Earl

I had an interesting summer and thought I would share some of it even though, for the life of me, I can't figure out quite what I learned.

I mentioned a couple times, that with retirement, I was going to be gone a lot this summer. At first I was going to bury all my trees in the ground but then my schedule changed and I didn't have time to get it done with a soaker system the way I wanted. But I did plant all of my wannabes in the garden. I then rigged up an overhead sprinkler above all my good trees and after testing it, set it on a timer for 5 minutes a day. I then left for three weeks and figured either I would be looking for a new hobby or all would go well.

Three weeks turned into most of the summer with several times at home for a few days. I fed all the trees with organic pellets and did a fast spray with fish oil or Peters whenever I was home.

Miracle of miracles! My trees put on more growth, look lusher and greener, and healthier than they ever have! What happened? The only thing for sure is that they got much more water than usual. The 5 minutes (that's 5 min. of drenching on every tree) is alot of water. I also know that I had transplanted most of them into commercial soil (Brussel's) over the last year so they had much better drainage than my home brew.

Finally, after effectively getting rid of all the wannabes and ones that will never even amount to wannabes I really enjoy the 15 or so I have left. They are displayed so much more effectively when they aren't all cluttered up with all the other stuff. With fewer trees I'm once again looking forward to shaping and working with them, especially being they have so much more growth to work with.

I may again add to my collection, but only if it is a mature tree that has real potential. Those wannabes are all staying where they got planted.

Just a rambling retired person and loving it,
Earl

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