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| Most all of the trees I grow didn't put on a lot of growth this year. The almond did, and the (older) nectarine. The morus nigra grew a lot! Otherwise I just didn't see much growth, although everything looks fine. A little fungus here and there. These are all still not bearing age: peaches, apricots, Southern Euro pears, a sweet cherry, a Duke cherry (the cherries grew more than the others listed). The pears did lose their foliage to pests (climbing cutworms), right when they were bursting with growth, so that may explain them. In general, I may not have watered enough in the heat, and I barely fertilized. I never did a soil test when I put them in. What should I change next year about the lack of growth? It happened with so many trees, it has to be something I'm doing or not doing :) Just fertilizer, or is it probably more than that? Thanks! |
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| It is typically a combination of age of tree, fertilizer, moisture, and organic material available in the soil that makes trees grow here. I don't expect much growth from trees and bushes until the 3rd year. I usually apply a couple of inches of cow manure compost around my fruit trees with a couple of inches of wood chips on top of that. The idea is to keep the ground moist and supply the trees with low amounts of nitrogen and higher amounts of phosphorous and potassium. When the wood chips break down in several years they supply other trace minerals. You don't want trees growing to fast because it encourages diseases such as Fireblight. I would avoid high nitrogen fertilizers which are what causes lots of green growth on a plant. The old timers always told me the first year you plant trees they sleep, 2nd year they creep, and 3rd year they leap. I've found the saying true by the 4 the year your trees should be looking good. I would recommend you spray and water them regular because it makes a difference for sure. |
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| I almost forgot to mention that grass and weeds steal a lot of nutrients from trees so I try to get rid of them for several feet around the trees. I kind of implied it with the wood mulch which is not just for water retention. |
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- Posted by meredith_e 7B Piedmont NC (My Page) on Sun, Oct 19, 14 at 19:29
| Thank you, Clark! Let's see, I do have some grass that is probably too close now that the trees are a little older, and I've avoided mulch so far to make sure they weren't too wet, so that sounds like a plan for change :) I was more worried about too wet than too dry, because there is clay down below in the soil. I think I've watched them long enough now (2 yrs for most) to be confident that more water wouldn't be bad. If the almond isn't complaining about drainage, that's probably a hint, too, lol. The others will all get some more H2O next year. For the fertilizer, I just wanted to make sure it seemed like they needed it, yeah, because of not wanting too much vulnerable growth. I think they do need it. I'll do what you do. I'm definitely spraying next year. I knew I'd have to for the fruit, but the foliage catches enough stuff on most of them that I'm going to go ahead with a program for that, too. It's all been minor, but that might have affected vigor some as well. |
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| Meredith, I'm in Richmond,VA, also in 7b, and also on heavy clay. I had the same issues this year - rough winter, things came out a little slow, then started to grow rapidly with all the rain - and then I got nailed with pests. I sprayed all my trees to deal with the caterpillars, and they started growing again, but they were definitely set back. And then we had no rain from about mid-july until september. I definitely needed to spray, mulch, and water more than I did. |
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- Posted by Appleseed70 6 MD (My Page) on Wed, Oct 22, 14 at 3:11
| Meridith...Nitrogen is king when it comes to growth. Ordinary lawn fertilizer is the most inexpensive and effective way to accomplish this that I've found. Right now you can find discounted fertilizers in many stores. You can easily find the appropriate application rates for your trees online. Do not use types with added herbicides (obviously). As others have pointed out, decide what and how often you are willing to spray and formulate a schedule based on that. You will be surprised what a difference doing those two things will make. |
