Collecting Aftercare

I am blessed to have both home and garden, but expanding into collecting trees—many which are bigger than any prior in my collection. Space and location in my yard is a challenge.

I had expanded narrow benches along one side of the house for early development and storing pots & supplies.

My intent is to build a low platform for two large Sierra Juniper’s each with a footprint of about 3‘ x 3‘, with nominal light and covered in a portable greenhouse. I will run electricity and moisture or climate control. These trees will be in the back of the garden And left to recover or at least two years to build roots.

Currently the narrow path is obstructed by some shelving. So I’m going to move things around and park the new collected Juniper‘s further back. And put all the benches back in place.

Shelly H&T Sensor

  • WiFi but not as consistent as I’d like, resolution by the hour (so far). C or F, but always defaults to C.

  • Humidifier on high at night (71F @ 80%) with minimal venting, and low humidity at day (X%) with more venting. Partial shade during the day (side of house, but blocking 50% of light from above.

Per Gio

  • Daytime you want tent to be around 60-75°. The warmer the better but hard to obtain given the time of year. Whole keeping humidity atleast at 65% and no more than 80% during day. Think optimal is mid 70’s.

  • While night time you can let humidity hit up to 100% as long as some air is circulating inside . Like leave the door on tent open and small breeze in. And temp at night is fine as long as your aren’t reaching under 40’s. Which is not really in issue for us in the bay.

  • Do not water daily, maybe 2-3 times a week at most. Let pumice dry a little. The humidifier will hopefully keep foliage from dying while not soaking roots

  • Like I’ve mentioned before.. it’s all a day by day process. Let the trees tell you. Feel the foliage and maybe run hands through top of pumice to feel how saturated they are.

  • And on hotter days or days I’m upping my light intensity, I may mist the foliage with the hose in the afternoon to help with the stress.

Warming Mat

  • Seedling mat under grow-box (with space, partial conductive) at night, and retracted 1/2 way during the day.

Cover Soil from Condensation

  • Per David Vuong, prevent constantly moist roots due to misting—tarp/shield top of grow-box during high condensation period.

  • But water every other day or daily, but ensure some drier periods and fast drainage.

Michael Weicollecting, aftercare, 2025Comment