North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Ward Barnes" <ward_p_barnes@hotmail.com>]

>From: Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>
>Reply-To: nafex@egroups.com
>To: nafex@egroups.com
>Subject: [nafex] Bumbling Amateurs
>Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 23:29:57 -0400
>
>Ward, as an amateur with more fruit-tree ambitions than space to plant,
>and a local mega-box store that sometimes sells trees, I'm curious:
>
>How could you tell they were bare root put in a pot (without taking them
>out, that is)?
>
>What's wrong with redwood mulch?  Is there a problem with wood-chip
>mulch in general?
>
>How could you tell the rootstock was standard?  Given that the name and
>the description disagreed, why did you chose to trust the name?  (Of
>course, if it was planted several inches below the graft, I guess the
>rootstock won't matter all that much.)
>
>Thanks,
>
>Ginda Fisher
>zone 6
>
>Raspberries coming in nicely this year  :)
>
>Ginda:

Glad your raspberries are coming in.  I planted a number this year that 
after several weeks of pampering turned up their toes and died.  All except 
one that is.  I left it in its pot under the eves of the house which is 
heavily shaded by tall pine trees.  It took root right through the bottom of 
the pot and has produced several handfuls of nice red raspberries.

As to your questions.

I lifted one tree by the base in an attempt to look at others behind it and 
it easily came loose from the pot with very little soil adhering to it and 
what soil was there was different from the the soil left in the pot.
While there is nothing wrong with bare root (I have always purchased my 
trees as bare root) it was advertised as "pot grown".

I don't know that there is anything wrong with redwood mulch around fruit 
trees.  I just found it odd and out of place and would not be something that 
I would have done.  I have read that placing mulch around fruit trees 
provide a hiding place for apple voles which love eating the roots.  I have 
not had this problem in my orchard.

As far as not trusting the name on the plant tag I don't think I even 
considered it as being incorrect.  However, I did research the rootstock 
that was on the tag and I found 8 different rootstocks that had that name 
followed by a second name (I didn't write down the names so I don't remember 
what they were, however, none were identified as dwarfing).

If the store had extended the courtesy of replying to my letter I would 
still shop there as they generally have good prices.

Ward.

_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at 
http://profiles.msn.com.


-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
Dial 1-800-555-TELL -- You Won't Believe Your Ears!
For more details, click here:
http://click.egroups.com/1/9537/15/_/423498/_/970332019/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->