A close up of the trunk

This post was edited by wannabeGardnr on Sat, Sep 14, 13 at 16:33

The whole tree

This post was edited by wannabeGardnr on Sat, Sep 14, 13 at 16:34

The roots

This post was edited by wannabeGardnr on Sat, Sep 14, 13 at 16:31

trunk..

weirder the better...

stakes.. get rid of them

what is your soil type ... will the soil hold the plant w/o a stake .. if not.. stake to make sure the roots dont move.. and forget about the top ....

unless i am stroking out.. this plant grows upright.. and weeps down from there.. no need to use stakes to train it upwards ....

and finally.. we got to get you up to speed on posting pix upright... what technology are you using for the pics??? hold it upright.. and make sure it is set to portrait.. rather than landscape ... or figure out which.. and quit turning your machine ...

link below to planting guide.. no amending.. no fert.. rules for clay.. mulch well.. and water PROPERLY ...

in the mean time.. whats your soil type????

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Ken, Do the roots look okay?
I have clay soil, but I have to fill the planting area up to bring it to level with the rest of the yard. We had our pine trees removed and the stumps ground two years ago, and all that mulch needs to be removed before we can plant. But removing the mulch leaves depressing a in the ground. Good thing the yard slopes down, but I am not sure what would be the best way o fill up the hole.
I am frustrated about the pictures. They look right on my iPad. So I used a windows 8 laptop, and the pictures look all wrong in the forum. But when I download them to try o fix the orientation a reap load, the look right on the computer. I think I'll have youse one of those photo sites. I tried what used to be Picasa yesterday, where I had an account, but now it is some weird google+. Couldn't figure out how to get an image URL to post here.

Removed duplicate post

This post was edited by wannabeGardnr on Sat, Sep 14, 13 at 15:53

FOUND IT... lol...

listen.. you got some nice stock.... quit worrying .. they either live or they die..

my inventory is at around 600...

my DEAD list at 150 ...

i learned to do my best .. including selecting.. planting.. etc.. and let it ride.. long ago ... but for PROPER WATERING .....

read that link i gave you on planting IN CLAY ...

you do NOT plant IN the clay... half in.. half out ...

i dont understand your grinding story.. but i dont know if i would plant there... rooting wood is near impossible to maintain moisture in ....

ken

ps: if you really want to cut your anxiety level.. quit fooling around locally.. AND MAIL ORDER YOUNGER PLANTS .... not only are they easier to plant .... including root pruning.. etc... but they get established faster.. and get going faster ... and the big upside is.. if they die.. you lose $25 to 40 dollars.. instead of a couple hundred.. eh??? .. refer to conifer kingdom... girards nursery... etc ... buy small and buy more.. for the same investment.. delivered right to your door ....

pps: i knew i wasnt going crazy... yet.. lol..

Wannabe, Where are you buying your cultivars? This time of year is the best for planting......The downside is most places are picked over pretty good.

Al

Thanks for the tips Ken. I plan to do mail order when I get to to miniatures. For later. I thought local would be the best for the bigger trees to get started. I was looking for 2 to 3 feet size. Thought shipping would be too high.

Al, I went to Susanna Farm. I made another post for nursery recommendations. Don't know where to go. I went the day after they unloaded the truck, but Brant didn't have everything I wanted new. So I got 3 old stock and two new ones, 1 larger than I had wanted, the Gold Drift. And I'm not sure about the roots after I pulled it out today, yes inexperience, should have looked at the nursery. If you have time, will you look at the pictures and tell me if they look okay? I posted another pic of a Pendula Bruns on a separate thread which Dave recommended I return. I'm also finding the nurseries mostly get stuff in the Spring. Is it planting time for us already? I thought October is the right time?

This post was edited by wannabeGardnr on Sat, Sep 14, 13 at 20:22

I've seen all of your other posts and the plants look ok. This one looks OK from the top of the rootball up.... but man that root ball looks bad. It looks like very heavy solid clay. I purchased a conifer last year local that looked just like that. You can't really play with the roots any... if you try to tease the roots it'll just pull chunks of clay off with the roots still attached. It was a mess... so I just put in in the ground. This summer I pulled it out of the ground and tossed it away.

Pictures can be deceiving... it may not be clay in that pot who knows. but potting soil doesn't clump up like that.

Thanks for looking at my posts, Rick. I don't think it is solid clay, because it does not look like my clay soil, and I was able to tease out that one root which is very visible in the picture. The white things are the dead needles, not white roots.