5 days ago, I planted 5 small, buckwheats about 5 feet apart from each other. But now I’m wishing I planted something in between the plants instead of a solid row. Would it be too late to dig up the 2nd and 4th plants and transplant elsewhere in the yard?
Also, for plants this young, what should the watering schedule look like? My nursery told me once a week as long as daytime temps are above 70.
Could you imagine if they had grown extensive root systems stretching out in all directions in five days? Nah, it's probably fine to move em. Once a week is probably good for a new plant. You just don't want their root ball to dry out since they don't have an established root system, yet.
CA Buckwheat is a really nice plant that will stretch itself out instead of up, but it'll take them a year or so to get acquainted.
Haha I just wasn’t sure if it was ok to disturb the baby roots, considering some house plants practically keel over and die if you disturb the roots too much.
And ok, I’ll make sure not to let them dry out. I know I cut back on watering when it cools down and rains, but otherwise, is it weekly watering for the first year?
They definitely have somewhat sensitive roots. But after only a few days, it is totally fine to just carefully move them, they haven't expanded outside of the root area that was in the pot.
You could also keep them where they are and plant Deerweed between them. Not only is that a great look (white flowers against yellow/orange), but Deerweed is short lived, and it will die out as your buckwheats mature. Deerweed also fixes nitrogen to your soil, so they’ll do double duty. California Sagebrush could also be a nice touch. Classic pairing.
Yes you can. And the nursery is right.
Awesome. Thank you!
Once a week is fine for now. Here's a pretty rough watering guide for California native plants.
I hope you understand that each of your buckwheats will grow to be about 10 feet across. If you know that and intended them to grow together into a solid mass, then everything's good. If not, be aware that it will happen after a couple of years.
10 feet? https://calscape.org/Eriogonum-fasciculatum-(California-Buckwheat)) says 1 - 7 ft Tall, 3 ft Wide.
I know there are a lot of varietals but are they commonly that size?
It's highly variable with wild genes, but I have about 30 - 40 of them on my property and I would say that 80+% of them are at least 10 feet wide. Not a single one of them is 7 feet tall. The tallest one is about 5-foot. Most of them are about 4-foot. I have a few that are only 18-24 inches tall. Since the short ones were offspring of larger ones and not nursery selections like Warriner Lytle I figure it's the soil or just genetic variability.
Do you prune them back? I was told you can help keep the size down with pruning.
Pruning/shaping works quite well as they're quite responsive to it ('tis the life of a small shrub with browsing mammals), and likewise severely limiting water and skipping fertilization works as well. Max size really depends on the genetics/subspecies/locale, on-site conditions, etc... There's some pretty large ones (5-8 ft across, 3-4 ft tall) in the coastal plains/valleys, and some downright miniscule ones (1 ft across, 0.5 ft tall) in the south-facing mountain slopes or seabreeze-facing cliffs.
All of my buckwheats are sprawling monsters. And they spread quite happily here in inland San Diego. You have been warned LOL. But that being said, I love them
5 feet is too close.
Are you sure?
https://calscape.org/Eriogonum-fasciculatum-(California-Buckwheat)) says 1 - 7 ft Tall, 3 ft Wide.
Yes. Normally get 4-8 feet wide. They're highly variable and there's certain rarer selections in cultivation that can grow narrow instead of wide, but I would not expect them to stay small. Feel free to show me otherwise especially in a garden setting.