Greenhouse, RootMaker pots for tropicals and fruit "porn"

[knlim000]

i'm thinking of using chicken wires. Make the chicken wires into a box(box because i have too many gophers) , then use black weed cloth on the inside of chicken wire. Then add barks and compost for the mango tree.  What do you guys think about this method?? 

[fyliu]

Gophers can chew throgh chicken wire. I was told to use quarter inch hardware cloth. That's the stuff used to reinforce concrete. I don't have gopher problem yet. The wires are thicker than chicken wire. I've heard chicken wire recommended in many places too.

[Mark in Texas]

i'm thinking of using chicken wires. Make the chicken wires into a box(box because i have too many gophers) , then use black weed cloth on the inside of chicken wire. Then add barks and compost for the mango tree.  What do you guys think about this method??

I think you ought to save your self the risk that it will fail, your time and money, and buy a tried and true root tip pruning system.  The cloth will not direct the roots into air and light and will eventually rot.

[knlim000]

how about this crate as a pot for the mango tree? I'm thinking of putting barks at the bottom and sides, then place mango in the middle.  It looks like the gopher will not be able to get thru or chew thru the plastic at the bottom.

http://www.milkcratesdirect.com/black-square-milk-crates

[Mark in Texas]

Good article on the system.  http://www.gardenspout.com/news/are-all-root-pruning-containers-same-and-why-should-we-use-them

[fyliu]

Yeah, I tried homemade cloth bags and they dry out too fast. Gave up on that and used the cloth to line the bottom of the rootmaker.
Rootmaker 2 is cheaper if you get it somewhere like alibaba. $3-4 a foot here is kinda expensive for the roll, but I'm still on that roll now.

Knlim000, you should get a 3 gal rootmaker and whatever others you want to use for evaluation. Then you'll know what its capabilities are so you can compare it with your home made solutions. It's hard to design a similar or better/similar device if you don't have a good feel of how the existing one performs.

[knlim000]

fyliu,mark-
thanks for the info and good suggestion. I will try experiment with the crates and rootmaker first .

[Mark in Texas]

Fruit porn, raw footage just filmed.    The Sharwil had been cut the day before - almost no browning & is finally rich and creamy, 2nd year bearing. We juiced a bunch of Moro blood oranges. Rich, SPICY flavor with an interesting spicy skin aroma of clove & cinnamon.  Will be at their peak of goodness in about 2 weeks.  Meyers, key limes, Rio Red and more cados coming on strong.  Greenhouse is buzzing with hundreds of bees hitting the citrus & cado flowers.  Mango come soon mon. 

[simon_grow]

Beautiful harvest Mark. I've been testing out many of the root pruning products and I'm switching all my containers to MicroKote treated. I've found that both the fabric and the pots with the holes in them are big water wasters and the pots with the holes in them get a lot of the topsoil washed out.

The MicroKote treated containers work like normal containers but with the added benefit of root pruning. Thanks again for recommending the product.

Simon

[Mark in Texas]

Thanks Simon, it's been fun and that's what it's all about. No question about it, root pruning via copper ions (i.e. MicroKote) is the most efficient and bulletproof root tip pruning system out there. Been using these systems for 20 years or so.  I have used Griffin's Spin-Out for years and it's usually 100% effective plus you can reuse the pots a couple of times.  Root tip pruning via air/light can be "iffy", don't care what the good Dr. Whitcomb claims.      

My citrus trees on Flying Dragon rootstock are quite small (3-4' tall, 6 years old)  but producing very well. Will be expanding those RootBuilder pots soon.  Am pulling the Rio Red grapefruit in lieu of planting a Sweet Tart in its place. Grapefruit on Flying Dragon come out about 40% smaller than on other stocks.  Plus that rootstock goes dormant for us in November and stays that way until at least March!

Good luck!

[Mark in Texas]

Oro Negro is next. This shot was taken about 2 weeks ago.

[Mark in Texas]

One tractor bucket of my custom soil mix later, an aching back and a (small) Sweet Tart and a Plantagram Lemon Zest are finally in their permanent home. I paid special attention to the LZ rootball by first making vertical slices about 1/2" deep down the pot sides and into the rootball to terminate any side root spinout & make it easier to lift it out intact.  I then cut back a thick tap root flush with the bottom of the rootball that had begun spinning around in the bottom of the pot. Pots were topped dressed with washed builders sand which is also a part of the soil mix.  They'll be mulched with pine needles.  Note very heavy flowering on the Gwen cado to the right of the LZ, just beginning its leaf flush and good fruit set.

