As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
The other morning after TL left, I walked out to the cul de sac thingie by the garage expecting to find some wee baby maples growing in a crack, as I observed them growing there, and thought of rescue, even if I had not room, shipping nor money to save them.
When I arrived at the crack in the street, the wee baby maples were all gone.......chewed to obliteration, probably by some two legged predator which satan had sent as satan does such things.
Partially pleased I did not have to try the rescue, on walking back, I noted in the side of a garage foundation, a foot long plant growing in another crack. Walking over, I discovered a not so wee baby tree growing there. Thinking it was a mulberry, I pulled and the nice part here, is when I pull on things, the things come out of the ground, as it was not like I could be digging up the concrete with my well manicured nails.
So on seeing white roots, as mulberry have white roots, I hid it away in my hand like a concealed handgun, and walked back to the ivory tower.
Not having any pots left, I found one and stuck it in there, and soon enough wee not so baby tree, started to wilt as the buggers will, if one does not take out some dirt in a root ball. That is the thing about plants in I am convinced that it is not the roots you see, but the microscopic roots which are the problem in transplanting........yes another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
Bare root stock have all the little root to soil connections obliterated and this is what causes the extreme problem. The smaller the plant in a seedling, the more easily the moisture absorbes into the plant. Larger or older roots need to send out microscopic baby roots to soak up nutrients and water.
So now we got a wilty plant which is very unhappy.
To deal with this, in necessary experiments this spring, due to a wee baby maple that was said dead as it was wilted like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree without ornaments.....here is the fix.
The best cure for little feral plants is long periods of rain.......call it ICU care. As rain does not appear in most localities on command, the next step is to water the blessed Heaven out of the plant as you put it into a clay type soil....leave the loam at home as well as the sand.
In addition, leave the pot sit in a water tray, so you have an IV pumping as much access to moisture as possible.
Do not put it into direct sun if it has wilted or to keep it from such things. Bring it inside, in the cool of your home. 75 degrees is about as high as it should go. Do not expect though any revival in the plant though as most homes are too dry.
I have not attempted plastic bags nor misting the leaves........as I assume diseases might spread with this, and the plant is already in critical condition.
Here is your secret now though in what all of you have for wilty plants.
Make sure they are watered, sitting in that water container, and at sundown, put the plants back outside. Night air is humid air, and that is the transpiration which you want that plant absorbing. You are making the leaves and trunk your emergency root system and nothing is so reviving to a plant than night air, except a 100% humidity rain for a day.
If you do not do this for a week, your plant will burn off. With a little care though, they will respond quite well.
The plant I pulled was bare root, and it wilted. I over watered, kept it in shade, brought it inside, and returned it to the night air in leaving it's pot sitting in water, and it has regenerated half way back on day 3. With care today, in I will bring it in before 10 AM as the morning heat will hit it......but I do want to see how it responds to this, as much as it is more humid outside than inside......I will pamper it again.
Another little tree, only two inches tall I sort of dug and pulled out, came with a clay ball, and after the wind broke a leave off, I see that it is now at day 5 growing a new leave in shooting out again.
I realize it takes a bit more work, but the more you pamper a plant, in the less shock it gets, the better it will grow.
TL's parents have some fruit trees planted by their drive which absolutely puzzle me in they look like plants from the deserts of Montana. For some reason, these plants are stressed and have never grown. Trees not that far away are growing like trees, so I am wondering what is wrong.
I once planted some chestnuts and the PH was wrong and the trees never did grow but 1/4 inch a year until they died. Most trees require about 2 years to get their tap root established in dry locations, and then grow like weeds. I realize in some areas like the American coastal regions or the Ohio, that you can just throw things at the ground and they grow, but in other areas the plants require some assistance to reach potential.
What plant doctor me is wondering is, if the parent's trees might have been in a nice fertile root ball, and placed in some compact clay, refused to send roots into it, so the tree is depleated. Perhaps a fertilizer dug in around the plant out to 6 feet might do it. It is just puzzling when plants get sick and stay sick.
I have had many sick plants, and am stubborn in learning yet too. TL had some potting soil with fertilizer in it, and I can see the absolute difference in this soil compared to other soils, as the apple seedlings are almost a black sickly green color they are doing so well. Just like babies if you feed them a lot of high fat Mother's milk, along with bacon, eggs, meat and sugar, you get a child that is superior to those on plant diets. Put an average tree into above average conditions, and you end up with sickly Teddy Roosevelt becoming President.
It is the same with feral trees.
I pulled this tree thinking it was a mulberry, as it had an offshoot and mulberries always have that, and had a white root.....another mulberry trait, even if the leaves looked hackberry...........which TL pointed out and TL is right on this, no matter how much I try to talk myself into this being a different type of mulberry, compared to the three lobed, waxy leafed, black mulberry I am used to.
It resembles the first hackberry I pulled which did have 3 lobed leaves starting out.....but I knew robins had eaten the fruit and popped the seeds out while perched on a very sickly maple tree........so I doubt no matter my thinking on it, I am going to change a hackberry into a mulberry.
The hackberries here are different though than those I have seen.....different bark and the leaf is longer serrated and more heartshaped.......guess are different genus of them too.
Still do not know what my elms are........neighbor confirmed what I thought, but the plants I see coming up still look like weed flowers to me, but I know there are no weeds in this kind of production on the asphalt and these seeds ended up on a second story growing in pots.
In any case, now you should know how to get your plants out of critical condition. It is night air and is why people did not want to breathe night air in the old days, as they had lung and circulation problems, which the night air compounded to pneumonia.
What do you think this is......medical school? This is about trees and plants, and if you can spade them out in root ball, and drop them into a hole in 5 minutes, water them in full.....that is best, but sometimes roots break off and it is bare root and you have to pamper them for about a week.
nuff said
agtG
