Started the future mini orchard finaly

CADplans · Mar 12, 2017

This seems to help trees,,,
the rocks retain moisture, the little animals do not like the rocks,,
the big animals do not like the fence.

We added a LOT more rocks after taking this pic.
it is a convenient place to get rid of some rocks when you pick a few out of the garden.

That area is sloped,, I did level the area under the landscape fabric.
I leveled the area so rain would prefer to soak in rather than run-off.

PJSprog · Mar 13, 2017

I was noting yesterday that our peach and pear trees were starting to bud already. Woke up this morning to an inch of snow covering everything. :grumpy:

Navasot · Apr 10, 2017

ericm979 said:
Did you put them in gopher cages? We planted a bunch of special apple trees for hard cider a while back and didn't know about the gopher cages. Gophers killed all but one of them. I was watering one tree and the ground opened up and all the water drained down. Grabbed the tree and it came out of the ground in my hand. All the roots had been eaten.

No its to keep the deer and hogs away from them.. im right in the middle of two giant ironer creeks and there is to much rocks for them to dig through on the hills..

Navasot · Apr 10, 2017

Spindifferent said:
I wish I had the iron in the soil that you probably have with the red color in the photo. Typically, it is the lack of available iron in the soil that can be an issue for the stone fruit. Chances are that you have plenty of available iron and your trees will be happy with that. A&M has lots of great info about fruit trees here in Texas. Womack Nursery is what I use for my trees. They are an excellent family-owned nursery.

Fruit & Nut Resources
Pecan Trees | Peach Trees | Fruit Trees | Texas Pecans |Womack Nursery

Enjoy the trees!

Yes its very thick on the hills and mixed with blackland in the flat spots... anything on a slope or next to a runoff like whats 2yrds behind me in the pic and its solid iron

rgr33 · Apr 10, 2017

I have used 1 inch chicken wire for many years to protect young trees from gophers. Just line the hole and plant the tree, by the time the wire rusts, the tree is big enough to live through any further gopher damage. I have a small orchard, 34 trees, nuts, apples peaches, plums, pears, and cherries. Love it when the neighborhood kids come over and eat their way through the ripe fruit, too much for us to eat anyway, often donate fruit to the local food bank.