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Yard/Landscaping Progress


DAVEinMB

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18 hours ago, EJ;) said:

Empty spot for new palms! 

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Theres always a new spot somewhere, lol. What aloes are those in the pic? Thanks. 

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26 minutes ago, Paradise Found said:

Theres always a new spot somewhere, lol. What aloes are those in the pic? Thanks. 

Prolific....

My neighbor gave me a cutting 4 years ago. Then she passed away. They truly do grow fast and prolific! And will grow in cracks and crevices! With no water!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Beautiful! Looks great! 

Amazing what time n effort n care will do. 

Keep it up and your jungle will grow in no time.

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Ok so... as with most things I do I tend to learn the hard way and this is no exception. As my Sylvestris continues to gain size and mass the additional weight is causing strain on the planter it's in. I'm sure there are other factors in addition to the tree (rain, soil settling, yadda, yadda, yadda) but regardless I have an issue to address.

My initial thought was to build tiered planters on the side that's separating so that it has something pushing against it. Thought I'd see what you guys thought as well. I know wood wasn't the best idea for longevity but I don't have the money for brick or stone and the wood is already in place so I gotta do something. Pics attached

20210813_191950.jpg

20210813_191956.jpg

20210813_192010.jpg

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16 minutes ago, DAVEinMB said:

Ok so... as with most things I do I tend to learn the hard way and this is no exception. As my Sylvestris continues to gain size and mass the additional weight is causing strain on the planter it's in. I'm sure there are other factors in addition to the tree (rain, soil settling, yadda, yadda, yadda) but regardless I have an issue to address.

My initial thought was to build tiered planters on the side that's separating so that it has something pushing against it. Thought I'd see what you guys thought as well. I know wood wasn't the best idea for longevity but I don't have the money for brick or stone and the wood is already in place so I gotta do something. Pics attached

Are you able to convert the planter into a pentagon or hexagon?

I've found that cinder blocks are a cheaper alternative to wood, but not as visually pleasing. 

Edited by amh
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7 minutes ago, amh said:

Are you able to convert the planter into a pentagon or hexagon?

I've found that cinder blocks are a cheaper alternative to wood, but not as visually pleasing. 

I wouldn't be against cinder blocks but I'm not sure how I'd go about the disassemble/reassemble without making a mess or making things worse. I figured if I made a step down tier the mass of the soil would keep things in place then as the 4x4s deteriorated I could replace them with stone. I'll draw up what I'm thinking. But I'm def on the same page as you, gonna need to be stone at some point right now the puzzle is just a bit too complicated

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Making planters out of reinforced steel pipe arranged vertically with a cosmetic wood or stone outside may work.

Think of the forces on a water tank.

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Maybe aluminum or steel angle installed on the corners and either band/strap it all the way around or use long all thread to buckle the corners together. The wood could stay as is or you could skin it with something else. 

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2 hours ago, D. Morrowii said:

Maybe aluminum or steel angle installed on the corners and either band/strap it all the way around or use long all thread to buckle the corners together. The wood could stay as is or you could skin it with something else. 

I really like this idea and wish I had thought about it when I first built it. Could still be an option now tho

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14 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

I really like this idea and wish I had thought about it when I first built it. Could still be an option now tho

Yeah I hope you can save the planters its a nice looking design! Good luck

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Ok so for a semi temporary solution this is how I'm buckling the corner together. I still plan on a tiered design down the road but hopefully this will keep it from separating much more in the meantime. 8" corner brackets (either zinc plated or galvanized, I can't remember) and 60d nails (1/4" galvanized). I ran a 3/16" pilot hole and am using the nails as somewhat of a light press fit pin situated perpendicular to the direction of force. These nails definitely don't have the shear strength an actual pin would but hopefully I'll have a more robust solution in place before the planter stress tests them to the point of failure haha

20210822_084531.jpg

Edited by DAVEinMB
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2 minutes ago, Laaz said:

Like I said, in our wet humid location they are still going to rott in no time...

