permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

This could be done with a mix of rock dusts, microbial innoculants,
compost, manure, rock phosphate and NJ greensand made into a mud 
moistened with compost tea.  LL

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"Practice pralinage on your bare-root plants.      
                
Question: What is the major cause of failure for bare-root plants?

Answer: Lack of complete contact between roots and surrounding soil, and 
subsequent dehydration.

Sometimes the best gardening tricks are deceptively simple, as simple, 
in fact, as making mud pies. To protect your bareroot plants from the 
above problem, use the old French truc of pralinage. No, we're not 
talking pralines here, it's pralinage.

Pralinage is simply the practice of giving your bare-root plants' roots 
a mud bath before planting. The mud bath forms a protective coating on 
the roots that minimizes the damaging effects of any air pockets around 
them after you plant. In addition, the layer of mud on the roots 
provides a nutritive boost and a perfect environment for the emergence 
of all-important new root hairs.

Here's how to praline the roots of your plant. First get a bucket or 
basin large enough to comfortably accomodate the roots of your plant. In 
the bucket, mix a 50-50 quantity of cow manure (bagged stuff is okay) 
and soil (preferably clay), and add enough water to make a thick slurry. 
The resulting soup should be thinner than what you made pies with as a 
kid, but should have a semi-solid consistency. To test, immerse the 
roots of your plant in the mixture and pull them back out. If they 
emerge evenly coated with mud, you're mixture is perfect. If most of it 
drips off, add more soil/manure. If it is too thick to penetrate among 
the roots, add more water.

Once you've achieved the perfect mud bath balance and your plants' roots 
are coated, lay the plants on some layers of newspaper out of direct 
sun. Leave them there until the coating is dry.

Now you're ready to plant. The praline coating around your plants' roots 
will assure a perfect bond with the surrounding soil, and help protect 
them from dessication. Meanwhile, the manure in the mix will provide a 
light dose of fertilizer. Just what the doctor ordered. As always, water 
your new plant in thoroughly."