Mother Earth News 2012 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub

Caveat Emptor - Inspect Before You Buy

When you buy a plant, you have the right to a top-quality specimen every time. But in a typical plant display you’ll find some individuals are in better shape than others. A quality plant will be topnotch in three areas: roots, shape, and health. Use these handy inspection tips as an aid in evaluating every plant you buy, particularly the larger and more expensive trees and shrubs.

Roots

When buying plants in containers avoid those whose roots appear on the surface, are growing out the drain holes, or are matted together. For balled-and-burlapped stock avoid a dry, loose rootball. For bare-root stock avoid dry, damaged, crushed, and broken roots.

Trunks

Strive for perfect, undamaged bark. Inspect the trunk for gouges, scars, tears from lost branches, and nicks around the bottom. A trunk should be upright, straight, and evenly balanced, not slanted or twisted.

Branching

Select a specimen for perfect size and proportion. Avoid a shrub with open spots in its branching structure, broken branches, oversized branches that don’t conform to its natural shape, or a lopsided form. Shrubs lacking lower branches or those that are poorly shaped at the base will never repair themselves.

Foliage

Select plants with lush, perfectly colored leaves. Avoid any with discolored leaves, unusual leaf drop, wilted leaves, or curled leaves, which are all signs of pests and disease. Beware if a plant is shedding leaves out of season or if its leaves are abnormally small.

Bedding Plants

Buy young, vigorous seedlings. Slide out a plant to inspect its rootball, which tells you how old it is. Choose those with the largest abundance of soil and avoid any with dense rooting. Avoid plants with spindly stems and elongated growth from lack of light. Poor shape or irregular growth habit rarely corrects itself.

Pests

Avoid plants that shed little white flies when you shake them, or those with unusual granular materials coming out of the drainage holes. Inspect the undersides of leaves for tiny spots or webby material.

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