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Growing from Seed

Using cinder blocks to grow taprooted tree seedlings in?

13 years ago

Cruising around the free section of Craigslist earlier tonight, I saw someone giving away a few dozen cinder blocks, and a lightbulb went on.

What if I placed a strip of chicken wire on the ground to stop gopher invasions, and stacked cinder blocks two rows high on top of them, making sure the holes lined up? If filled with compost, this would give me a planting cavity 4"x4" and almost 2 ft tall.

If I planted acorns, walnuts and buckeyes in these, I could just disassemble them to remove the seedlings, an easy no-fuss alternative to digging them up.

Has anyone done this before, or have any input on it?

Thanks!

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Comments (2)

yiorges-z5il
13 years ago
yes but will need to protect the top also as many can jump the 2 ft & get at the seed.....
nick_b79
Original Author
13 years ago
Oh, I'm not too worried about the above-ground pests: the neighbor's dogs, the local fox and coyote populations, the owls and my .22-cal rifles keep them in check. It's the damn pocket gophers that kill me. They never come out of the ground to be killed. I had a row of apricot seedlings in the garden last year, and the little bastards pulled them straight down, Bugs Bunny style, into the ground as they ate the roots off! I lost a 6 ft tall Honeycrisp apple AND a 6 ft tall Northstar cherry after they ate ALL the roots and the trees basically fell over in a strong wind one spring day!
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