TOPIC: Going to check the crop tomorrow....

I'm a bit envious of you guys that are living on the land you grow on, since I do not!

Anyway, headed out after work tomorrow to see what's there. I expect that what is there is all that is fully emerged by now. some here on the forum have suggusted that there might be a bit more emerging since the last check, 3 weeks ago.

I took a great look at the crop then, counted all the little 3-leafters in each bed then. So, I'll know what's different tomorrow!

I'll post some photos when I get back.

Here's some photos from the trip to the mountains. I was glad to see the emergance of newer 3-leafers from the last time I went.

I think I spread the line and gypsum too thick in places. I used pelletized lime and gypsum on all my beds, and it was spread at the time of planting.

My planting method was simple broadcast, with leaves raked back first, then recovered by the leaf material after broadcast. Sorta like the video from TNHunter, however my soil was not as easily worked. It's a pretty good slope, very rocky as well, recently cleared.

More photos of the rootlet beds. These look pretty good, and were 3 year olds. I have 5 beds of these.

A close up of one of the rootlets. This is typical of most rootlets. I think all of them came up!

DEER DAMAGE!

This bed only had 12 rootlets in it, and was conviently located by the entrance to the lowest part of my patch. Three weeks ago, there were all 12 plants. Now only 3 left. See the dug out area in the photo? That's from very recent activity [within hours of the photo being taken] and has two very clear deer hoofprints in it. These deer appear to getting the root as well as the top growth, the lousy buggers....

I am going to have to take strong measures to reduce deer damage. My partner is against hunting them, However perhaps economic influences will persuade him to change his point of view.

Other beds have sustained damages as well. I think I've lost 1/2 of the rootlets, that's 150 of them.

Over all the emersion rate is about 15%. Not too good. However, this is twice what I assessed three weeks ago when I was up there. It appears that there's equal germination emergance from both suppliers of seed.

Hmmm... poor soil? Soil analysis indicated low calcium, and borderline low pH, with lots of thick soil. Poor planting technique? Didn't use a tiller, simple broadcast only. Rododendron influences? Still, lots of root material in the soil even with removal of top growth. Too much sun/shade? I think we are good here.