I will read that and look into it. I’ve got some patches of weeds to deal with.
That reminds me.......I read that using a sugar solution for transplanting trees increases their survival rate.
I had to transplant a couple trees, one before I found out about the sugar and one after.
The first one has basically not grown in two years. The other one I used the sugar on never set back and is thriving.
Here’s a link to some information. IIRC the original research was done in England and I can’t find it now. Basically, sugar water provides the tree with enough sugar to promote root growth which the photosynthesis from the leaves does not do quickly enough. I seem to recall that it was only a few tablespoons per gallon of water. I did it several times with a weak solution rather than making a strong solution and overdoing it.
Sugar Helps Trees Survive
http://www.garden.org/subchannels/care/soil?q=show&id=2427
Some information from a garden forum....
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bonsai/msg0314445021240.html
Wow...thanks! I wish I had had that info yesterday. We planted a new Gala apple tree yesterday afternoon.
I’ve bookmarked those links in my Gardening folder. ;-)
I’m going to try the sugar-water feeding for 4 weeks per the article....for my newly planted apple tree. I may include another young apple nearby. I’m also going to try this on a maple tree that was not well planted by the people who owned this property before we did. We’ll see what happens...
Thanks for the sugar info! With all the trees I’ll be putting in the next couple of weeks, I’ll give it a try. For the 2 Kieffer pears that I planted yesterday, I’ll sprinkle some sugar around the base before the rain later today.