overnight. Build a berm (like a moat) around the base. This will hold the water close to the trunk. Do this once a week.
You may continue with your sprinklers on your lawn, however. The deep watering once a week for two to three months will ensure that the roots grow down, following the water. Soon the taproots will hit the water table, usually sufficient after an entire season. I really wanted to elaborate on this because my neighbors, customers, church family and many of you suffered with this. Multi-trunked trees suffered and many of your trees split in half or dangerously lost some large, uppermost scaffold branches. Since more storms and winds are inevitable, it would be extremely wise to get some kind of rope or strapping and tie them together, loose enough to allow movement, yet taut enough to provide stability. I’ve shared with some of you already that these “early” windstorms caused such havoc simply because the leaves were still on the trees. Have you ever tried to carry a sheet of plywood in the wind? OK then, when you turn sideways, all the difference in the world, right? The trees were like sails in the whipping wind. It felt like I was driving through a battle zone on my way home from work as all of the tree bodies laid there lifeless.
No, I’m okay now. The memory and flashbacks are still quite painful. What was that? Oh, thank you, I know you feel my pain; and I love you, too. I just don’t want any of us to have to endure this again. Tree stakes for the smaller trees, cable wire brace tie-downs for the larger trees and lanyard or rope for the multi-trunked. By all means, if a tree split or if a large limb two inches in diameter or larger has fallen, try and clean up the break and coat with pruning seal or a wax to prevent infection and promote healing.
While the grounds are soft, you may want to pull up some of the larger weeds such as crabgrass. If you have noticed the lawns are filling in quickly with new weeds and these weeds are full of seed heads. They know they are getting ready for their winter dormancy (or death) and are ensuring next year’s weeds by going to seed. Follow my chart for winter time fertilizing. Also with the bare roots right around the corner you may want to dig some of your larger holes where you may be planting bare root fruit or nut trees, roses or berries. Dig the holes now and let them be filled with fallen leaves. Just mark the spots with flags or something. Then when the bare roots come in, the mulched leaves in the holes will provide decomposed nutrients at planting, which can be blended into the back-filled soil. The more new plantings we choose, the more holes we dig, the more leaves we can rake into the holes. There’s a thought for encouragement. Ha! Fewer leaves to clean up!
Just arrived in my garden (Antelope Home Depot): fall shade trees – yes, they are here and just in time to be planted, so we can receive our “Fall Color Show” as they go into winter dormancy. I have ordered October Glory and Red Sunset Maples, Chinese Pistache, Bradford Pear and Flowering Plum (red leafed). For the evergreen shade trees, I brought in the Magnolia, Camphor, and Redwoods. For the winter color, we now have Cyclamens, stock which smells yummy; mums, pansies, snaps and African daisies.
God bless you all, and thank you.
Lastly, I need to wish Mother Superior our best as she moves on to The Ranch on a new Quest. Thank you, I love you and thank you. You will be beyond missed. Good luck Jeanna. I would also like to welcome Daren into his new family. Good luck, Soldier.
Love Always,
Your Plant Lady