New Fruit Trees

We bought our 1st set of trees on clearance from Lowes for $5 each. Hopefully they'll all turn out OK. They're all pretty large (6-8 ft tall), semi-dwarf, showing a little bit of leaf drop, are in 3.5 gallon jugs, and all on clearance, presumably b/c they've been sitting over there all summer waiting to be purchased. A few of the blueberries and pears we also picked up at *Petals from the Past in Jemison (full price), #Green Thumb in Decatur (half price) and peaches for free from a friend.

Pecans
*1 Excel - $30
*1 Amling - $30

Peaches

4 Belle of Georgia (white)- Orig $20

2 Unknown (Peach or Nectarines, same type leaf, not sure)- Orig $20
2 Elberta (yellow)- Orig $20
3 Neil (coworker) - Unknown but it's a white peach

1 Diamond Princess (white)- Orig $20
1 Hale Haven (yellow)- Orig $20

Nectarines

1 Sweet Pearl - Orig $30

1 Western Pride- Orig $30

Pear

1 Bartlett- Orig $20
*1 Warren - $22
*1 Ayers- $22

Apples

1 Jonathon Apple- Orig $20

1 Golden Delicious Apple - Orig $20
1 Red Delicious Apple - Orig $20

Apricot

2 Golden Sweet - Orig $30 each

Blueberry

1 Tiftblue - Orig $20
#1 Tiftblue - Orig $16
#1 Premiere - Orig $16
#1 Climax - Orig $16
*1 Powderblue - Orig $9

Total Original Price = $575

Our Price = $215

Actual Value = Hopefully something. They're looking pretty sad right now, 1 week after purchase. The plan is to wait till fall to plant, once they go dormant, if they survive that long :(

Field Soil Tests

We just collected soil from 4 different areas on the property that appear to be different types. 1 was over 5 times slower to drain, highest in clay, and darkest brown looking. 1 was the fastest to drain and seemed to have sand. It would hardly hold it's shape when squeezed. The other 2 were halfway between the other 2 extremes except one was a very bright red and the other more of a brown. Weird. Below are the various tests were performed on the soil samples:

1. Drainage test: using a post hole digger, dig 1 ft deep hole, fill with water and allow to drain completely. Immediately refil and measure depth of water. Wait 15 minutes and measure again how much it's dropped. Multiple this # by 4 and this is "/hour drainage rate. < 1"/hr is poor (clay) drainage. 1"-6"/hr is desirable. >6" excessive (sandy) drainage.
2. Root test: dig into soil near an established plant. Look for fine hairy roots (not just coarse roots which indicate poor drainage) going deep with no sharp turns (hard pan)
3. Smell test: good earthy smell indicates good biological activity. Some people even taste. If sour, it's acidic, if bitter, it's alkaline, if sweet, that's good.

4. Ribbon test: this is to test soil texture. Take a handful of soil (not too dry, not too moist) and squeeze. If it won't stick together at all, it's sandy. If you can stick it together in a rod shape, 1" in diameter much longer than 1" in length w/o it breaking up w/o support, it's clay. In between the two is loam.

5. Topsoil Depth Test: Observe where the color changes in the soil. < 6" is not good. The above picture is of a soil probe which is also great for collecting 8" deep samples to send to the lab for pH and mineral composition testing.
6. Bedrock / Hardpand Test: take a rod with a sharp end (like what you stake tomatoes with) and poke into soil to max depth able to by hand. Test in several spots to account for individual smaller rocks that may be in the way.
7. Earthworm Test: If soil is somewhat warn, and somewhat moist, dig out top 6" of 1 foot square. >10 is very biologically active soil, 3-10 is good but could be better. < 3 is not very biologically active.