HelpfulGardener.com

Okay so I have been traveling Texas for work, and while at Austin I ended up seeing many customers in Bastrop TX. Well, Bastrop had just had a huge fire that devastated their Pine Tree forest and burned many people's homes down. It was considered something like the top 3 worst fires of the nation's history or something like that.

Well, they had a convention which was nice and I went to support, and they were giving away pine trees, and a few oaks and plums.

They had so many leftovers I ended up taking about 5-6 baby pines and about 2-3 oaks and 1-2 plums.

Well, they had no soil or anything they basically had them bare rooted, and the problem is I got them on saturday and I won't be home until wednesday or thursday.


What do I need to do to help them survive! I went to the store and bought a bit of organic potting soil and put it in their bag so they can start getting some nutrients, and they have had some water too, they went about 1-2 days without soil.

I'm quite concerned with them, and what to do once I move.



My second set of questions is... the house I have right now is not my permanent residence, I'm going to be renting it out in 2-3 years and moving to another home. If I plant the pine trees and oaks in pots they would become rootbound I suppose, would they die? or would they be stunted?

Because I would love to keep them in pots then plant them wherever I move and hope the roots would grow again and they would get big.


Is that possible? or would I just have to plant them and then get some cuttings and root them or something.


Advice please! Need help!

Thanks

~panic panic panic panic~


help please!

Don't panic!

The only one of those trees with a tap root is the pine, and hence it's the only one that will really be troubled by living in a pot for 2-3 years. The oaks and plums will get rootbound (and want up-potting) but that's the worst of it.

As for right now, what you've done should see them through to your house, where you can then pot them.

Keeping the roots wet is more important. Nutrients can wait. you don't want them to dry out.

got you all... so if the oaks and plums get rootbound will they start getting larger as soon as I take them out of the pot and into the ground? what about the pines... any chance they'd survive the pots?

Is there any way my pines would survive 2-4 years and be able to take them to my new property?