Re: support for Moving a lemon tree
- Subject: Re: support for Moving a lemon tree
- From: T* a* M* R*
- Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 09:30:46 +1200
Theladygardens@aol.com wrote:
after several
> weeks, still misting them frequently then planting them into the
> garden in full sun. We did really dig and chop the clay deep and fine
> so the roots could grow through it when we put them in and we mixed in
> compost...
Up to a few years ago I wouild have also recommended this treatment of
the planting hole, but recent new research has found that better results
are achieved by the method I advocated, where the hole made is minimal
and mainly refilled with the unamended soil, but there is a generous
surface application of compost and protective mulch. One point I must
stress again with this approach, though, is the importance of roughing
up the sides and bottom of the hole before planting, so that it does not
present a smooth hard finish cause by digging to the prospecting roots
Apparently it has been found that a nice big hole full of amended soil
simply tempts the roots to stay confined indefinitely in it as though in
a pot, while the new method encourages them to spread out further in
search of food, and this can be further stimulated by the surface
application of compost and mulch, which soon is incorporated by the soil
organisms and gives the main feeding roots a cool moist near-surface
root run which is their preferred way of growing. For a happy tree this
mulch shoulds be always maintained, spreading further as the tree grows.
If fed annually with a layer of an inch or so of compost and the
protective mulch regularly renewed, in most soils the trees will need no
other fertilizer.
Because of my cool climate I can myself grow only a couple of the most
hardy citrus - a Meyer lemon and a grapefruit hybrid, but these
regularly produce huge healthy crops with nothing but an annual inch of
compost over the root zone and a regular mulching with grassclippings.
I have tried this smaller hole approach to planting myself in recent
times, including a new lemon tree, and am pleased with the result, which
is in fact also a considerable saving of labour!
--
Tony & Moira Ryan
Wainuiomata - at the Southern tip of North Island, NZ,
Lat 41°15'S, Long 174°58'E (Antipodes of Spain/Southern France)
