It has been an exciting week for me and the seaberry experiment. I have received some of the plants ordered from the nurseries. One Green World was the first of the two to deliver. I have placed them in rows thirteen feet apart and spaced the plants about 6 feet from each other. When the other's arrive and my seedlings (more to follow on those) mature, the area will have to expand significantly.
Saplings out of the box. From left to right - Titan, Orange Delight, Frugana, Leikora, and Orange Energy
Once in the ground, the varieties of Sea Buckthorn show various stages of bud. Most were shipped with tight buds and have since began to open slightly. Frugana and Orange Energy were more fully leafed out.
Titan Sapling
Orange Delight Sapling
Frugana Sapling
Leikora Sapling
Orange Energy Sapling
The ground was amended with a mixture of very good leaf mold compost, Miracle Grow Garden Soil and Espoma Bio-Tone Starter. The Espoma Bio-Tone Starter contains 1,341 colony forming units (CFU’s) per gram of 7 different species of beneficial bacteria. In addition it contains Ectomycorrhizal Fungi, and Endomycorrhizal Fungi. These 2 species of fungi help break down the substances present in the soil and make them more available to the plant. The Ecto lives in the soil and the Endo lives in the root itself. Most of you have heard of inoculating the seeds of nitrogen fixing plants such as peas and beans. Sea Buckthorn is also a nitrogen fixing plant so this should set these plants off to a good start.
Seaberry Seedling Update
The news is excellent here as well. Nearly all 230 seedlings are up and growing nicely. Still being babies, my optimism is tempered by the fragility of such small plants. It will be nice when they are large enough and have been prepared to live outside.
(Good luck Jacob with your seedlings!)
Tom,
ReplyDeleteThings are going well in PA! I just got back from a trip to AZ for the week and my wife kept the seedlings going well in the front room. I think I have about 75% germination so far, plus about 50 more seeds left. I'm excited to see how your sapling plants fare outside. Thanks for being my experiment. Hopefully I won't screw up as much as normal this way... ;)
Tom, my seedlings aren't doing too well... About 15% have fallen over and died, another 20% are growing up but then rotting away when the leftover seed casing starts molding. I have about 40-50 seedlings left that look somewhat healthy and are getting more leaves, but it seems I'm doing something wrong. I tried peat pellets instead of soil, but otherwise everything is the same...protested cover, partially sunny window, etc. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHi-
ReplyDeleteSorry just getting back to you. I was in Maine and arrived to find major smoke damage to the building over the winter--- the heating system malfunctioned and it was a huge clean-up job.
My suggestion on the seedlings is to only water them when the soil has dried considerably. Not bone dry, but dry on the outside. Another thought is to get a garden fungicide and apply it according to the directions on the bottle. Hope the damage hasn't spread any further.