Bare Root Tree Planting Guide
When planning to plant your single tree or home orchard, there are a few bare necessities:
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1. Select a fruit tree. We carry over 120 varieties of fruit & nut trees from Dave Wilson’s nursery. They provide us with trees of the highest quality! Buy 10 trees and get a 10% quantity discount and pay only $3/tree in shipping! |
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2. Dig a hole that’s about 1 foot deep and 1.5 feet wide. If you don’t have a shovel, our employee pick is Fiskars Digging Shovel. |
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3. Good drainage is essential to the health of your fruit trees. Fill the hole to the top with water. It should drain within 3 to 4 hours. Then fill it AGAIN. If the hole does not drain within 3 to 4 hours either time, then you need to find another location or modify your current location by making a raised bed or a French drain. Need a hose to get the job done? We’ve got ‘em. |
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4. Protect the roots from gophers with a 15 gallon, tree size gopher basket. Until young trees are well established, gophers can do significant damage and kill your tree. |
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5. Soil amendments such as Soft Rock Phosphate or our Foothill Fertilizer Mix should be added to the soil before planting along with some compost, especially if you have clay-like soil. The roots will spread out so be sure to amend the soil around your planting location as well. |
| 6. Plant your tree and be sure not to plant the tree any deeper than the soil line on the bare root tree. Water thoroughly and watch for settling. You may want to soak the roots overnight in a 5 gallon bucket before planting. | |
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7. Protect the young trunk from mechanical damage, pests, and sunburns with a tree guard. Another option to prevent sun scald is to paint the trunk with interior white latex paint diluted with an equal part of water. |
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8. Prune your dormant tree. Dave Wilson recommends pruning your tree at knee height as this will produce a great flush of growth in the Spring. Questions? Ask your local nursery or master gardener. We have a wide variety of pruners to help you get the job done. Our staff pick is the Felco Pruner No. 8. |
| 8. Windy?If high winds will be a factor in your planting location, then the tree should be tilted slightly towards the wind’s prevailing direction. Do not overdo it, a slight tilt will suffice. Supports may be used, but try not to over do it; you want your tree’s trunk to become strong, not dependent on supports. |
For further information, read Peaceful Valley Bare Root Tree Growing Guide here.
Enjoy planting!!
Tags: bare root trees, bare-root, fruit tree, how to, nut tree, plan tree, planting guide.
January 24th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
will the cherry trees bloom with cherries in california or is there a way to make them produce cherries in california thank you
February 4th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Hi Ronnie,
Depending on how warm your winters are and what varieties of cherry trees you have, they may or may not bloom and fruit. Fruit trees need a certain number of chill hours (cumulative hours below 45 degrees between November and March) in order to be triggered to bud, blossom & fruit. Our Winter catalog has a chart of chill hour requirements. If you live in a part of California that has warm winters, consider planting the Minnie Royal FT082 or Royal Lee FT081(need 250 chill hours) or the Lapins FT093 (400-500 chill hours). We still have a few Minne Royal and Lapins left! If you have old cherry trees in your yard that are not fruiting, there is a chance that they have a 700-800 chill hour requirement that is not being met.
Good luck!
Autumn
December 14th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
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