Has anyone used OIL DRI - I remember many years ago - we would keep a bag of oil dri in the garage to sop up oil spills. It was tan just like profile - and it was pretty cheap. WOnder if it will work? So then I looked it up on the garden web, and saw this thread - I cut and pasted it below. ANd list the link Greetings All: The list I have posted below, I found on another Bonsai Forum. I use Turface, made by Profile. If you check out their website,you can call the 800 number and they can tell you where you can locate the nearest supplier in your area. Good luck, Goz Soil Amendment sources: Profile Turface www.profileproducts.com and www.turface.com TXI Diamond Pro Diamond Pro is described as an expanded shale and clay. www.txi.com and www.diamondpro.com Oil Dri Soil Master & Terra Green www.oildri.com/agri/index.html and www.bonsaimonk.com for Terra Green (a bit expensive) Southern Athletic Fields Mule Mix www.mulemix.com Eagle Pitcher Play Ball & Axis Soil Amendment (both diatomaceous earth PLUS products) www.eaglepitcher.com/Filtration_Minerals/Products_services/Scroll to Axis Soil Amendments and Play Ball Stabilizer Solutions Stabilizer www.stabilizersolutions.com Lots of fun - Mike Here is a link that might be useful: Oildri

Peach and apricot often bear heavily in alternate years. IOW - a heavy crop one year and a light crop the next. If you can detect and identify this habit in your trees, it would be best to root prune while dormant in the spring of the lighter years. That said, for the peach/apricot trees, root pruning shouldn't have much of an impact on yields or fruit size. In fact, root pruning of in-ground trees is making a comeback as a way to tame wild growth and increase yields in for many types of fruit. It is a fact that root pruning is an ESSENTIAL part of long term care of trees in containers, unless the tree's care giver is willing to tolerate the decline and loss of vitality that always accompanies root congestion. So, even if it did have an impact on yields, you'd still be pretty much obligated to do the root work. You probably have seen how growth can come to a virtual standstill due to root congestion. A famous tree biologist pioneer, Dr Alex Shigo, contends, "A tree that isn't growing is dying", and it's true. Trees grow when they create more food/energy (via photosynthesis) than they need to maintain respiring organs and keep their systems orderly, simply because they need a place to store the excess food. Trees stop growing when they make as much as or less food/energy as they use. No organism can sustain itself long term when it uses more energy than it can produce. So literally, as a containerized tree starts to slow down due to root congestion, it will eventually stop growing and start its terminal decline unless the grower intervenes on the tree's behalf. One might think that trees suffering from root congestion in containers regularly die from the fact they are using more energy than they are using, but that seldom occurs. Plants have a 'pecking order' determined by how strong different organs are in terms of their demand for energy. The stronger the energy sink, the more obligate the plant is to deliver energy to that part. Energy is first allocated to respiratory function, i.e. to maintenance of living tissues, then, to production of fine roots, followed by flower and seed/fruit production, then primary growth (extension of both roots and shoots), then secondary growth (thickening), and finally, the synthesis of defensive chemicals. Notice that defensive chemicals are at the end of the list. Most plants in steep decline, regardless of the reason, usually die from insect herbivory or disease pathogens due to the plant's inability to defend itself. You can also see by the pecking order (1 - living tissues, 2 - fine roots) that fine roots get the lion's share of energy outlay when the plant's chemical messengers signal an imbalance between top mass and root mass. So the first thing that will occur is, the plant will start regrowing the the roots you pruned off. That puts a temporary hold on top growth until roots catch up. For dormant tree which have been root-pruned, root pruning puts a temporary hold on bud activation until enough new roots have developed to support more top growth. Let's say you start 2 tree cuttings from the same genetic source in the same size pots. One gets potted up in the spring after you notice the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact, while the other gets a full repot based on the same trigger (root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact). After 10 years and all other factors equal, the repotted tree will be many times larger that the tree potted up, it will have far greater vitality, will have produced much more fruit/ nuts/ seed/ ....., and will still be growing in a pot a fraction of the size of the tree that was potted up. Root pruning makes that much difference. Al

boy my answer above sucked.. lol ... winter damage is not just about sun ... it is also about winter winds ... and temp fluctuations ... in mid winter.. a plant .. in your clime should be dormant.. get it dormant.. and keep it dormant ... the problem with evergreen type plants ... is that you get these sunny comparatively warm days.. and the leaves can that ... and then they refreeze at night ... plus the drying effects of winter winds ... and you have a recipe for freeze dried evergreen leaves ... in a sense ... with the multiple variables ... the choice of stock might not matter ... your best shot.. would be to try to find stock that is 2 or 3 zones colder than your zone .... which i now see mary above mentions .... when i started with conifers.. in the ground... damage tended to appear in mid to late spring.. when the temps started warming.. and that is when the evergreen tissue started browning ... i found it very hard to figure out.. when the actual damage occurred ... and to assign a reason ... especially since in my MI.. i did a lot of fall planting ... one thing for sure.. as the plants aged .. over the years ... the more established the plant became.. the easier they could overcome the effects of winter ... and one very important thing in all that.. was that the plants went into winter.. full of water ... in other words.. in prime shape... especially if it was a drought year ... and that is part of what i was getting at.. in my first reply ... the plants need proper watering.. with proper drainage.. late into fall ... but the media can not be holding so much water .. that you freeze the roots into an ice cube ... and yes.. DAS are carp plants ... over marketed and ridiculously cheap due to such .... perhaps you should stay with them.. keeping in mind.. that they are semi disposable ... just replace them every few years ... due to your location issues ... i suspect some winters you will win.. and others you will lose.. and that is simply the odds you are going to have to accept... in your situation .... ken

Various columnar conifers are used in this fashion.....trained/pruned into a spiral or stacked poofs of foliage (balls) - arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), yews, columnar junipers, dwarf Alberta spruce tend to be the most common selections. Any of these make a decent containerized specimen but ALL will need regular and consistent attention in terms of root pruning to keep size in check and foliage pruning to keep the spiral or whatever other topiary form they take distinct and tidy. If you do not wish a topiary form like the spiral and just want a containerized conifer, then there are literally scores of mini or dwarf cultivars than could work. These are defined by their rate of growth, not by their ultimate size. Minis and dwarfs grow slowly enough (minis: 1" per year; dwarfs: less than 6" per year) that they can be grown in containers long term relatively easily. You will still need to attend to root pruning and soil refreshing or replacement but not to the degree of frequency you would with a faster growing cultivar. I have a whole collection of dwarf or very slow growing conifers in containers. Chamaecyparis obtusa offers a wealth of dwarf cultivars in a wide range of shapes and sizes and that species makes up the bulk of my collection but I also have Cryptomeria, pines and a spruce and a fir. I'd probably have a lot more but there is a limit on the number of containers I can maintain properly - I have around 80 now - so I have curtailed my collecting :-) Not all are dwarf conifers either........I also have a Japanese maple addiction and a bunch of other containerized shrubs and trees. FWIW, I spend about twice the time (maybe more) maintaining my containerized plants as I do with those planted in the ground! btw, there are also broadleaved evergreens that are trained as containerized topiaries.....boxwood is common, also privet, myrtle and eugenia.