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More saved plants from local woods set to be leveled (mander.xyz)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/nativeplantgardening@mander.xyz
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Spicebush, grapefern, sedges, adder's tongue, mayapple, cranefly orchid, blackhaw, pawpaw, strawberry, grasses, elephant's foot, etc.

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[–] 3 points 6 months ago (1 child)

Hey I am looking for may pointers you have. We had a huge storm roll in and knocked down some huge trees on my property. I am planning on going into the woods and grabbing some oaks, lines and walnuts to replace them. Any tips on transplanting?

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 6 months ago

    I do, I have many thoughts and bits of advice. It's hard to convey all of it without it being a voice conversation, there's so much. But let me just drop a couple things.

    First thing is first, be respectful of the woods. Put things back where you find them, don't take more than you need, honor what you get, etc.

    You're going to want as much as possible of the soil that the seedlings are in right now. That's the best way to guarantee success. I have had a lot of success pulling stuff out in a rush and then running convalescence for the plants for the entire summer, but I'm not going to recommend you do that.

    So basically, get you a cart or a sled or a storage tub on a leash or something. Get you a decent shovel and some plastic pots that are a little bit too big for the plant.

    Walk right out to the woods and set up your pots. Find your first transplant candidate. Shovel some dirt from next to the plant and partially fill up one of your pots. Remove leaf litter from around the plant. Drop your shovel in next to it giving it at least 6 inches of space or so. Try to get the shovel as deep into the ground as you can. Lever up one side with the shovel. Go around to the other side and lever it up again from there. Do that two or four times. Remove the plant and place it in the pot. Fill in any gaps around the edge of the pot with the same soil from the same area. Take some leaf litter and place it on top of the soil in the pot. If you brought water with you, water it now. When you get back to your house, leave the transplants in a deep shade area for about 1 to 3 weeks initially watering every day and tapering off to every other day, and then every 3 days. At that point you can assess if you want to planted in the ground over the warm weather, or keep it in a pot until dormancy over winter.

    This is my basic guide. Save as much root as possible when transplanting, hopefully those roots will also stay encased in the soil to preserve all the tiny little root hairs. Water as much as possible.

    Bare all of that in mind and you will likely have success.

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