Yea I know but unfortunately they were already built by the time you told me I screwed myself lol. That's where my tiered idea comes in. If I make the entire structure more of a pyramid with less exposed 4x4s and make the base rock and dirt I can replace exposed 4x4s with stone as the deteriorate without the worry of the entire thing collapsing. It will ultimately end up being a stepped hill. 

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9 minutes ago, Laaz said:

Your big problem is going to be when storm force winds come through...

Guess I'll be living in uncertainty and anxiety :badday:

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You could add some vertical strapping with 2x4s or 2x6s to hold it all in shape. 
 

 

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11 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

Ok so for a semi temporary solution this is how I'm buckling the corner together. I still plan on a tiered design down the road but hopefully this will keep it from separating much more in the meantime. 8" corner brackets (either zinc plated or galvanized, I can't remember) and 60d nails (1/4" galvanized). I ran a 3/16" pilot hole and am using the nails as somewhat of a light press fit pin situated perpendicular to the direction of force. These nails definitely don't have the shear strength an actual pin would but hopefully I'll have a more robust solution in place before the planter stress tests them to the point of failure haha

 

Might buy a little more time with screws but definitely a good temporary solution.  Yard looks great man.

 

Edited by The7thLegend
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  • 1 month later...
On 8/22/2021 at 8:37 PM, The7thLegend said:

 

Might buy a little more time with screws but definitely a good temporary solution.  Yard looks great man.

 

Thanks man, slowly trying to cover the whole property with palms and the like

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No major updates but a few end of season things

First is a bit of landscaping I added around my largest mule. The base of the trunk looked like it needed more soil around it so I wrapped landscaping plastic around it and added some pavers. 

20211003_173519.jpg

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Found a few volunteers popping up against my house. Think I'm gonna leave them be for now and see what they are. It's too bad that they're so close to the foundation

20211003_181553.jpg

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Some really happy Chamaedorea Radicalis that I got from @Laaz last season. They've settled in nicely and are starting to pick up speed. Might need to get a few more from you next year :D Todd

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Edited by DAVEinMB
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2 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

First is a bit of landscaping I added around my largest mule. The base of the trunk looked like it needed more soil around it so I wrapped landscaping plastic around it and added some pavers. 

I did that around one of my T. fortunei.

fortunei5.jpg

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9 hours ago, Fallen Munk said:

I did that around one of my T. fortunei.

fortunei5.jpg

That looks clean, did you use any adhesive to hold it together?

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14 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

No major updates but a few end of season things

First is a bit of landscaping I added around my largest mule. The base of the trunk looked like it needed more soil around it so I wrapped landscaping plastic around it and added some pavers. 

20211003_173519.jpg

20211003_173545.jpg

20211003_173603.jpg

You need to put some of the silver saw palmetto's around the mule. I gave you a bunch...

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11 minutes ago, Laaz said:

You need to put some of the silver saw palmetto's around the mule. I gave you a bunch...

You gave me two, I planted one about 20' from that mule and gave one to my buddy. You gave me 2 needle palms as well, still trying to figure out where to put 1 of them...

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5 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

That looks clean, did you use any adhesive to hold it together?

Thanks.  I never use adhesive.  The trick is to get it really level.  I lay down a brick border for a base and use a long builders level.  Once you do that, the blocks go on quick and come out perfect.  It has settled just a bit, but keep in mind that I laid this planter over 30 years ago.  The palm is a more recent addition.    The other thing I learned is that when you make a circle, always lay the blocks with the wide face out, even if you are doing a bigger circle.  Just leave some wedge gap at the back of the block if the circle is bigger.  Because when you alternate the narrow and wide faces, it looks messy and makes your circle lumpy because it creates flat spots in it.

