The birds are doing a great job! Tree seedlings. They are not the only ones, of course, but all the same, let's recognize this as a customary practice among them. You will tell me that the small cherry trees or American honey locusts growing in the beds of perennials or between the rosebushes make a mess. Yes but…
The seedlings of trees give robust plants, well anchored in the ground and therefore more resistant to climatic hazards.
Some time ago, I participated in a sowing of trees in dry scrubland, in the Gard. We had acorns, apricot kernels and acacia seeds. The result was much better than with plantations, requiring more resources.
The experiments on the growth rate of the root system are telling. The apricot has a root that lengthens by 20cm per week. That is to say that an apricot tree sown at the beginning of March will have a root of more than 2.50m in mid-June. The aerial part will only be a few tens of cm! Until the root finds enough water to feed the antlers, the trunk and branches will be limited in their growth. On the other hand, as soon as there is sufficient water supply, the growth will be impressive.
The same is true with all plants. If shrubs grow "all by themselves" in a bed or a hedge, it is good to ask yourself if it would not be interesting to keep them, where "nature" put them.
Several of my gardening friends have shown that the strongest trees in their orchards are those grafted onto established seedlings.
Again, nature is the strongest…
fruiting on peach tree sown 4 years ago
