Leo Ziebol

This year we planted about 900 12-18" bare root trees over 5 acres. Everything from pines and oak to dogwoods and chestnuts. We've had a lot of issues with rabbits chopping and sometimes munching them down to the ground. The .22 has helped weed out some of the culprits but I fear, especially going into winter later this year, that this problem will only get worse if we do not install a more permanent protection.

I've seen people use everything from rolled up chicken wire to buying plastic sleeves and anchoring with some sort of stake.

What have you guys used to alleviate this issue?

Thanks!

How did you go about controlling it Walter?

Hey Everyone! I wanted to run a pond scenario by you guys and see if anyone has any experience here.

I have very sandy soil with SOME clay at about 14ft. I'm not against going this deep but I worry that the material will not even be dense enough to seal. Would you chance it and dig it up or look toward some other method of sealing? I'm not in a hurry to get it filled this season so I'm definitely open to running pigs through it for a while (if this even works). I'm also open to lining it but would like to avoid it if possible.

The proposed size is about 50ft x 50ft-ish and the end goal is fish production. The area has VERY little slope so this would be almost entirely in ground.

Thanks!

Thanks for all of your answers! I'm REALLY pleased to hear it's not a hopeless situation. I'm pretty attached to these little guys!

I definitely got overzealous when I inherited a friends' grow room gear...

Once again, LESS seems to be MORE!

Thanks for looking! I don't see any signs of spider mites. We do have a HUGE fungus gnat problem that we are treating with azamax. Can they cause this kind of problem?

I started a PILE of trees indoors this over this last winter. Everything was going great until I started fertilizing them with some high nitrogen bat guano fertilizer that I inherited from a friend. They've been on a steady decline since.

I applied the guano as a fresh brewed tea twice over the span of two weeks.

Once I started seeing adverse affects, I flushed everything thoroughly with tap water and pruned back any bad looking areas.

It's been about two weeks now and they seem to still be on the decline.

You can view photos of the blackberry, pagoda and persimmons here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/grvz1aipu7p6fxh/7ENY2ecG4u

Any experts in here that can help? Thanks!

Thanks for replying! Is this much different than just using a celled tray of pots with a clear plastic cover? It sounds like moisture containment, a little drainage, and a little air flow. Am I missing something? I'd love to learn more

Does anyone have any experience germinating New Jersey Tea Tree? I've had some in potting mix for about a month and a half and another pile in a moist paper towel for a little less. I have still to see any action.

I've read this tree can be long/difficult to germinate. Anyone else get these guys poppin?

See this was my thought on the whole concept as well. I saw a video posted a while back (I BELIEVE it was Sepp) that was saying that for a greenhouse to function in colder weather, you would ideally have it on a raised platform (deck) to allow the cold air to fall below the floorboards. Has this proven true with yours? How cold does it get in your winter? Are you able to grow year round or just extend the season?

Thank you both for your replies!

I've had this idea for a multi-function greenhouse and I wanted to run it by all of you to see if anything stands out as foolish or unrealistic.

I am building a deck off of the south side of my home. I'm looking into installing an 18' x 20' greenhouse on top of it that will open up to the house via a sliding patio door. My goal is to start plants/trees/shrubs for the warm months and extend the growing season in the cold months if not grow year round. I am POSSIBLY even looking at selling surplus plants/trees down the road. An added bonus would be to harvest some of the excess heat in the cooler months to partially heat the south side of the house via the sliding door.

Is there anything about connecting a greenhouse to the home that is automatically a bad idea?

What kind of heat can I expect to generate from solar alone? The greenhouse would be facing south with no obstructions or shade. It would receive FULL sun year round.

Does this seem like a completely unnecessary expense for the result? The system new is looking like about $9000 from Farmtek.

Is a greenhouse really all that necessary/useful in the first place?

For those who have a smaller greenhouse, do you wish you had just sprung for the big one initially?

I am in central Iowa zone 5a

Thanks for your input!