20211004_095445.jpg

Edited by Fallen Munk
added more info
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/14/2021 at 6:35 PM, DAVEinMB said:

Ok so... as with most things I do I tend to learn the hard way and this is no exception. As my Sylvestris continues to gain size and mass the additional weight is causing strain on the planter it's in. I'm sure there are other factors in addition to the tree (rain, soil settling, yadda, yadda, yadda) but regardless I have an issue to address.

My initial thought was to build tiered planters on the side that's separating so that it has something pushing against it. Thought I'd see what you guys thought as well. I know wood wasn't the best idea for longevity but I don't have the money for brick or stone and the wood is already in place so I gotta do something. Pics attached

20210813_191950.jpg

20210813_191956.jpg

20210813_192010.jpg

What I would do if I lived at your house is start building more raised beds along the backside perimeter where there’s grass now. I would build them in the same style you have existing and attach all of it together. Leave the highest raised bed as the center focal point and start pyramiding your way down away from your house. This will give you more planting spaces..muahahaha. The wood is going to rot no matter what, the best thing to keep soil in place is more soil. So instead of having the bottom blow out on you one of these days it will happen inside the new raised bed, the palms roots will grow into the new bed as well and all the roots will tie everything together and hold everything in place. What I would anyway.

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7 minutes ago, teddytn said:

What I would do if I lived at your house is start building more raised beds along the backside perimeter where there’s grass now. I would build them in the same style you have existing and attach all of it together. Leave the highest raised bed as the center focal point and start pyramiding your way down away from your house. This will give you more planting spaces..muahahaha. The wood is going to rot no matter what, the best thing to keep soil in place is more soil. So instead of having the bottom blow out on you one of these days it will happen inside the new raised bed, the palms roots will grow into the new bed as well and all the roots will tie everything together and hold everything in place. What I would anyway.

Honestly this is probably what I'll end up doing. The raised planters have done great from a drainage standpoint and the trees aren't competing with each other for nutrients. I've drawn up a couple different ideas for the pyramid idea already, just trying to think of what other problems I may create for myself if I go that route haha

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  • 3 months later...

In between now and spring I'm going to be updating how everything handled the ice event and back to back weekends with low temps in the upper teens. I've attached the temperature history as reported by accuweather; I'm not sure what temperature my yard saw on the 23rd but I recorded a low of 19 on the 30th with my weather station. 

If I'm not super lazy I'll add info to the freeze data section as well. 

Screenshot_20220131-155937_Chrome.jpg

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I know it's early on but so far I am really impressed with how my small chamaedorea cataractum handled all this nonsense. Virtually no foliage burn and the new spears all feel solid

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20220131_152249.jpg

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1 hour ago, DAVEinMB said:

In between now and spring I'm going to be updating how everything handled the ice event and back to back weekends with low temps in the upper teens. I've attached the temperature history as reported by accuweather; I'm not sure what temperature my yard saw on the 23rd but I recorded a low of 19 on the 30th with my weather station. 

If I'm not super lazy I'll add info to the freeze data section as well. 

Screenshot_20220131-155937_Chrome.jpg

What website or app is this?

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2 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

I know it's early on but so far I am really impressed with how my small chamaedorea cataractum handled all this nonsense. Virtually no foliage burn and the new spears all feel solid

20220131_152249.jpg

 

 

 

 

That's one of the most sheltered palm microclimates I have ever seen!  Congrats!

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YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@tntropics - 60+ In-ground 7A palms - (Sabal) minor(7 large + 27 seedling size, 3 dwarf),  brazoria(1) , birmingham(4), etonia (1) louisiana(5), palmetto (1), riverside (1),  (Trachycarpus) fortunei(7), wagnerianus(1),  Rhapidophyllum hystrix(7),  15' Mule-Butia x Syagrus(1),  Blue Butia capitata(1) +Tons of tropical plants.  Recent Yearly Lows -1F, 12F, 11F, 18F, 16F, 3F, 3F, 6F, 3F, 1F, 16F, 17F, 6F, 8F

 

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