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Show landscaping With Karla Hancock .. . Planting Nursery Stock Bv Karla Rugh Hancock Here's an old saying that !s "Better a ten-cent plant a dollar hole than a dollar N in a ten-cent hole." Eicept for "hand-me-downs," "fell are a welcome and successful way to obtain Escaping materials, the beowner would be hard-put y to find a plant for a r, let alone one for ten Ms! But the advice is still Wnd-the hole that nursery k goes into should be of at lfl as good a quality as the fock itself. Planting nursery stock be-with be-with locating the spot for a It is helpful to use stakes to the planting site, and lgnbe dug prior to obtaining the stock, which speeds up the planting process. pro-cess. Quality of Stock is Important Buying good stock is important. impor-tant. I have ordered 49 cent roses and shrubs from a nationally advertized mail order outfit in Tennessee and have received spindly plants which grew very little in the two years I cared for them. Be equally wary of limp trees and shrubs which may have spent weeks on a hot parking lot with little watering. water-ing. It is best to buy from a reputable dealer who backs his wares with a guarantee. Even the best planting hole cannot accomplish miracles with nearly near-ly dead trees or shrubs. . Bare-root stock should be unwrapped as soon as it is received, and the roots submerged sub-merged in a tub of water for eight hours or overnight. Prior to planting, the stock should be examined carefully, and broken or wilted roots and branches should be trimmed back to healthy tissue. Keep the roots covered and damp, and out of sun and wind while working on the planting hole. Occasionally circumstances make it impossible to plant bare-root stock at once. When this occurs, the stock can be "heeled in." Dig a trench 18"-24" deep, and wide enough to hold the plants, piling the dirt to the back. Spread the roots along the 5 " Heeled. ti Stock As' ! I y Cot rect pwmnQ cut Rpper "Pi ante cL 1 1 - iop frunedL 0 catch " A. J r P i-roots 0t crowded sloping side of the trench, and cover them with soil. Pack down and water. The Planting Soil Dig the planting hole large enough to comfortably accommodate ac-commodate the root system. Don't crowd the roots or bend them back to fit the hole. Unless the soil has been previously improved with soil conditioners such as aged manure or compost, it is a good idea to remove it entirely from the hole and replace it with a mixture of topsoil, compost or manure, and peat moss (that gorgeous black stuff in the fifty-pound bags-not bags-not sphagnum moss, which is a coarse, leafy product). Put part of this mixture into the hole and spread the roots of the stock on top of it, placing the stock so that the previous soil line, usually visible on trunk or stem, is at ground level. Fill with more soil to about one-half to two-thirds full and tamp it down by foot or with the back of a hoe. Fill with water, let it soak in, then put in remaining soil. Water again but do not tamp down. After planting, prune any crossed or unusually long branches. Fruit trees have more specific pruning needs; in general, it is important to leave not more than three or four branches on fruit trees, and these should be cut to not more than four or five buds. The pruning cut should be just above a bud which points away from the center of the tree. The soil around a container-grown container-grown plant should be loosened loos-ened a little with the fingers as it is put into the hole so that the roots, which may have been confined to this restricted area for some time, will have a chance to "breathe." Some "Unapproved" Advice All of this may sound quite critical and complicated to the beginner--and possibly a waste of time to the seasoned gardener. This is all sound advice recommended by various var-ious "experts," most, though possibly not all, of whom do actually plant things! Now for the unofficial information: I have planted all sorts of plants-"Give-aways" and expensive ex-pensive stock-under all sorts of conditions-in freezing Missouri Mis-souri drizzles when roots froze before I could get them in the ground, and under the hot August sun at Page, Arizona when the temperature stood at a sedate 110 degrees. Some of my planting holes have been cramped, lop-sided things, and I must admit to having "bent a few roots" in my time. Often there hasn't been a soil conditioner within miles. And I've scarcely lost a patient yet! The important thing is to want to plant and have growing things around you. Planting them, regardless of how one goes about it, can be such an enjoyable experience that if it is done with enthusiasm, 1 am confident it will be difficult to fail. But it is always a good idea to follow some instructions so the blame can be put elsewhere if something does go wrong! |