Seeking advice selecting a tree
sputnikous
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seeking advice on tree planting
Comments (7)Planting standards developed by the University of Arizona will get your citrus trees off to a good start. This time of year you will need to protect them from frosts and freezing temperatures by wrapping the trunk with cloth, cardboard or burlap and covering the entire tree (all the way to the ground) with a sheet or frost cloth (never plastic). The following steps should bring you planting success. Apply water to the area where you will be planting several days ahead of time. This will make digging much easier. The soil should be moist but not wet and should not stick to your shovel or garden fork. As raimeiken mentioned our soil may be moist enough right now due to recent rains. 2)Till or loosen soil 4-5 times the diameter and no deeper than the rootball. Roots that absorb water and nutrients will grow rapidly in this area so your tree can establish quickly. 3) Remove soil in the center to create a hole twice as wide but only as deep as the rootball. This prevents sinking which can bury the stem or trunk. The bottom of the hole should be flat. 4) Check drainage by filling the hole with water. If water can penetrate into the soil, so can plant roots. If water has not drained in 24 hours, a chimney can be added for drainage. (see details in http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/az1022.pdf) 5) No need to add mulch to the backfill. It decomposes rapidly and can cause sinking of the soil. Do use a layer of mulch on top of the soil to help insulate and slow evaporation. 6) Create a berm (raised ring of soil) on the ground at the edge of the branches to hold water either from an irrigation system or hose. Hold off fertilizing your new tree until you see new growth next year and then apply very small amounts. The link below will take you to several publications on caring for citrus including watering, fertilizing, pruning and frost protection. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Information on citrus care...See Moreseeking advice on Iowa tree & shrub nurseries
Comments (2)The CR Garden Ctr. website looks good. I've added myself to their email list and will drop by for a look when I travel up to Culver's early next week. I seem to recall there's a good place for mulch (Ever-Green Bulk Mulch) in the same NW Cedar Rapids neck of the woods....See MoreSeeking advice in selecting an led hard-wired picture light
Comments (8)They sell a 10-piece filter assortment with most of the available filters, so you can experiment with what works best. You start with a reflector bulb with a 10 degree beam spread in your choice of color temperatures - 2700K (warm, like incandescent), 3000K (a bit whiter, like halogen), 4000K (cool white fluorescent tubes, but with better color rendering), or 5000K (cool, matches daylight streaming through windows). The filters can widen the beam spread, which starts out as a narrow spotlight, to a wide spot, narrow flood, or wide flood. There are four sizes and shapes of the squared or rectangular beam shapers. And finally three filters that will "warm" the light, so if you ordered the 4000K bulbs, you could change it to 3500K, 3000K, or 2700K. Doing this slightly reduces the efficiency, so I'd get the lowest color temperature bulb you'll ordinarily use (and they're very efficient - each bulb uses only 7-1/2 watts, but is as bright as a 50 watt halogen bulb). You also have a choice between 12V low-voltage or 120V line voltage (or 230V in most non-US countries). Using low voltage helped make the old halogen bulbs whiter, but I don't see any advantage to using 12V low voltage for LEDs unless you are converting an existing halogen MR16 setup. If you're installing new lamps, using 120V line voltage (GU10) will save lots of money by not requiring transformers or expensive low-voltage dimmers, and will be less prone to buzzing. They also have two series of bulbs called Vivid VP3 and Brilliant. You want the Vivid/VP3 which has better color rendering (95 CRI in lighting parlance rather than 80), meaning you won't get dull or inaccurate colors like you do with fluorescent/CFL bulbs or lower-quality LEDs. Filter 10-pack includes: 25ð Beam Spreader 36ð Beam Spreader 60ð Beam Spreader 10ð x 25ð Linear Lens beam shaper 10ð x 36ð Linear Lens beam shaper 25ð x 25ð Flat Top beam shaper 36ð x 36ð Flat Top beam shaper 1/4 CTO Color Temperature Shifter 1/2 CTO Color Temperature Shifter 3/4 CTO Color Temperature Shifter 40ð beam spreader with glare-free louvers sold separately More links: Filters 120v line voltage bulb detailed info 12v low-voltage bulb detailed info Info about color rendering Info about non-yellowish white rendering Those last two links aren't technobabble by the way; this company was founded by a guy that won a Nobel Prize for inventing the blue and white LEDs that made LED lighting possible....See Morebachelor seeking advice for failing meyer lemon tree
Comments (73)UPDATE 2019! Hey everyone, happy new year! You guys are still my special community of help and advice that I always think of when I am around my tree! I have since brought my tree down to my parents house in South Carolina. Being a bachelor (still) I had to move into several different apartments in Nashville since that post, none of which would be suitable for my baby to thrive in! My parents also have adopted her and done an excellent job helping raise her as my dad loves loves loves lemons in all of the water that he drinks. It had a great summer - they brought it outside and kept it in full sun - it grew to become a large leaf bearing tree that the kids love to “pretend water” with toy cups and boats full of water. Now it has been brought in for the winter and it has grown so many lemons - I’ve been anxiously waiting for them to start turning yellow. Over thanksgiving it appeared that some of them were beginning to turn yellow at the base of the fruit. I was hopeful that this January they would turn full yellow and I could come and pick a few. Here is the sad news. It has been dropping leaves consistently. It still is blooming. My dad and i think that it is due to over watering. Then i just found out from my dad that after Christmas it got a spider mite infestation. My dad sprayed it with some pesticide and he thinks the spiders are all dead. I’m attaching a photo of what he used. Again, just wanted to update you guys. Last year we got lemons and it was incredible to see where this tree had come from. I think I might have to name her Lazarus! Never would have saved her with yalls help. What do y’all think of the current state the tree is in? What do you think of the spider mite infestation? Any advice would ALWAYS be so helpful!! Forever grateful, Jamie...See Morenickel_kg
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