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| Meredith, Roots grow very slowly through clay. The good news is clay is very rich in minerals. Unfortunately those minerals are not available to be used yet but they can be. You might check out this article http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400537.html. Clay particles are negatively charged which means it will benefit from the addition of something such as magnesium particles which are positively charged. Epsom salts usually cost a $1 or $2 and can be purchased at most stores and could be applied within a 8' radius of the tree lightly (I would do that after the grass comes out). In a perfect world when you plant a tree you mix the clay with old cow manure or compost to bump up the organic material level. When you tear out the grass around the base of the tree you can work some old broke down cow manure into the soil or compost from the store. If you don't have a compost pile already I would make one up so you will have some to apply to your trees (you can make it out of leaves and kitchen vegetable scraps etc.). Compost takes time to be break down so for now I would apply a thick layer of 4 inches or more of leaves around the base of your trees. The leaves will compress to an inch or less by the end of winter. I would do that to the trees this fall and add a few inches of wood chips on top (no nitrogen for now). Apply nitrogen in the spring in small quantities when it is still very cool. You will want to read this article http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/trees-shrubs/tree-fertilization-guide/. Fireblight as I've mentioned before is easily provoked by nitrogen and can be devastating. You will want to read this article http://nysipm.cornell.edu/grantspgm/projects/proj01/fruit/robinson.asp. I would read this article as well http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2006/8-23/deficiency.html. This is another article you may be interested in http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/landscape/leaf-management-plan/. This article describes CEC which is what I keep in mind as I referred to as positive and negative charged soil particles https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ay/ay-238.html. So for now in summary I would tear out the grass a few feet around the tree and sprinkle 8' or so out with a quart or so of magnesium. I would apply aged cow manure or compost over the area working it into the dirt where you tore out the grass. I would throw on some leaves and wood chips. Next spring as Appleseed70 said you can add some nitrogen but go with very small quantities because to much is a bad thing. I don't typically use any nitrogen on my fruit trees except what is in the aged cow manure. |
Here is a link that might be useful: compost
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| As a side note you will not want to add wood chips in your soil because it takes nitrogen to break woodchips down. Keep your woodchips only on top of the soil so they are not stealing nitrogen from your trees. Next year I would add a couple of more inches of wood chips on top again. |
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| Hi! growth is crazy in my garden without nitrogen. I had my husband stop fertilizing the lawn around my trees two years ago and my trees still go crazy every year. I top them all at nine feet every feb, but they have a mind of their own and all grow a minimum of three feet a year. Oh my aching 'pruning' back! Mrs. G |
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- Posted by meredith_e 7B Piedmont NC (My Page) on Wed, Oct 22, 14 at 16:51
| Thanks so much, y'all! I mixed compost, sphagnum moss (for drainage) and manure in the deep holes with some clay on planting, to let the roots have a bit of a head start. The clay is also sandy (a natural mix), thank goodness, but it's a very fine mix that isn't a loam at all naturally. It bakes in the sun. The field has always been field, except for a big potato patch here and there. This is for 100 years, so it shouldn't have been stripped of nutrients. It might have started with few nutrients, though. I think I'm safe in adding at least a bunch of organic nutrients, because they'd at least attract earthworms to break up the texture out farther than the planting hole. I'm very glad that drainage doesn't seem to be a problem, though. That was my big worry because you always read so much about it :) It's sloping, too, btw, so that helps a lot. |
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- Posted by scottfsmith 6B-7A-MD (My Page) on Wed, Oct 22, 14 at 23:54
| If you didn't put enough clay in the original holes you could have made your plants root bound: hard clay can be like a pot on a tree. Thats one reason experts recommend not replacing more than 1/3 of the soil in the hole at planting. If you have this problem the trees will eventually grow out of it. Beyond that I would put more organic material on your trees as top-dressing, and make sure to get rid of any grass out to the canopy edge. Scott |
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- Posted by meredith_e 7B Piedmont NC (My Page) on Thu, Oct 23, 14 at 11:53
| Scott, I bet that is absolutely part of it! I only used up to half native soil. It's just so hard on small roots/young plants (unless they are certain weeds). I did use a pick-axe to break up the sides of the holes nicely, but the roots would be hitting that hard/dry stuff now. Yep! It does grow trees and shrubby herbs nicely, but they have to be big. The little transplants just can't get though it unless they are native and weedy (like Carolina Cherry Laurel does fine on its own from tiny plants). I bet my trees are having growing pains that way, definitely. |
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