Maybe you could locate a good arborist in your area that has a SHIGOMETER.

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

wrote in message
...
I... ummm.... I know how to spell the word "tree." Does that count
for anything? You'll have to forgive me. I majored in econ in
college and am in law school right now. The rhizosphere article and
the chemistry article were both a little over my head. I also could
not afford such a device as a shigometer. Is there some cheap
alternative to using such an expensive device to test my soil? I live
in Michigan, and don't think you want to drive all the way from PA.
Thanks for all the info though

On Sun, 1 Apr 2007 15:13:23 -0400, "symplastless"
wrote:

of the maples and oaks on my street are getting buds, but
the walnut appears to still be dormant (or dead, I really don't know
how to tell).
Buds would have been formed last year and not now.

Do those take later in the season to start growing, and
if so, should I expect it to grow more this year?

If I was in your area I would look at the tree for you. I would use a
SHIGOMETER to determine the trees vitality.

A
good article on rhizosphere is he
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/RHIZO.html

Pruning he
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/tree_pruning/

Planting he
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/sub1.html

More on chemistry and fert. he
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/CHEM.html

Maybe more information then you want?

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding
us
that we are not the boss.