Pot raising trees

[mattpatt]

My dad has been planting nuts, growing to seedlings, and then planted in the fall. We have a mix of airpots, rootmaker pots and bags, deepots, jiffy pot red oak pods(specifically for forestry) and some randoms. I had been saving Costco generic smartwater bottles too, as they're about the same size as deepots, and I can get them from my neighbors for free.

This year I'm testing the 1 year to old seedlings at home for the summer, with just 25 trees. 12 are persimmon, which I don't believe really have much of a taproot like hardwoods. Then a few sawtooth and hybrid chestnuts. I'll be getting some seedlings from MDC as well, so I'll try another 6 of them to see what happens. I'm in a FB group for chestnut growers, and a number of folks there seem pretty successful with 3 gallons rootmakers for year 1-2, then planting. Their trees get to 6'-8' or so in two years, started from nuts.

We can plant and protect nuts, but don't have the ability to really care for them at camp. We're going to direct plant some hybrid chestnuts this year, and I scattered about 100 gallons of red oak acorns two falls ago.

You seem pretty set on doing this so I say go for it. Come back in a few years and let us know how the taproot pruned trees faired. I still have Rootmaker\root pruned trees living that I planted when I first got started ten years ago but I also have direct seeded trees that I planted six years ago that are now the same the same size. So the awesome growth you see up front is negated when it’s no longer getting water on a regular basis. The tree now has to put all its resources into maintaining roots and root development so it hardly puts on any additional top growth for several years. Meanwhile your little direct seeded tree is just setting there growing at a steady rate year after year. There is a reason nature put a taproot on the bottom of many tree species. Some require it more than others. Oaks and chestnut just happen to be a few that we like to grow that don’t like us messing around with it. Just my observations from 10 or more years of growing trees.

Matt


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[TreeDaddy]

In general, I "respect,don't resect " the taproot in the majority of plantings

However, like Catscratch, I start 12-16 trays of RM 18s every year because I love growing baby trees

bill

 

[mattpatt]

In general, I "respect,don't resect " the taproot in the majority of plantings

However, like Catscratch, I start 12-16 trays of RM 18s every year because I love growing baby trees

bill

I know what you mean. I like growing trees too. I still do as well just not as many as I used to and in munch deeper pots that’s I developed that keeps the taproot intact.

36 gallon tree planters. Year two! Made improvements from last year.

You can’t grow near as many. Last year I grew 6 per tub this year I’m cutting it back to only 4 to see if that helps with removal. You can grow 6 but the roots become very intertwined and you have to remove the whole rootball from the planter then spray with water to remove the soil and loosen the roots. We were then finally able to get them separated without damaging the roots. Last year was the first year growing like this so it’s kind of trial and error until I get it right. However even with 6 the growth I was able to achieve on a one year seedling was phenomenal. Check out some of my other videos on YouTube on the planter from last year to see how tall the trees got if y’all are interested.

This is the best way I’ve come up with that lets me do what I enjoy doing while also living in Texas that gives the trees the best chance of survival long term.

Matt


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[TreeDaddy]

Great stuff!!!

I have 20 serviceberry bushes I started bare root in single protein tubs last year

Makes sense to stack them

I have some oak seeds being stratified and will experiment with "stacking" this year

bill

 

[mattpatt]

I was growing several flats of rootmaker grown trees every year with with countless hours watering here at the house upsizing from 18s to 3 gal root trapper bags. To get them to a size to where I could transplant out into the field only to have 90% of them die because I couldn’t water regularly post-transplant. My hope with the way I’m growing now is that I have far fewer trees but they are of much higher quality all with the taproot intact that can hopefully survive. I mean to have seedling trees grow over 36” in one season is phenomenal growth in my opinion. Why did they get that tall? They we’re babied. Had great soil and I didn’t have to constantly upsize the container when they outgrew the one they were in. Didn’t mean to take over the thread but wanted to show the OP the way I found that works best for my situation if he can’t be there to water.

Matt


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[TreeDaddy]

A 3 point PTO driven auger may be helpful when transplanting to field to accommodate taproot

bill

 

[RGrizzzz]

I was growing several flats of rootmaker grown trees every year with with countless hours watering here at the house upsizing from 18s to 3 gal root trapper bags. To get them to a size to where I could transplant out into the field only to have 90% of them die because I couldn’t water regularly post-transplant. My hope with the way I’m growing now is that I have far fewer trees but they are of much higher quality all with the taproot intact that can hopefully survive. I mean to have seedling trees grow over 36” in one season is phenomenal growth in my opinion. Why did they get that tall? They we’re babied. Had great soil and I didn’t have to constantly upsize the container when they outgrew the one they were in. Didn’t mean to take over the thread but wanted to show the OP the way I found that works best for my situation if he can’t be there to water.

Matt


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That's good feedback. We're in entirely different climates, so post transplant watering should be much less of a concern.

Part of my rationale is that I just can't get to camp to manage plantings at the best time of year. Plenty of places sell potted trees which can be planted in th fall. I'm trying to mimic buying bigger nursery trees, nut the nursery is just at home. I don't expect them to grow nearly as fast after transplant as they may at home this summer.