DW and others contemplating real or the cheap knockoff on half-barrels.
DW mentioned something that is actually good - the charred inside of JD's barrel. That's done intentionally and I saw it also cited twice in my winter reading that charring the inside of a wooden vessel (barrel, planter, etc..) is recommended for preventing rot. I think it also helps with losing moisture through absorbtion and has no ill effects on your plants.
Every hardwood cask I've ever seen that had been used for fermenting liquid had been charred.
Big Pot Planting Advice Wanted
Your project is too far along to change, but might I suggest considering the incredibly cheap Chinese glazed pots next time. They come a great variety of sizes, shapes and colors, do not require any maintenance, and last a long time. It never gets very hot here, so my biggest problem is getting potting soil to drain properly. I usually start with a good cactus mix and then cut it with perlite and lava rock to get it to drain fast. Regular potting soils stay too wet and stuff dies.
Thanks rutholive, 8ftbed and Chuck1260,
Dave
Wishing you good luck with your tree in a container. I can only wonder how happy it will be. The Service Berry is native to my area, the Southern Appalachians, where they are called by natives "Sarvis Trees" . They are scattered through the woods all around here and seem to prefer damp locations. As for size, they are understory trees about the size of sourwood trees, slightly larger than native dogwoods. Slightly south of here, they are already in bloom but not here yet.
Good luck!
Thank you, roseone33,
A lot of people, including me, are wondering the same thing -- how happy will it be? I can only say that with all the help I've been given on this thread and my previous one at
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/473898/ and all the care I'm ready to give it, we've got a good shot at success. We'll see.
The potting date has now been set in stone, Saturday, April 2. Aside from the fact that it also happens to be the start of our tornado season, I see nothing that can stop us now, I haven't felt quite like this since my wife was 8 1/2 months pregnant with our first child.
Later,
Dave
Dave, no doubt with all your care and good advice, it will thrive. Growing things are resiliant and put up with a lot we humans do to them and keep on growing. I guess your tree is sort of like a new baby for you. :-) Congratulations!
We picked up the Serviceberries today!
Later,
Dave
Dave, how many Serviceberries are you getting. Mine will be in bloom in a couple of days. The temp today got to 61 degrees our warmest day for a week at least. DonnaS
They look good!
April 2 has come and gone and the Serviceberries are potted. The stack of pictures show how we got them home, standing in the drive way, the potted barrel at the (soon to be painted) back of the house and the potted barrel on the front porch. These Serviceberries are semi dormant but all three have many beautiful healthy buds formed. It's an early fruiter as you know but I figure I have a 50-50 chance for this year since they are established three year old trees nursery grown only in potting mix.
For those of you who have a UBER's way of thinking the tag states: "Amelanchier canadensis 'Lamarcki' AMEL-LAMA or LAMARCKI SERVICEBERRY. A medium growing vase-like deciduous tree reaching a height of 30 to 35 feet liking either sun or shade with white flowers and dark red edible berries."
A lot happened from the time we picked them up and these bottom two pictures were taken. I will get into that detail (including a totally unexpected problem with the whiskey barrels) later in the week as my time permits.
I've got lots else to do and this project includes a ton of detail and pictures to select from in terms of what would be of the greatest interest and help to container gardeners. I'm thinking it might even be easier to do this in two or three installments. We'll see. I keep my word and I wont drag my feet.
Later,
Dave
Good photos Dave and your Amelanchiers look very nice As large as they are you should have a good bloom and a good crop. Keep us informed. DonnaS
They look wonderful and I'm sure they'll do well. Once again, good luck!
This message was edited Apr 6, 2005 6:47 PM
This message was edited Apr 6, 2005 6:48 PM
This message was edited Apr 6, 2005 6:48 PM
Since the topic of this Forum is Container Gardening, I thought I'd start my series of reports with the whiskey barrels and the big unexpected problem we had. I bought these 1/2 barrels in mid February wanting to be ready for an early March planting weather permitting. As it turned out they were in my storage for a month and a half.
I had room for one in my heated pantry and the other had to go to the unheated garage. In mid March I first noticed that the cold had contracted a couple slats (top pic) on the garage barrel but I felt that would be only a minor repair job on potting day. How I wrong I was,
As it turns out the barrels are made so each slat holds all the others in place. One missing slat will loosen (weaken) all the others -- two missing slats would be a certain problem. The second picture in the this first stack shows you what happened when my handyman tried to pick it up -- it collapsed like a house of cards.
