Loaded question - do you have a soil analysis? Grafted on rootstock chosen for your soil profile? My clay loam is void of N, so I hit fruit trees with a high N food, a combo of a turf 15-5-10 with micros and ammonium sulfate just before a rain storm.
The rootstock has been chosen for my high lime soils.
Unfortunately no soil analysis. I sâpose that would be worth doing based on my previous troubles. Do you have any recommendations for where I can get that done? I believe one of the trees I had trouble with was grafted, does that make a difference in whatâs needed for nutrients?
Cheers
Ward Labs. Fast and reasonable.
Rootstock is as important as the scion. Again, itâs all about the roots. No matter what you grow, concentrate on growing a big mass of roots. They are The Foundation.
Definitely makes sense. Seems like a very price for a soil test and well worth doing before this season gets going. I appreciate all the info!
careful adding to Ocean ForestâŚthat stuff can be pretty richâŚWe over-fed our young plants with just watering in it! Itâs great for transplanting older plants-- not a lot needed in itâŚ
I was curious whatâs in it & the Internet spake thusly:
Seems OK. 
Thanks for the warning. I had planned to basically get the plants going for 3 or 4 weeks indoors in Happy Frog. Then put basically 1/4 bag of Ocean Forest in each hole I was planting them in. I wonât really be around to water them most of the time so that will be up to mother nature to deal with, lol. As I say, I am new to soils and outdoor growing. Strictly been indoors in coco for me. But I want to start branching out. Might put 2 into Ocean Forest and 2 in more Happy Frog with Osmocote and see what does what. Itâs all a fun adventure right now.
My local transfer station makes great mulch for $20/yard from the yard waste and kitchen Organics they take in, we might do that this year instead of ordering a truckload from the place we did last year, just based on cost. The other folks do full hot composting of a lot of things: horse and chicken bedding, town organics, wood chips, and more. We filled out new raised beds with four yards of their 60/40 loam/compost mix and raised all the low spots in the yard, mounded over all the exposed roots etc. This year we start mulching down over that besides the few yards of mulch we started with last year.
The veggie beds are a hybrid fabric/hugelkultur, with chicken wire and landscape cloth in an open 2x4 frame and a foot of storm-fallen old treetops filling the bottom with some wood chips and sand and grass clippings filling in, then covered with 18â of soil. It works great with organics but the smaller pots struggle, I think this year any outdoor plant under a few gallons is going to get Osmocote instead which will hopefully be more reliable nutrition for them.
Wow, you have it all together and are lucky to get such great organics. Your plants get a nice slow release of nutrition, good on ya!
Yes on trees the mass of roots go as far as the drip line but roots go far beyond that. When deeprooot feeding trees we almost always hit large roots at the drip line. If you donât deeproot feed your trees you may want to consider it as i have seen great improvements in trees we have fed in this way. Of course if your soil is rich then no need for these measures.
Got out of that grunt tree biz a long time ago. Bout with prostate cancer, 2 lower lumbar surgeries, lack of labor took its toll. At the ripe old age of 73, âI donât need this shit no moreâ.
I am out of it also, have been for about 4 years now. My last number of years I just supervised anyway. But I was still climbing in my 50âs and paying the price. Now Iâm retired and planning on doing a lot of fishingâŚâŚ.
Itâs easy where I am, organic farming and gardening is so common I can get a truckload of anything, I love it
Lucky you!
You and I have chatted about this. I have been a gardener for a very long time, and Osmocote has been a game changer for me. I use it for everything, and it hasnât let me down yet.
Itâs sad yet amusing watching new growers spend a fortune on gimmicks and flim-flammery, especially if they have zero knowledge about basic horticulture.
I still use the GH 3 part for seedlings, because itâs easy to adapt and use (I mix up a gallon of half strength, then use it to rehydrate my coir).
Happy gardening dear.
Did the Chimera seeds work out?
Sadly, no. They just got moldy.
Iâm busier than a one legged man in an asskicking contest, trying to get a ton of various flower seeds going. I am donating a LOT of wildflower plants to a community project, if I can get them to grow. Theyâre mostly butterfly host and nectar plants that are native to the area. Weâre in a very severe drought, so I donât know how they will survive.
Bummer. Did you expose them to something other than water? Molasses perhaps?
Good luck with your wildflowers. We are in wildflower season now, bluebonnets and such. Took my BMW Z4, top down, for a ride the other day.
AM Leonard is having one of their free shipping at $125 deals, which is, conveniently, what a 50# Ag bag of Osmocote costs:
