Started to grow again! 02/04/2017

Finally spring is arrived and the sun shine almost everyday. The tree seems to enjoy it and a lot of new branches popped up everywhere!
The bottom part start to look a bit messed up but i like that the tree grow wild at least for now. Maybe next year a pruning will be necessary but we will see how it become. For now I'm very happy of how it is coming along. However this is definitly its last spring in a vase because i want to put it in the ground but, with this active germination, I am scared to hurt the roots so i will probably plant it at the beginning of next spring.

Spring is coming! 26/02/2017

At the beginning of 2017 we had the biggest snowfall ever here and we had a lot of problem with several days without electricity, no phone signal, few strong earthquakes and it was impossible to go anywhere. Luckily the tree was in the greenhouse and it didn't had many problems as we had even if I think that the lack of sunlight and the cold temperature had some impact on it because some leaves fell off and the yellow color on the bottom part seems increased.

However two weeks ago I've decided to move the tree outside the greenhouse because the sun is now shining almost everyday. I am a bit concerned of the night hours because occasionally the temperature still drop below zero, but I think that the tree can manage a weather like this now. I also want that the trunk become a little bit stronger therefore I've removed most of the support sticks hoping that the tree will get used to the wind.

Not a great period! 27/11/2016

Tough times for my tree in this period. Few weeks ago we had a couple of days of strong wind and the tree was knocked down and lost some leaves. Other than that the cold season is approccing and so i've decided to move back the tree in the greenhouse. Days are still sunny and warm but in the night the temperature drop a lot.
But bad news are not finished since some snails decided to eat some leaves of my tree.
In the greenhouse the tree is more protected from the wind and the cold but it receive less sunlight so I've removed some old sticks to help the sun especially in the lower part were there are still a lot of yellow leaves.

Almost autumn! 16/10/2016

The sky is becoming more cloudy and the days are gloomy but the tree don't really care. The summer make it grow a lot and now it is almost tall as me. In the current position it became difficult for to take an entire picture of it.
However in the cold season the growth should be much slower and it might be the right time to search a new and bigger vase where the roots can have more space. However i have no real plan about that at the moment. I also have to think about a new location because here the tree can enjoy some raindrops but it might be a problem when the real cold will began.
From the tree health side the leaves at the bottom are still yellow but I don't really think that it is a huge problem.

Summer! 19/07/2016

Finally it is the time for a new update.

Sorry for the photo but, due to the sunlight, you can't really see the top of the tree. However this means that it keeps growing and growing. You can't really confront this photo with the one of the Spring update because we changed the position of the various vases but consider that shortly after that update I've added the longest wooden support that you can see in this photo that was perfect for the previous size of the tree. Now is definitly too short and i need to change it.
As you can see there are some yellowish leaves around the bottom and internet say that could be a lack of iron in the ground. I've added a bit of powder recilcled from a used heating pack. Hope that it can help, however i'm not too worried about that.
The summer until now has been pretty wet and we had several hailstorm. But the tree held them pretty well. Now seems that the sun has finally took back his spot in the season and we have just sunny and hot days.

See you soon and have a great summer!

Spring is here! 11/04/2016

Well, in the last post I said that i would update this blog more often. This doesn't happened and we skipped all the winter. However if you were worried about the health of the tree here it is the new update!
It is still in great shape even if some insects has bitten some leaves in the middle section of the tree. Nothing to be worried about. Overall I can say that it survived perfectly at the cold season (that this year was actually not cold at all).
Now the days are mainly warm and sunny and the tree seems to become bigger and bigger everyday.
I've also bought a new smartphone and that means that now the photos should be a little bit better than before.
See you soon (or not too soon, we will see...)

Not a lemon! 20/11/2015

Finally I'm at home in Abruzzo and I can write some update of my tree! As you can see it is grown a lot since the last update. This first half of November was sunny and warm and the tree is having a great time.
However the big news is that I now what kind of tree it is!
Looking closely to the image you can see few spikes on the trunk (and my finger in the right corner). When i was planting the i used a lot of different seeds at the beginning but the only tree that has spike is the Bitter Orange. That is a little bit disappointing because the fruits of this tree are not really good to eat, but the full growth tree looks great and in a second time I can try to insert a graft of a sweet orange tree to make the fruits tasty!

Leaving my tree again and the new pot! 24/08/2015

Tomorrow i will go back to Milan and probably i will not come back in Abruzzo untill late October. However i'm happy to leave the tree so healthy and strong, even after that my mother changed the pot when I was away from home, even if she said earlier that was better to change it in autumn. Now the tree looks a little bit shorter becose all the roots are now underground, while before there were some of them emerging fro the bottom.
Whether report: the past two weeks were not really hot and there were even several stormy days. Even today is a bit cloudy but from tomorrow it is supposed to come back to be sunny but the really hot summer days seems ended.
See you around October, or even earlier. I don't really know now!