The pictures tell the story better than I can.
This second post is to show you what over an hour of playing tinker toys resulted in. When finished and moved the barrel looked better and stronger than when I bought it. The 100 pounds of MG and Serviceberry pressing from the inside out has it fully secured forever.
In my next installment. I will show you all we did to protect the floor of the back deck and the front porch and how we spotted the barrels. More practical container stuff.
Later,
Dave
This message was edited Apr 7, 2005 8:55 AM
roseone33;
I loved your beautiful pictures - keep them coming. I'm so josh busy I made my post before I even checked for replies. I tell you what. To show what I care about how they will look like I'm going to add pictures of my "buds" to my so called container report.
The beauty I saw in them (I downloaded all three) is a main motivator for me. Believe me. Post more!
Warm regards,
Dave
Dave, I am sorry you had such a problem with your half barrells. The people you bought them from should have replaced them. Glad you and your helper got them back together. Show us when you have them planted and placed. DonnaS
Dave, Sorry again, I mis-interpreted your post and felt that you wanted only comments or pictures about conatiner gardening. All is well, thanks for your kind response. Looking forward to more about your "sarvice" trees. They are amoung my favorites, always a beautiful harbinger of Spring. Rosemary
They will fall apart if they are allowed to dry out. That's why the garden centers keep them outdoors. I'm glad you were able to get it back together.
Nancy
Thanks gabagoo,
I'm sure that's a fact that all "wanna be"s on this thread will now be fully aware of.
Dave
In these three posts I will let my picture stacks do the talking and I'll just narrate. In this first stack you can see how the Visquine square was laid down over spot I had picked for the barrel. The duct tape on the railing marked where I would get the view I wanted out the front window from my easy chair.
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th pics show how small slits were cut between the floorboards of the porch and back deck to let any water drain. It seems to be, however, that short of a 6 inch rainfall or mindless over watering, that there would be no "drainage" with a pot this big. There seems to be no way to avoid refinishing the flooring in the event the barrel is ever moved but this degree of "protection" made sense to me.
In this second stack, you can see that the barrel has been placed and the Visquine is being trimmed off. A good sharp knife and it peeled off perfectly. The 3rd pic shows the barrel with no sign of the protection underneath. The 4th pic shows we're getting serious by lining up our stuff including the bucket which is water mixed with the root stimulator I mentioned earlier.
This third stack shows placing the wire screening in bottom of the barrel, sprinkling in the ever important Osmocote into the MG and making our first "test plant" which proved to be several inches too low.
That's how it was April 2. I'll have more pictures and copy later including some specific people I want to publicly thank.
Later,
Dave
It looks like it's all coming along very well. Continued good wishes!
Rosemary
im going from years back and im just hitting the big 40 ,
but if i remember dad or gramps , on them wine barrals
when the slats get loose, just water the heck out of them
or drop the barrel into somthing bigger filled with water.
it makes the wood swell up and you get a nice tight barrel
again.
Dave, Looking good. You fellows are doing a great job and I know that Sarvis/Service berry shrub will be very happy, and you will surely enjoy watching birds eating the fruit. Good Luck DonnaS
I decided to wait on this final post of mine until I was able to provide a revealing report on the results of my slightly different potting approach. Apparently, my "high nutrient boost" idea didn't hurt. These pictures are from April 11 less than two weeks after potting. As you can see, beautiful white flowers are already covering the young 'Lamarcki' Serviceberry trees.
I want to thank everyone individually who helped me with ideas and encouragement but to keep this post under 1,000 words, I have just singled out the three posts that made the greatest impact on me. When I started my first thread on December 14, I had only two questions. (1) Was the Serviceberry the bird "magnet" I heard it was? (2) Would it make gardening sense to try to pot them in Zone 5b?
The reply on the "magnet" was this one:
My native Amelanchier is out at the back of my garden where the fruit trees are. I planted it there hoping the birds would leave the cherries alone, but they just think it is an additional treat. I rarely ever get to eat one of the June berries as the birds eat them before they are really ripe. I also have another cultivated variety of amelanchier, Forest Prince, planted nearer the house by my shade lath house, and birds also love that one." DonnaS (rutholive - Zone 5a).
