Welcome to this week’s homestead update.
Dog tags
I mentioned last week that I was unsure what to do to identify the trees in the orchard. I decided to try out the dog tags. I received my order the other day. I went with that company that sells the dog tags as keyrings. They allow 5 lines of 15 characters each. My 5 lines are year planted, size of tree (dwarf, semi-dwarf, standard), type (apple, almond, etc), variety (red rome, honeycrisp, etc) and where purchased (Stark Brothers, Gurney, etc). They come with a 4″ stainless steel chain. I attached them to the tree cages. Once the trees put out some branches, I’ll attach them to the tree some how. I’ll figure that out when the time comes.
My next batch of trees were delivered on Thursday. I brought them in the house so they don’t freeze overnight. I’ll put them out again in the morning. They will do fine once I put them in the ground. But I don’t think that the roots should freeze solid when not planted. It just seems like that would be bad for the roots. I should be able to plant them on Friday or Saturday. I know that I don’t have enough T-posts or fencing to put around the new trees. I’ll have to go to Tractor Supply to get a roll of fencing and 4 more T-posts. I like the 5′ tall fencing, but the holes are 2″x 4″, so I will still need to put chicken wire around the bottom of the trees to keep out rabbits.
That’s all I have this week. It’s been really busy around the house getting ready for Christmas.
Madly in love with your ID tag method! Thanks to you, I ordered six dog tags for my three peach and three apple trees that I’ll be receiving between Jan and March. I enjoy your posts. Happy holidays!
I’m glad I could help. My only issue with them is I have very small trees right now and I have no way to attach them to the tree itself. But I have them attached to the deer fence.