Hand Made Wreaths

Traditionally, placing Holly wreaths at the doors were the only decorations.
The concept of Christmas tree arrived much later. In the pre-Christian times finding Holly bushes with berries was quite easy and was considered fortunate for the families. Moreover, Holly bushes did not cost anything and even the poor could afford to have them in their houses. Thus, it became a tradition to put Holly rings at mantelpieces and doorways. Today, however the decorations have gone beyond Holly wreaths.

For hand made wreaths I would like to recommend Conor of noble foliage the wreaths are hand made in Co. Cork
10' remembrance wreaths €5, and decorated Christmas wreaths €6.75.
For the 12' size €6.00/7.50. also available are 24' wreaths/table centres & mantle piece etc..
Contact
0874182511
Noblefoliage@gmail.com

Planting Bare Root Plants Sept 2013

We purchased 200 bare root Nordmann fir from a company in the UK these are 2+2 4 years old the tap root has been cut in the second year to encourage more fibrous roots, we purchased these mainly as an experiment to compare with our normal plugcell grown ones which are 2 -3 years old, we have mainly done this to see which ones grow quicker, give a better shape, mortality rate etc, plus the bare root ones are meant to be ready for harvest within 4 years onwards

They are about the same height as our normal plugcell grown ones, the branches are possibly thicker on some, they do have more roots, not all of the bare root plants are the same as in the picture though some were smaller with a lot less roots

The ground was prepared the same way as we do for plugcell grown, After planting at 4ft spacings they were left to allow for some rain before plastic was put around the plants to keep the weeds down

Weed Wiper Part 4

After using the weed wiper I had mixed results I found it worked better on shorter weeds than taller ones plus you need to apply the same amount of weed killer as you would a sprayer so as the leaves are wet, it will more than likely work very well with neat weed killer as you should not have to totally cover the weeds with the solution to get it to work, below are some pictures of effects

The picture below shows longish weeds given a good coating of weed killer

 

This picture is longish grass given a good coating as if spraying

 

Short/Longish weeds given a light brush over smaller weeds dying off

 

Again short/longish grass strip given a quick wipe over no effect

 

The 2 jubilee clips worked to hold the rope wick better but  I intend to  replace those  with 1 15mm pipe clip to hold the rope wick in the centre and use neat weed killer in future, overall a very good product nice and light to use once you learn how to use it correctly and mixture strength

Last Few Potted Nordmann Fir For Sale

Ready Now only 200 left approx

We currently have for sale at wholesale prices pot grown Nordmann Fir these are 6 - 9 inches tall in 1.5L pots price is 0.90 cents each contact us with your requirements, these will be ideal for growing on and shaping then re-selling next year/year after as table top christmas decoration pieces, or planted out this year in your field for growing on, collection prefered on these minimum order 10 plants

Limerick Xmas Tree Centre

Weed Wiper Part 3

After using the weed wiper with the 2 cable ties on it did not go according to plan the rope wick still kept on moving around the end T Piece section the problem was the plastic cable ties on plastic T piece gets wet and still allows the rope wick to move around a bit so I changed the cable ties to 2 jubilee clips

2 picture dates 6/9/2013

 

I continued to do some more weed killing to test the jubilee clips out the rope wick did not move around as before, to see the weed killer effect using cm wide jubilee clips I have done a strip up the centre of this row, it did rain heavily for about half an hour not long after I finished so I shall have to wait and see

 

On a home use for small weed killing It does not really matter if the rope wick moves as you simply keep on turning the wiper over so as the rope is downwards, there will be more to follow on results of my weed killing once I can see the effects

Weed Wiper Part 2

Recently I have been using the weed wiper I purchased, below is an account of my use of the weed wiper,

It only takes 0.4L water originally I thought that would not be a lot of liquid for weed wiping but surprisingly it goes a very long way as you are only just damping any weeds, I filled up the weed wiper handle with water to a couple of inches below the top then I added my roundup

 

Once I started weed wiping I found that the rope wick which you brush over the weeds kept on going to an angle so as you start wiping the weeds with the plastic end of the weed wiper which is not very good so my solution was to attach 2 cable ties to hold the wick in place at the desired angle I wanted, I also found that if the cap was unscrewed a bit it let air in at the top which increased the amount the wick got wetter with weed killer solution which is what you need

 

 

 

Below I have a picture of one of the trees with short weeds under it I weed wiped around and the second picture is of an area of grass I weed wiped, the other trees I weed wiped around had taller weeds around them to compare the best use short weeds 4 inches and less or longer weeds 6 inches plus

 

 

In all I weed wiped around about 400 trees and only used half of the 0.4L of solution, My next write up on the weed wiper will be the results and if the 2 cable ties solution works as I still need to use it with the cable ties on.

 

 

Weed wiper (hand held) for spot treating weeds

I have purchased a weed wiper for individual weed killing around the base of up to 3-4 year old Christmas trees i hope to find this easier than carrying a backpack sprayer it only holds 0.4L of chemical i think it could have done with being made with a larger diameter pipe that holds the chemical we shall see any way

From suppliers website
Simple, safe and inexpensive. These are the features of the weed wiper applicator for spot treating weeds with glyphosate. Simply ‘wipe’ the impregnated wicks onto the target vegetation and a small amount of the herbicide is transferred to the foliage. Quick and simple to use, lightweight, easy to clean and store and no moving parts

Weed wiper (hand held) for spot treating weeds. Just fill handle with chemical then wipe wick over leaves. Easy to use with no chemical contamination or spray drift

I shall be trying it out shortly

August 2013 Planting

We have planted our Nordmann Fir in plug cell form for this year, this year we are trying out a different method of weed control around the bases of the plants by putting squares of plastic around the transplant, this will keep the plant clear of weeds and can be easily removed when the trees are large enough to suppress any weed growth underneath them