Regarding feasibility, this is the post that eventually led me to be to believe that my plan could work:
HGTV's "Gardening By the Yard" had a show on container trees - and yes, Serviceberry was one they listed that could be grown in a container. This link (hopefully) will take you to the site for that particular show: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_trees_shrubs_deciduous/article/0,,HGTV_3644_1390120,00.html If not, go to HGTV.com & do a search on container trees. I have a purple leaf plum growing in a 20" pot. Nancy (gabagoo - Zone 5b).
As a totally unexpected and pleasant bonus, I also received some rich historical details which I appreciated:
Fun facts to know and tell - the tree is called 'Serviceberry' because up in the mountains, it blooms about the same time as the soil thaws- when they could dig graves and hold funeral services for those who died during the winter. Another species of Amalanchier is called 'Shadbush' because it blooms when the shad come up the rivers to spawn. Susan K (sfk - Zone 7a).
If you're curious about how the trees are doing or possibly if they survived the winter just post your question and I'll be more than happy to reply with up to date photos and news. One thing I won't be doing is bumping my own thread with reports unless asked for by a request that's already bumped the thread.
Recently I promised to include a "bud" in my final container report. Thankfully, I can now go one step further. The last picture is of a solitary flower which conveys what it means to me and also fulfills that promise I made. This picture is for you, Rosemary.
Again, thanks to everyone and happy container gardening to all.
Dave
They are very attractive and look like they are thriving. Good job! The blossoms are lovely, wishing you continued good luck with them!
Rosemary
Dave, thanks for the kind words. Your photos are excellent and looks like your Sarvis Berry, as it is sometimes called in this neck of the woods, is very happily growing in your half barrel . the blooms are just lovely. Best wishes, DonnaS
Dave, how is the Serviceberry? (lurking)
~* Robin
Ok. I'm new. what is MG?
In this case it means: miracle grow potting mix.
~* Robin
Doing fine, I'll post a Spring pic later.
I’ve got some good news and some bad news. First the good news.
I garden only for wildlife (both birds and critters). I understand that there’s a current discussion about a new Forum by that name
My only purpose in potting the two Serviceberries was to encourage birds to use my two window feeders. It was just one part of a much broader birdscaping plan. The Serviceberries did the trick. When I earlier said they were “doing fine”, I was referring to the fact that they accomplished the only goal they for which they were intended. I began to get constant visits from Goldfinch and Ruby Throats that really delighted me. The Goldfinch kept coming this winter as a bonus on those dreary overcast days when we all can use some company. My birds now know that my window feeders are safe.
Now the bad news. The only reason I posted this thread is I had absolutely no prior experience with container gardening and I wanted to avoid a dumb rookie mistake on what was to be a key part of my 2005 Birdscaping plan. In spite of all the helpful posts I got on this thread and all the research I did, two important facts were never brought to my attention – The tremendous volume of water that 40 quarts of MG potting mix can hold and the susceptibility of the Serviceberry to root rot. You guess it. Tho they leafed out and bloomed beautifully (fulfilling the purpose of encouraging birds to use my two window feeders), they were began dying of the disease after a month or so. First the back deck Serviceberry which was in full shade followed weeks later by the front porch Serviceberry which was in dappled sunlight.
If I was asked to write the book on this subject I would start off by saying that they must be potted in full sun and watered in only sparingly. Only after 2-3 months of establishing themselves should one attempt to move them to their more desired and less sunny location.
I was going to wait until I had a blooming pic on my third Serviceberry which I planted in the ground in full sun to attract birds to my main platform feeder before I told this tale of woe. It’s doing beautifully. However, since the thread has been bumped, I’ve bit the bullet and told my story - the good, the bad and the ugly. I’m not retrying the barrel Serviceberries for the simple reason that the birds are telling me that they are no longer needed there. Since I’m not an ornamental gardener and I’ve yet to hit on another practical birdscaping use of the barrels.
Maybe one of you kind Gardening for Wildlife souls can offer some suggestions.
Dave
Maybe this links can help you:
Gardening to Attract Wild Birds, Butterflies & Hummingbirds http://www.birds-n-garden.com/birdgarden.html
Allen's Hummingbird Selasphorus sasin: http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recnum=BD0123
~* Robin
Thanks a million, Robin.
Dave