Oh man, our fruit trees weren’t looking so good. It seems the summer heat wasn’t too kind to the little guys, we knew something was wrong, but wasn’t sure what, so Ben scheduled a consultation with Tom Spellman from Dave Wilson Nursery to come check out our trees. The consultation was a little pricey, but it was well worth the money to know what was going on and to make sure we were doing things right. We were so nervous that all the money we invested into replacing the soil for good drainage was going to be a waste and that’s what might have been causing the trouble with our trees.
Thankfully, Mr. Spellman said our soil was good soil, though he is a firm believer in native soil, so that’s what we will use for the raised beds we will be making soon. Whew! Glad to hear that was not money wasted. Next, he said most of the trees looked good, but 5 would need to be replaced. Whew! That’s not too bad either because I was dreading if all of them had to be replaced. He did say we should have put mulch down (and also gave us a good recommendation for what type of fertilizer to use), which we didn’t due to busyness, but Ben immediately ordered some and put it on a few days later. Actually, Ben ordered so much it’s literally everywhere in our yard. Lastly, he said our trees were sunburned and that a little paint on the trunk would protect them.Therefore, Ben painted our trees. We think it looks a little funny, but we wanna protect them, so we went with Tom Spellman’s suggestion. He is the pro after all! It may look like Ben is painting the trees with ice cream, by the way Salted Pretzel Caramel is bomb dot com, but it’s actually just latex white paint diluted 50% with water.
Tom Spellman pointed out other places in our yard that would be good to plant more trees. Ben had originally thought these spots wouldn’t be ideal, but since we like going with the pro’s suggestions, Ben is already plotting and planning what trees he’s going to get next! Actually, he just texted me and he ordered some sort of mites to put in the backyard because these bugs will be good for our plants, and so our garden learning continues…
Ha! I wonder if this happens to larger trees as well. Not that I will painting the 100 foot maples in the front yard, but I am curious. Colorado sun isn’t very plant friendly. We replaced the plants in the front pots, which get 100% afternoon sun for eight hours/day, with tomato plants, and they’re loving it!
It seems a teensy bit unfair that as soon as this pro guy tells him to buy something ben goes and orders straight away yet you’ve wanted this crock pot for ages AND you’ve done loads of research yet he’s still not letting you get it? 🙁 How do the two of you manage these budget arguments if and when they do arise?
I definitely could see how it seems that way, but the reason we lagged in getting crock pot is because we couldn’t decide on crock pot versus pressure cooker. Funny thing is I came home last night from taking the girls to swim class and he had a crock pot sitting on the counter for me (I did a happy dance when I saw it). It wasn’t a budget issue, but a “not sure what’s best to get” issue. Regarding budget issues though, we pretty much just make sure each other is okay with a purchase. If I say no, or he says no, we just don’t get it. It has to be 100% agreement.
Found your blog through a friend and I just wanted to tell you that you have a beautiful family! I’m sure you get that alot. 🙂 Hope the trees make a full recovery!
yep. Tree painting is common in the orchard community where I grew up. My parents have several acres of tree and they paint up the first 4 feet of each one. It’s an all weekend paint chore! For sometimes a few weekends! They stop before the trunk splits, like only up a few feet. I believe it also helps keep bugs off (not sure how but my mom told me this once and she’s pretty tree savvy).
We had no idea until Tom Spellman told us! It’s so interesting all these little tidbits that go into growing a garden.
I grew up in a suburb of San Diego where there are a lot of orange groves and all the trees were painted white about half way up the trunk. I remember asking my mom about it when I was little and she’d said it helped the trees, but I never knew it was paint! Learn something new every day. Good luck with the trees!
that’s why they do that. all the tress in palm springs had the trunks painted white and the kids kept asking why
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