 

 

We only have approx. 200 of our pot grown Nordmann Fir left all transplants in plug cell form are sold out for this year

Hydroponics and Christmas Trees

We are starting to plant this years Christmas trees that are grown in compost filled plug cells, hydroponics is becoming increasingly popular, hydroponics is growing plants without compost/soil as a growing medium,

Would it be possible to grow a Christmas tree transplant to about 16 - 20cm in height using hydroponic methods all a plant needs to grow is oxygen, water, and nutrients, the nutrients is supplied naturally by the compost, in hydroponics you place the nutrients in the water and the plant goes into a non soil substrate in a pot which is then placed in water and the water level is kept constant,

With the normal method of growing plants in soil, plants get all the nutrients, water and oxygen they require through their roots from the soil. Due to the physical characteristics of soil though one or even all of these essential items may be in limited supply for the roots to pick up.

When plants are grown in water such as with a Hydroponics, As long as the system is correctly setup the Plants receive an unlimited supply of Water.Nutrients are added into the water which the plants are grown in, This ensures the plant can receive exactly the right nutrients to keep it healthy.Also an unlimited supply of oxygen is available as healthy plant roots are always in direct contact with air, although this may seem a little odd as the plants are grown in water. Usually the plant roots are not submerged.

Advantages for growing with Hydroponics

No messy soil

Less Maintenance, No need for watering of plants

Less Pests as they can’t live in the soil

Less Root disease caused by soil

Christmas tree transplants are grown in root trainer/plug cell trays if the seedlings of the Christmas trees are still grown in these with the substrate with nutrient rich water running under them they will still have food and water but will they still grow to the required size as it take about 2 years to achieve a transplant of about 16cm in height

Get 10% off sitewide when you shop at www.AccessHydro.com. Valid until September 2013

hootsuite test posting

this is also a test posting using hootsuite hopefully it should go to all my social network sites, we are getting 1st lot of Christmas tree transplants next week

August 2012 Planting Follow Up

Last year we planted about 66 noble fir and 378 Nordmann fir due to adverse weather conditions we were unable to get onto the land and cut the grass in good time and this  meant that it has unfortunately grown very tall, yes there are plants in here

I thought this was going to be a problem for my plant growth but after speaking to someone they said the best growing practice is to plant your plants and just leave them for the first year, so I decided to check through and the results are very encouraging with the plants being protected from late spring frosts and heat waves etc they have done considerably well, I have still yet to count through my losses which get replaced this month

Noble Fir

Nordmann Fir

Limerick Xmas Tree Centre

August 2013 Pre Planting

We have begun to prepare for the transplants which are being planted in August, the section to be planed this year will just have Nordmann Fir in,

The ground was weed killed in late June then rotavated it will be weed killed again with roundup prior to planting

The area to be planted

We are also trying out Nordmann Fir bare root plants from the UK to trial these they are being planted in a different area away from our normal planting stock the ground has been prepared the same way as if we were planting our plug cell grown, these are meant to be a non shear species, area where these are

Limerick Xmas Tree Centre On FaceBook

Growth and cold hardiness of container-grown Douglas-fir, noble fir, and Sitka spruce seedlings in simulated greenhouse regimes.

Growth and cold hardiness of container-grown Douglas-fir, noble fir, and Sitka spruce seedlings in simulated greenhouse regimes.

June 2013

We have started as an experiment to try and use Norway spruce as a pot grown tree

we also have for sale via our website these  Nordmann fir

 

we have also started to think about this years plantings outside and also the transplants which go into pots

Drainage and even more drainage

Due to the unseasonal weather we have had to give extra thought to drainage in the trial field to try to prevent it from flooding to much we have had a ditch put in thta runs down the side of the old passage way this will prevent any rainwater from simply going into the trial field as it now has to go into the ditch,

We also had a ditch put in the far side of the field to catch the runoff water and to prevent the water from backing up into the field, pics to follow

Planting this year we are going to experiment with planting the trees on mounds in an extra attempt to try to get them higher than the runoff water which we could get in the field, more on this later in the year

Potted xmas trees

This month we have approx 1150 nordman fir plug grown transplants due in, to plant in 5L and 1.5L pots, the advantage of a pot grown tree is that you can keep it for several years, and simply repot it when needed keep it outside and just bring it into the house at christmas time, the picture below is of nordman fir after being in 5L pots after 1 year these will take about 3 - 4 years until they are ready for sale

January 2013

Christmas has come and gone the tree has been taken down now what to do with it, local councils offer recycling centres where you can take it and it will be mulched up, limerick recycling centres

We have already started planning on this years plantings of trees in the field and in pots, we now plan to offer 2 sizes in pots 5L about 3ft tall and 1.5L pots about 1ft tall, this we feel will give us a good choice to choose from when they are ready for sale

Work will resume in the back field with drainage first, get a digger in and put some ditches in

October OOPS

Started to cut the rushes from the next field and ran into a little problem

and then the rescuers needed rescuing

so we now have a change of plans and plan to get the diggers in first and open up and make new ditched for drainage in an attempt to drain the field more

August 2012 planting

After rotavating the ground we planted 66 noble fir and 378 nordmann fir, more nordmann fir was planted as  they tend to do better in wetter conditions, We are experimenting with cardboard squares around the bases of the transplants aswell to try to keep the weeds down around the bases, we have begun on preparation of the next field which when ready will give us the ability to plant 1000 transplants a year for about 5 years

August 2012

Ground has been rotavated ready for planting of this years transplants we are planting approx 500 this year made up of Nordmann Fir and Noble Fir