Title says it all.
Is it possible to reduce the typical $2.25 per contract? Would love to incorporate options on futures due to the benefits of SPAN margin but the commissions are too high.
Really don't want to switch brokers so wondering if anyone has been successful reducing them and what they did to do so...Thanks!
So I recently got some wood chips and began laying them down in a section where I plan to have annuals. I've already helped prepare the clay soil by planting winter rye last fall and then sun flowers this spring. Recently chopped down all the sunflowers and started putting the wood chips on top.
I'm about 3/4 of the way done and I'm starting to think I laid down too thick. I'm around 9 to 7 inches depending on where you measure. Should I just rake the rest out until I get an even 6 inches around? I'm in a northern climate so break down may be a bit slower.
I know lots of people said they've had success laying down a thick layer on clay soil but it just seems like too much now that I'm seeing it in with my own eyes.
Ideally, come spring I would like to move wood chips aside and direct sow seeds. However, I have no idea if the current thickness is too much.
Thank you all for you help.
So you're probably already thinking that "I just need to acidify the soil." However, this is not the case. I've tested the soil several times and it's around 6 PH to 4.5 PH depending on where I measure in my raised mound. The native soil has a PH around 7 to 7.5. I consistently fertilized with pine shavings, elemental sulfur (yellow pellets) and sometimes organic fertilizers that help acidify.
Quick back story, all of these blueberries are planted on raised mounds as I have clay soil. The mounds are probably around 6 inches off the ground. I amended all the soil (keeping the native soil) and went down around 5 to 7 inches from the surface also amending and breaking up the soil. This gives a total height of around 11 to 13 inches for the blueberries to spread their roots before they eventually hit the clay. It was amended with pine bark (off the tree for around a year) that I broke up into pieces, pine needles, leaves, and mulched with grass at least 3 to 4 times a year.
I've been at this for more than 3 years now. The first year I tried removing all the clay soil and filling in with peat moss, aged pine mulch, and non native soil but it created a water bowl effect and killed all the blueberry bushes. Year 2 I restarted fresh by keeping the native soil and amending. They seemed to do really well year 2. That said, this year (year 3) all the blueberries were in really rough shape coming out of winter. I had to cut back many of the canes and was hoping for new growth this spring/summer. They have bounced back a bit but they still look awful honestly.
I check the moisture and there is plenty of moisture in the raised mound. The clay holds moisture very well so I never really have to water anything. However, I used a moisture meter just to make sure and it was coming back as moist even during some the driest days we've had.
I took some pictures for reference. I took a picture of the best looking plant I have and the worst looking plant. I also pulled one up that I would say is "mediocre" to examine the root ball. I was starting to think that maybe the roots have root rot despite my best efforts to keep them draining well with the raised mounds. The roots look OK but I'm also not an expert so maybe I'm wrong. Also, many of the bushes fruited but ALL of the fruit stayed white and never turned blue.
One quick note, the blueberry plant that is doing the best actually got an application of organic nitrogen fertilizer. However, it's fruit remained white and has shown no signs of turning blue. Also, I swear the the bushes seem to respond well every time I top them with fresh grass cuttings (nitrogen).
I'm starting to think that pine bark pieces that I mixed into the amended soil when I was building my mounds is tying up nitrogen and causing poor growth? If you look at the root ball of the two pictures I attached you can see that it has little pieces of the bark in that the roots have clung onto. It's honestly all I can think of at this point.
My next step will ripping these all out and moving on. Most likely putting saskatoons and haskaps in their place.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Anyone else having this issue right now...
So i bought 3 Persimmon trees off stark bros last year rated for zone 4 and all 3 scions died. However, the rootstock on all 3 is still alive.
Anyone know what these Persimmon are grafted to? Haven't been able to get any info from stark bros. My research has led me to belive it's American Persimmon.
That said, if I let all three grow will they eventually fruit? I just really don't want to rip another tree up. This year in particular has been rough and I lost a good amount of trees over winter that were healthy going into winter.
I guess worst case scenario I could always try grafting again once the root stock gets nice and established.
Just looking for some advice.
Thanks for the help!
So I've got a plum tree that was doing great last year. It had huge growth and was honestly my best performer. Im located in northern part of country and we are coming out of an extremly hard winter. Everything I plant is either rated for my zone or below.
That, said, this plum tree (burbank) flowered and then started to slowly leaf out. However, half of it stopped and all the flowers turned brown. The other half continued to flower and leaf out like normal. So now I have a tree where half is naked and the other half is full of green leaves and flowers.
I did a scratch test and it's still green inside. Im honestly not sure what the deal is. It has no signs of disease or injury. Also, everything seems incredibly off this year. Everything is taking so long to bud and leaf out. Ive already lost several trees that just straight up died over winter despite being incredibly healthy last year.
Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. I guess for now im just going to leave it for another month and then prune off all the branches that dont leaf out.
So I've got a plum tree that was doing great last year. It had huge growth and was honestly my best performer. Im located in northern part of country and we are coming out of an extremly hard winter. Everything I plant is either rated for my zone or below.
That, said, this plum tree (burbank) flowered and then started to slowly leaf out. However, half of it stopped and all the flowers turned brown. The other half continued to flower and leaf out like normal. So now I have a tree where half is naked and the other half is full of green leaves and flowers.
I did a scratch test and it's still green inside. Im honestly not sure what the deal is. It has no signs of disease or injury. Also, everything seems incredibly off this year. Everything is taking so long to bud and leaf out. Ive already lost several trees that just straight up died over winter despite being incredibly healthy last year.
Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. I've got clay soil I think it might be nitrogen iasue because the leaves look palish green this year.
I guess for now im just going to leave it for another month and then prune off all the branches that dont leaf out.
So I've got a plum tree that was doing great last year. It had huge growth and was honestly my best performer. Im located in northern part of country and we are coming out of an extremly hard winter. Everything I plant is either rated for my zone or below.
That, said, this plum tree (burbank) flowered and then started to slowly leaf out. However, half of it stopped and all the flowers turned brown. The other half continued to flower and leaf out like normal. So now I have a tree where half is naked and the other half is full of green leaves and flowers.
I did a scratch test and it's still green inside. Im honestly not sure what the deal is. It has no signs of disease or injury. Also, everything seems incredibly off this year. Everything is taking so long to bud and leaf out. Ive already lost several trees that just straight up died over winter despite being incredibly healthy last year.
Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. I've got clay soil I think it might be nitrogen iasue because the leaves look palish green this year.
I guess for now im just going to leave it for another month and then prune off all the branches that dont leaf out.
So I've got a plum tree that was doing great last year. It had huge growth and was honestly my best performer. Im located in northern part of country and we are coming out of an extremly hard winter. Everything I plant is either rated for my zone or below.
That, said, this plum tree (burbank) flowered and then started to slowly leaf out. However, half of it stopped and all the flowers turned brown. The other half continued to flower and leaf out like normal. So now I have a tree where half is naked and the other half is full of green leaves and flowers.
I did a scratch test and it's still green inside. Im honestly not sure what the deal is. It has no signs of disease or injury. Also, everything seems incredibly off this year. Everything is taking so long to bud and leaf out. Ive already lost several trees that just straight up died over winter despite being incredibly healthy last year.
Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. I guess for now im just going to leave it for another month and then prune off all the branches that dont leaf out.
Title says it all. I have clay soil and live in the northern part of America. Was really passionate about growing blueberries (have around 20 high bushes currently) and they have fought me the entire way.
I've planted them all on raise mounds to ensure good drainage due to the clay, amended with lots of organic matter and mixed in with native soil, have consistentently applied elemental sulfur to improve acidity, mulch with pine needles and pine shavings. Etc....
However, they are weak and pathetic looking. Some have been in the ground for 4 years and have barley grown. The only variety that seems to do somewhat well is patriot. Elliott seem to do the absolute worse. This spring I got so frustrated and cut 50% of them down the crown to hopefully get some sort of restart.
If I knew what I know now I would have just planted honey berries in huge quantities because they absolutely thrive in my soil.
Does anyone have any advice?
My next move is going to be propagating the honey berries I have and ripping out the blueberries come fall and replacing them with the honey berries.
Title says it all. I have clay soil and live in the northern part of America. Was really passionate about growing blueberries (have around 20 high bushes currently) and they have fought me the entire way.
I've planted them all on raise mounds to ensure good drainage due to the clay, amended with lots of organic matter and mixed in with native soil, have consistentently applied elemental sulfur to improve acidity, mulch with pine needles and pine shavings. Etc....
However, they are weak and pathetic looking. Some have been in the ground for 4 years and have barley grown. The only variety that seems to do somewhat well is patriot. Elliott seem to do the absolute worse. This spring I got so frustrated and cut 50% of them down the crown to hopefully get some sort of restart.
If I knew what I know now I would have just planted honey berries in huge quantities because they absolutely thrive in my soil.
Does anyone have any advice?
My next move is going to be propagating the honey berries I have and ripping out the blueberries come fall and replacing with them with the honey berries.
Anyone have any experience with this? Car gurus has car listed with frame damage but Carfax doesn't say anything about frame being damaged or any type of accident. To my understanding car gurus uses auto checker and not CarFax.
Which one is correct? The car started out as a rental if this helps any. Dealer just said that car gurus automatically puts that tag on.
