Manzanita

pioneersnt

I've been doing some reasurch on manzanita and found a couple of thing I would like to get some feed back on.

According to a couple of locals that transplant manzanita with a high degree of success (These are planted in the ground, not pots), they have found that the position of the tree relative to the compass is the factor that has increased their survival rate. They mark the north side of the tree before digging, then make sure the tree is facing the same way when its transplanted.

Does this sound reasonable? Most of the people here have tried to transplant manzanita and most fail. All those who have had success swear by this.

Also, an article that I've read recently read states that manzanita are highly dependant on the mycorrhiza found in the soil. This leads me to beleive that if I used soil (DG sifted) from the same location that the tree was collected from for the first potting, this should increase the survival rate.

Any thoughts?

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gregb

I have had success growing manzanita in pots and have never paid attention to the tree's orientation with respect to the compass. Part of the advantage of container growing is that you can site your tree pretty much any where you want it, placing in the "sweet spot" of your yard if need be. You can't do that if you're going to transplant to a permanent resting place in the ground. So I could see some benefit there if you're doing a landscape job. I've found that if you site them so they're east-facing that they'll get several hours of early morning sun and shade in the heat of afternoon. But I do this with all my bonsai, not just manzanita.

It may have been an article I contributed to regarding mycorhizzae; I have seen evidence of it growing in association with the root systems of many I have collected. You'll have better luck if you try to get an intact rootball/system that allows the fungus to be collected with the tree. I have never had success with a bare-root manzanita, they always die. So, if you bare-root one and throw a handful of the native soil in thinking that's going to do the trick, it never did for me. And believe me, I've tried that. Mycorhizzae are either endo (inside the root itself) or ecto (growing outside the root but attaching to it) I think the mycorhizzae that benefits manzanita is the ecto type because the tree dies if the roots are bared.

I've also found that digging them from the ground is far more risky than prying them off solid rock--in ground the roots tend to roam and may be several feet from the trunk. On solid rock the root system is contained and the opportunity exsists to get the entire root system if you are careful.