January 1, 2017

[Millet]

On the first day of the year I usually plant something.  This day I re-planted something.  I re-planted a New Zealand Lemonade tree from a 15 gallon air root pruning container into a 3.5' W X 3.5'L X 4'H heavy duty plastic container  which looks like a terracotta container.  This should let the NZL tree grow to almost full size.  The tree will spend the summers outside and winters in the greenhouse.  I have a fork lift so it should be easy to move it in and out. Happy New Year.

[luak]

Millet, that is a large chunk of real estate weight wise.Can you handle that much weight? Why an NZL lemon? Is it that good!!

[Millet]

Luak, as wrote above, our farm has a fork lift.  It will be easy moving the tree outdoors during the summer and back into the greenhouse during the winter with the fork lift.  Also on days where hail is likely, I'll just use the fork lift to put the tree inside the barn for the day. While transplanting the NZL, I accidentally  broke off a couple small branches, so I am rooting them.  The New Zealand Lemonade is a lemon hybrid , so I suspect it will root easily, but not sure. Actual  lemons are easy to root -- we'll see.

[Radoslav]

So it is aprox .1200 litres of soil. It is homogeneous soil, or do you use several layers like in Versaille orangerie. see page 172. https://books.google.sk/books?id=nYS3HESs1PYC&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=Poire+du+Commandeur+versaile&source=bl&ots=AW99EKSFBT&sig=Q6eaU-lJtXn1-rjn0BiDClmP8Lo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKrteiz6PRAhXBaRQKHeGlB7kQ6AEIPjAD#v=onepage&q=Poire%20du%20Commandeur%20versaile&f=false

[Millet]

Radoslav, thank you for the Versaille post it was quite interesting.  I have been to Versaille and have seen their citrus collection - fabulous.  The mix that I used in the large container is 3 parts Miracle Grow Garden Soil/slow release fertilizer, and 1 part Para Grade-perlite.  Presently the tree is inside the greenhouse, and has some extra heat applied to the container.  Today the temperature of the medium was 64-F (20-C).  I realize that with such a large container one must be especially careful with watering, not letting the lower portion dry out,and the avoidance of water channeling.  I noticed in your link that at Versaille,  the watering is done SLOWLY over several hours (thanks for that tip).  Any other tip from anyone would be appreciated.  The plant that was originally in this container was a Canary Island date Palm.  The palm was in that container for several years.  When I took the palm out of the container I noticed dry pockets in the lower portion of the container.  The presence of the dry pockets that I found does give me a little concern for this tree.

[DimplesLee]

Oh Millet a little too late for my tip - aside from laying out drip tape in circles around the surface of the potting soil before covering with hay mulch - I generally adapt this:


https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1c/5a/59/1c5a59e6f852a5cf6ee9c10b02624ae4.jpg


Any pot over 15 gallons gets that PVC pipe "olla" - just fill the pipe with coarse gravel so the potting mix doesn't backflow into it? A round pot gets 3 PVC ollas and a square one gets four.


as for the temp of the potting mix in extremely cold weather my uncle went as far as modifying a parabolic solar cooker to fit around a large pot as an experiment to see if he can get tomatoes growing all throughout a Minnesota winter. It worked but wifey put a stop to a few years down the road. Said it was just too much trouble when she makes canned/dehydrated toms anyways. Plus they had  small greenhouse which ended up just having enough room for two tom vines after the whole parabolic solar thingy was set up. Yes - we do seem to be a family of oddballs.

[luak]

Sorry Millet, i did not read your whole reply. I should  have known that you have plenty of equipment.This is what i use to transport tree's in the spring and fall. Look homemade, well it is.

[Millet]

On January 1st I transplanted a Lemonade tree into a large container.  Its transplanted into the 3.5'L  X 3.5'W X 4'H container and the tree's roots  have grown into the surrounding medium.  So far I have been able to maintain a 68F (20C) medium temperature during the month of January.  I purchased a 50-foot heating cable to wrap around  the container, which will enable me to raise the medium to 80F (27C).  This will greatly increase both the root and tree growth.  This will enable 5- growth flushes during the 2017 year.   Presently the tree is just now starting a leaf flush with good flower bud production. As one of the parents of this hybrid is a lemon, the flower buds have a  pinkish/purple coloration.