bolting it all together, note the hat channel and poly and shade lock is not attached , it will be reattached as the bows and gutter go into place.

close up of the endwall, so you get an idea of how the boot works.

not bad progress for one day, will let the cement cure over night and frame the end walls and attach the bows in the morning.

Ribbon palms, livistona decora, 3 of them going to the mystery load

another shot, these are one of may favorite palms

1st load of date palms for the big adventure

Hi Tad!

I enjoy watching your farm pictures...all the way.

How old are those livistona decoras?

I am guestimating 6 to 7 years, they are a fast grower.

Thanks for posting, it's good to see people are enjoying it!

I have a 35' Livistona decora. It's not fast growing in N. Calif, but then mine was neglected for years and had to grow up through some Trachycarpus. It looks great now that it's crown is in the sun. They are super cold hardy, probably the most hardy of the Livistonas. It's my favorite and they are self cleaning. Mine survived 14F (-10C) with no trunk damage.

Dick

Tad ,you certainly keep busy.Where are all the palms going?I cant wait to see.

Scott the palms are for a job I am doing for someone on the board, but I will let him/her reveal themselves when they are ready.

Hi Tad! nice pictures!

Have a couple questions, why you dig up your palms by handwork instead of using a machine?? and whats the distance betwenn each palm on ground??

Gracias

Christian

(Palmetro @ Feb. 06 2008,22:36)

QUOTE

Hi Tad! nice pictures!

Have a couple questions, why you dig up your palms by handwork instead of using a machine?? and whats the distance betwenn each palm on ground??

Gracias

Christian

because tree spades are expensive, you need a certain amount of hand labor in a nursery and a spde wont paint your house when it's slow, a spade wont go lay a pallet of sod to pick up a little extra work, so we use hand crews for the small stuff.

I would imagine, as well, that the tree spade needs quite a bit of space around them to operate.  Seems those 2 men can work in some tight spots a tree spade would not fit into.

And I bet they don't compact the soil as much either.

Tad, nice to see things coming along. I got my L. decora in the ground last summer from a 5gal and its been growing pretty steady, yours look really nice. Keep up the photo journal!

Tad.. I love the play by play action at your nursery.. It must be great to wake up every morning knowing your gonna be around palms all day.. Id love to be in your profession.. Everything on the farm looks great..

About that castle.. Did it burn twice now? I saw a pic from a few pages back were you said it had burned and he was rebuilding..

Keep up all the good work!!

James

Hi,

I don't have too ask why you using handwork, i read already... then andother question after seeing you're last posted picture's. Why is always the sun shining over there? Can we trade some gray clouds for sun in winter time?

Robbin

I wish those babies were destined for my house. You have some nice stock there Tad. Wish you lived closer.

Matt

(feef706 @ Feb. 06 2008,23:21)

QUOTE

Tad.. I love the play by play action at your nursery.. It must be great to wake up every morning knowing your gonna be around palms all day.. Id love to be in your profession.. Everything on the farm looks great..

About that castle.. Did it burn twice now? I saw a pic from a few pages back were you said it had burned and he was rebuilding..

Keep up all the good work!!

James

I belive it suffered a partial setback about 10 or 12 years ago, scuttle has it that it got a little charred during the owners stay at re education camp, it has been a somewhat constant project for 33 years.

Some day I will have a tree spade, but for right now we are doing fine the old fashioned  way, having been privvy to the internal goings on of a spade operation and our type of soil here they are not the perfect solution, most tree spades are not designed for moving palms and the root systems of palms, a big rooty washie can really do a number on a vermeers blades, in our soil.

I am getting anxious, saturday at midnight the fun begins, and its gonna be very very busy days, the propagation house should be finished by friday afternoon, the trees on todays schedule are big,and I have a customer from Natchez Ms. who is trying to come in and get another order slipped in. Monday, while I am gone we have an order for 100 trees to be sent to Houston, I will have to break away from my adventure to be at the nursery when they are delivered. I do love being in the nursery business, it sometimes has it's drawbacks, like last year when it rained all spring and into the summer and our sales were slashed like a peroxide blonde in low budget movie! thaqt maks for a crappy winter, but winters drawing to a close and I have some great stuff going on, I am a big beleiver in God, and I am thankful to be here today, I am more than thankful I am excited to, palms or no palms the sun is shining thru my office window, the kids are hollering and running thru the house like wild indians before I take them to school, ITS GONNA BE A GREAT DAY FOLKS!!

putting up bows

going up pretty quick

hat channel with poly loc track detail

3 more bows and thats done

gutter

decora getting rounded up and taken to the loading area

hey, who ordered 3 brahea dulcis?

and some brahea decumbens, wow somone has exquisite taste!

seeding already?

decumbens always a treat!

outside hat channel with poly loc is re installed!

the gutter is up and I was only out for a few minutes

close up of poly lock in use

gutter detail

gutters glued together with superduty goo

Brahea dulcis

Dulcis do have thorns, it's a very variable species.

endwall posts up on each end

bottom rail is re installed.