**Plantup-za’s common sense version** from 2015

By now you should know we grow on the Cape Flats’ troublesome marshland sandy soil. In this setting you need all the help you can find to start your dream food forest.

Our PUZA Tree Pod growbag was developed in 2012 and tested on peach trees & lemon trees in Bellville. The lemon tree was pruned back and dug up to move house with us to Steenberg’s more sea estuary urbanized marshland setting.

The Peach tree was huge and produced wonderful fruit!! – and had to stay put in Bellville. Some of it’s pips sprouted in the potting soil we carted to my childhood home and was left to it’s own devices in our PUZA Shrub Pod growbags. To my great pleasure and surprise it thrived. We’ve transplanted two of these and very happy with steady progress in howling south easter winds ripping straight off the coast a few kilometres away.
It grew splendidly through the 2017-18 droughts + water restrictions – safely ensconced in our super magic-effective growbags.

Get in touch if you’d like me to sew a few up for your tree needs!

HOW TO PLANT A TREE?

Let’s get into it… This method I’ve learned from my mom and refined and modernized a few technical points to make it frugal gardening compatible. Facilitate to allow NATURE to do her balancing act thing.

• Pick a cloudy day or early evening for the ^dirty deed.^
  Autumn to mid Spring is a good tree planting season with plenty of moisture of the cooler seasons. During winter trees direct their energies in root development.
• Choose a water wise tree suitable for your macro and also consider it’s compatibility with the micro-climate of the spot you position your tree. Western facing or enclosed courtyard hotspot, or whether exposed to wind and elements, etc…
• Saturate root ball with fresh water at least an hour before unwrapping.
• Dig a hole 40cm deep allowing growbag hilling space above ground.
  Raised bed / hilling above ground creates the setting for rich aerated and lively active topsoil.
  Also: Roots are encouraged to go deeper to avoid light, ensuring stronger tree anchorage and vigorous growth.

Position growbag:

• Fill growbag with cleaned excavated soil halfway – ensure that builders concrete rubble and other inorganic manmade rubbish is sifted out. (finer points available to clients who’ve bought their growbags.)
• Mix half remaining excavated earth with Green /Brown Wet /Dry composting materials i.e. leaf mulch, clippings, pruned twigs etc + a generous helping of manure(& other additives we’ll advise you about) fill hole with alternating layers of left over sifted soil & this amended feed mix.
• Fill in around sapling’s root ball – calculating height to allow a 2 inches /6 cm growbag lip.
• Gently unwrap & maneuver sapling’s root ball into hole at proper depth.
• Add a section of poly-drainpipe alongside root ball = water direct to root level.
• Position support stakes if needing wind protection.
  Place at least +1 metre away from walls.
  Make sure you know how thick the trunk will grow to in 10 years time.
• Top up with the rest of the amended soil mix to the correct level (roots underground stem above ground.)
  Gently tamp down loose soil. Do not compact soil – allow soil organisms room to get to work.
• Wrap trunk to support stakes; using figure 8 binding + knot/ bow around stake. Using polyester type stretchy fabric/ geo-fabric mesh strip.
• Add a thick layer of leaf & chipped bark mulch around trunk,
  Cover lightly with soil as water conserving sponges. & plant indigenous ground cover as well; bokbaai vygies / Gazania /indigenous violets, daisies and wild garlic goes especially well with fruit trees etc
• Also surround with indigenous herb protective tree guild.

Maintenance

• +/-10litres (A Bucket?) of Water poured into drainpipe spout every 3rd to 5th day over 2 weeks; thereafter water once a week (in summer) for 2 months then play it by ear & weather conditions at once a month watering. Should be self sustaining in 3-9 months depending on type of tree and how well it copes in climate conditions.
• After a week + signs of strong new growth, prune back dead leaves & twigs section by section. DO NOT denude young sapling.
  +Prune yearly as needed. especially shoots at base of trunk.

Think Tall strong shady tree.
ASK ABOUT OUR #PUZAtreePod growbags to aid your precious sapling through to maturity. Climate change is not making tree growing any easier going forward. Create resilience and an oxygen factory in your backyard A.S.A.P