One month after 08/08/2015

What a surprise! I went back in Abruzzo after one month and my tree grew a lot! I didn't know that summer make the little trees grow so fast!
I had to put a little support for the tree because now is tall but the final part is not that strong and if there will be a windy day I'm scared that it can break. However i'm really happy to see my tree growing that much!
Now the pot is starting to be too little for it but my mother suggested me to wait untill autumn to transfer the tree on a bigger pot because in this period of the year it is in a germination stage and if i cut some roots now there is the possibility to create some serious damage to the tree.
Summer here is really hot and sunny, with no rain at all. However the tree is receiving a good amount of water and also some coffee grounds sometimes.

I will probably post another update in a couple of weeks, before to go back to Milan.

Almost a year! 04/07/2015

Oh God, it is 1 year since the last update. 

Now i'm living in Milan but my tree is still at my parent's home in Abruzzo. That is why i didn't posted nothing since last july...
However as you can see the tree is growing really good!
My mother say that is a lemon tree and in fact it is pretty similar to the bigger lemon trees that we have in the garden.

I don't really know what to do thit those roots. Part of them are outside form the ground. Should i cover it with or it is fine like this?
Now here it is really hot and sunny here but i think that the little tree will enjoy this weather. I've just put it near some flowers to have a little bit of shadows on the tree.

I hope to post a next update in the second half of August

A new beginnig 11/07/2014

As I expected I got bored of this project and of the weekly update. Even because my "tree" was NOT a tree but just some kind of weed. However in the same pot now there is a friend that seems really a tree!

You can see it in the right corner or in this close up pic:

It has something like 2 months now and looks perfectly healthy. I'm not really sure of what kind of tree will be but i'm most likely for some kind of agrumes. Maybe lemon or mandarin.
It is summertime and my vase is 24h a day outside the balcony but it recive direct sunlight just until 10 am, so there is not a risk of burn the leaves. i'm also adding some coffee grounds sometimes to make the soil more nutrient.

Sick Tree! 17/04/2014

This week the tree had some problem. Unfortunaetly two of his leaves had some problem and one is already dead, while the other one is yellow and will die soon. In my opinion the problem the tuna can starting to be too little for the tree and also maybe I used too much water in it.
Now i will transfer the tree in a real vase but it will be difficult to do it without damaging the roots. I really hope that this will solve the problem (if there is a real problem, becouse the rest of the tree looks great and totally healty)

Shaker-tree! 10/04/2014

While the height of the tree keep increasing, the trunk remain the same size. I'm worried because everytime that I move the pot, the tree shake a lot and if there is a bit of wind it bends. I'll add some support to help the structure.
There are other leaves coming out, one from the top and another one from the bottom! That is exciting, and the total of the leaves is now 7 fully formed and 2 baby leaves.

Bigger and Bigger! 03/04/2014

This week the weather was great and the little tree spent a lot of time in the greenhouse.
Maybe this is why it's becoming so big!
Comparing the photo of last week with this we can count 6 complete leaves and there is also a structural change: I had to use some piece of wood to substain the tree (actually a broken toothpick).
Now i'm worried about the trunk that don't looks strong enough to substain the whole plant. I hope that will start to become more fat otherwise i have to add some other toothpicks!

I've also another news: in the back of the photo there is another little sprout popping out! I don't think that this tuna can is big enough for two trees so I placed it in a new pot inside the greenhouse. I think that i'll keep it there all the time but i'll not take photos of it.

Sky is the limit! 27/03/2014

During this week the weather here in my hometown was not so great. For the first half it was partially cloudy but not that bad but now it's 3-4 days that it's rainy and without sun. Due to the weather condition my little tree spent most of the time in my house. 

However the tree itself keep growing fast! This week  there are four complete leaves and an evident height increase. This photo it's quite bad this time, but with a clooser look you can see that in the middle of the two highest leaves there is something other popping out. Another height increase or another leaf? Probably next week we will have the answer!

Growing fast! 20/03/2014

Seven days has passed since the first post and i'm surprised of how fast is growing this little tree! Compared to the first photo you can see that now it has 3 leaves (and a forth is growing) and that the "trunk" is now more red and looks stronger but the total lenght is almost the same.
During the week I took a photo everyday but i think that one post a week will be enought for the blog.
I've also made some improvements to the tuna can: now in the bottom there are several holes for a better air and humidity circulation and during the day the plant live in a greenhouse.

The sprout! 13/03/2014

Here's the little sprout. Today is the 13th of March 2014, it has something like 1 month. Yes, the pot it's actually a tuna can but soon or later there will be a new house for this baby. I live in a countryside so it will not be too hard to find the right spot for it.
But now it is growing inside my house because it's just too week to survive in the outside word but in the sunny days the sprout like to take sunbath on the balcony.
I don't know how often i will post photos of that guy. At the beginning I was thinking to do a photos a day and then make a video after some years like lot of people have done with they're faces. But I know that i'll stop doing it after a while and also if i have to stay outside for some days or if I'll move to live somewhere else i'll not bring the little sprot with me. So maybe there will be an update every week even if I don't know how exciting can be the life of a litte tree! I will also try to make the same photos with tha same camera (a 79 Euros Samsung PL20)  and with the same light conditions