If you ’ve been following myparenthood postson this web log , you may remember that after thebirth of my daughterlast twelvemonth , I decided totake my placenta home plate and establish it under a tree . It was actually a container citrus tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , since we did n’t know at the fourth dimension if we ’d stay in California , and we want to be capable to take the tree diagram with us should we move .
Well , we ’ve moved ! And we brought the blood orange tree to Oregon with us , where it ’s now overwinter in our insulate garage next to a window . It survived the retentive trek in a trailer and has been flourish since we potted it last year , and I know many of you were curious as to how it ’s grown with the placenta buried under it .
Right before the move a calendar month ago , this is what our tree diagram looked like .
We graft it in a larger textile wad ( a20 - gal non - degradable Root Pouch ) in training for the move , and will keep it in the material pot for the next couple years until we build a permanent greenhouse .
Eighteen months post - planting , the placenta has long rot in the potting soil and we now feed the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree with compost tea and citrus fertiliser . We have n’t seen any signs of fruiting yet , but the tree was only a year or two former when we purchased it . By my guess , overbold oranges are still another year or two off ( especially since we need to ameliorate our overwintering position ) .
I ’ve had so many questions land in my inbox since my original post that I think I ’d address the most popular ones here . If any pregnant gallon out there have been wondering what to do with their placentas after birth , burial is for certain deserving considering ! It ’s a wonderful way to honor the time your minor spend en greater omentum .
Did it smell?
No , there was no smell as the placenta decomposed in the Mary Jane . In fact , it was way less offensive than other type of fertilizer I ’ve used in the past .
Did it attract rodents or other critters?
No . The placenta was bury at least a foot under the tree , and no critters tried to dig out it up out of the container . ( Keep in mind that we used a fairly enceinte pot , so if you design to do this , you ’ll want a proportionately sized container for the amount of constitutive cloth you have . ) We also did n’t notice any rush of critter action after planting it .
Did it leak or drip out of the container as it thawed?
I think this question stems from the fact that I froze my placenta and then buried it while it was still glacial . ( you could see a picture show of that in theoriginal post . ) And no , the placenta did not drip out of the drainage hole as it thaw . There was zero mess and zero odor , and the tree was water regularly . As I ’ve learned , using a placenta as a soil amendment is n’t all that different from using other animal thing , such as fish heads or cow manure . If you’re able to look past the fact that it ’s a byproduct of nascency , it ’s one of the pure form of organic fertilizer you’re able to use .
Did you notice any difference between the blood orange tree and trees that were given other fertilizers?
It ’s hard to say , since my other Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree were all in unlike stagecoach of growth . But after immerse the placenta under the stemma orange tree , I did n’t fertilize it again for six month . It was green and healthy the whole meter , free of pests , and very abject - maintenance .
If I had another child and could keep my placenta again , I would — without a doubt — plant it under a fresh tree . I love look at Gemma ’s rip orangeness tree and knowing that this beautiful living affair shares a lifeblood with her . When the twenty-four hour period come that she can understand such a construct , it ’ll be fun to excuse to her how particular the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ( and all the fruits it will finally conduct ) in truth is .