[Mark in Texas]

Number of pollinators visiting the greenhouse was crazy yesterday. I had different kinds of moths (open photo showing cool moth probicus & the nearby fly), butterflies, weird looking flies, honey and bumble bees. Most of the new avocado grafts are pushing on my Frankencado - Sir Prize, Pinkerton, Holiday, and the one shown pushing well - Ardith.  I can't believe it as last year everything failed on this (Waldin) rootstock last year with 3 attempts!

[ScottR]

Nice pic's of pollinators at work in your G.H. Mark, hope the Ardith avocado works well for you. I had one outside but lost to cold. I'll have to try again one day!

[Mark in Texas]

Nice pic's of pollinators at work in your G.H. Mark, hope the Ardith avocado works well for you. I had one outside but lost to cold. I'll have to try again one day!

JF and everything I've read on it states it's excellent.  Had a lady visit my greenhouse yesterday for some goodies and her Mom who recently moved from Israel to Texas said it's great, Israel's best.

[Mark in Texas]

Batting a thou!  Unlike last year, ALL avocado grafts took including the Stewart just now pushing on a Joey rootstock.  This double wedge graft even went thru a light freeze a couple of weeks ago.  Need to find a way to shade it a bit.
 


I knew some would be much more dominant than others.  Ardith (one in the center) is really vigorous with long internodes compared to the Pinkerton, Sir Prize, Holiday on the same rootstock. Ardith is now about a foot tall and branching vigorously.

[Vernmented]

One tractor bucket of my custom soil mix later, an aching back and a (small) Sweet Tart and a Plantagram Lemon Zest are finally in their permanent home. I paid special attention to the LZ rootball by first making vertical slices about 1/2" deep down the pot sides and into the rootball to terminate any side root spinout & make it easier to lift it out intact.  I then cut back a thick tap root flush with the bottom of the rootball that had begun spinning around in the bottom of the pot. Pots were topped dressed with washed builders sand which is also a part of the soil mix.  They'll be mulched with pine needles.  Note very heavy flowering on the Gwen cado to the right of the LZ, just beginning its leaf flush and good fruit set.

I LOVE the root pruning. Those pots seem really big, but it probably doesn't matter since they are bottomless right? Do you amend the soil that is the floor of the greenhouse?

Thanks Simon, it's been fun and that's what it's all about. No question about it, root pruning via copper ions (i.e. MicroKote) is the most efficient and bulletproof root tip pruning system out there. Been using these systems for 20 years or so.  I have used Griffin's Spin-Out for years and it's usually 100% effective plus you can reuse the pots a couple of times.  Root tip pruning via air/light can be "iffy", don't care what the good Dr. Whitcomb claims.      

My citrus trees on Flying Dragon rootstock are quite small (3-4' tall, 6 years old)  but producing very well. Will be expanding those RootBuilder pots soon.  Am pulling the Rio Red grapefruit in lieu of planting a Sweet Tart in its place. Grapefruit on Flying Dragon come out about 40% smaller than on other stocks.  Plus that rootstock goes dormant for us in November and stays that way until at least March!

Good luck!

What iffy effects have you seen with the rootmaker system? I am in early stages with their products but everything seem to be work very well.

[ScottR]

Nice looking successful graft's going there Mark, congrats wish you good luck growing all of those varieties. I thought I lost Ardith, well I did loose a small grafted tree but still have a branch graft growing well so now can start another tree.

[Mark in Texas]

I LOVE the root pruning. Those pots seem really big, but it probably doesn't matter since they are bottomless right? Do you amend the soil that is the floor of the greenhouse?

What iffy effects have you seen with the rootmaker system? I am in early stages with their products but everything seem to be work very well.

I didn't amend the native soil except to add a bit of sulfur to it.  System works as designed.

[kingoceanos]

Have you had any problems with bugs this year? The spider mites have been driving me crazy this year:(.  Do you have a favorite products that can be used on smaller indoor/outdoor Edible plants? Gotta be safe my pets get into everything:)
Thanks

[Mark in Texas]

Have you had any problems with bugs this year? The spider mites have been driving me crazy this year:(.  Do you have a favorite products that can be used on smaller indoor/outdoor Edible plants? Gotta be safe my pets get into everything:)
Thanks

Small outbreak of scale and whiteflies. Try dormant/horticultural oil.  I found I have to add a surfactant to it.  Best product for mites is Forbid 4F.

[kingoceanos]

Thanks for the tip. I will check it out.

[Mark in Texas]

Frankencado is really taking off - 6 scions of Holiday, Ardith, Pinkerton, Sir Prize on a Waldin rootstock.

[Mark in Texas]

Greenhouse is a work in progress - upgraded my greenhouse with replacement of Dyna-Glas Palram SolarSoft85 which was way too shady for a north facing roof, replaced north roof and roof vent with clear Lexan and installed a downward pointing HAF to get the heat collecting at the 18' peak back down to the ground.

[ScottR]

Mark, that is one beautiful G.H. very nice set-up!