From a landscape standpoint, we preferred trees grown in the native soil to those grown in plant soil mixes in containers. It was our experience that trees grown in the native soil seemed to adapt better when transplanted. So, as had been the practice for many years in the nursery industry, we planted and grew our trees in the ground and then dug and balled and burlaped them for transplanting .

Over the years, container growing has increased in popularity because of the easier portability and handling, labor cost and the ease and ability to move trees in all seasons of the year. About 10 years ago, with rising labor and other handling cost, we decided to change our growing practice to using grow bags in the ground.

After growing our trees in grow bags to the desired size, we then pot them in containers. I believe this offers the best of two worlds, allowing us to grow our trees in the native soil before rooting them out in containers for sale.

We irrigate , prune, fertilize and practice weed and insect control during the growing process, but we do not push our trees to rapid growth. In this way we feel we provide a hardy grown, less succulent tree that will better respond to out harsh soil conditions when transplanted.