panda’s over winter beds

[pandacular]

After some study of options for wintering over my trees, I decided that the best option for my garden situation was to use some raised planter beds that I already have to heel in my trees. After some discussion with @Maiden69 , I decided to use pumice as the bedding material, as I plan to have these beds pull double duty by using them to as grow out beds in the growing season as well.

i happened to also have some trellises lying around that even match the planters, so I affixed them to the ends for an additional wind break, as well as a place to mount coverings if necessary.


In the beds are my least cold hardy trees; A. palmatum, Azara microphylla, Rhododendron sp., Ulmus parvifolia, as well as a J. chinensis, as it was the only remaining tree that would really fit.

I would love to get thoughts of some more experienced members on this setup. In particular, @Deep Sea Diver , who’s guide and encouragement really started me on this path.

 

[GGB]

That should be plenty for zone 9, I'd be happy with your set up in my yard (zone 7a)

 

[pandacular]

That should be plenty for zone 9, I'd be happy with your set up in my yard (zone 7a)

Well, as they say overkill is underrated! My goal here isn't really keeping the trees alive, but rather getting them off to a great start in the spring. This is something I've heard echoed by a number of the teachers and mentors.

 

[GGB]

No doubt, I imagine they will root into the pumice bed when they start moving in early spring. I heel small pots into larger ones in December and then do it again for really hot stretches. It’s a great trick for stabilizing root temps

 

[Orion_metalhead]

In zone 9 i doubt youd even have to take these off the benches unless some really frigid air comes through. I think youll do just fine.

Those trellises will have 0% of a wind break effect. They're completely open!!! If you put some cloth material or tarps... good to go.

 

[Dabbler]

I'm in zone 7 and all I do is put them on the ground - I think it's overkill but it does work

 

[pandacular]

Something interesting happened with these beds today. I noticed that some of my trees in the one that is more shaded were quite waterlogged! Upon digging them out to get to the bottom of it, I found that there was a bunch of frozen pumice clogging up the drainage holes. In fact, the pumice they were bedded in was pretty much completely frozen down to the bottom of the pots, but underneath and in the pots, it had thawed.

I'm not sure if this would have done damage to the roots--perhaps the beds would have thawed quickly and allowed drainage--but I pulled out the affected trees and drained them. Has anyone had similar issues? I plan to place some pot risers under the pots to alleviate some of this for this season, but am curious about a more robust solution for next year.

 

[andrewiles]

It happened to some maples I have in nursery pots this past cold spell. Pots froze solid and then our subsequent rain couldn't drain through them. I doubt it's a problem. We get this kind of cold very infrequently, and the only concern, I think, would be if the pots stayed waterlogged for more than a few days. We don't stay cold enough, long enough, for that. In your case they would have drained as soon as the pumice thawed out to that depth. Just an extra day or so. My nursery maples held water for about 2 days, then drained as they thawed.

 

[pandacular]

ya, I figured I could’ve left them. if I had more than three that were like this, or I thought I would have a chance to check them tomorrow morning, I would’ve left it. Good to know its not unique, but I think it’s still something to improve on, as it also means that drainage overall is limited by the beds, which is not the goal.

 

[Paradox]

I have trees outside now in 20 degrees that I'm sure the soil is frozen I probably have some in the coldframe frozen solid too.

If I keep the coldframe covered, it can be a bit moist in there once spring starts to warm up