Growing trees
Receiving & Planting Your Plants
- When your plants arrive you should open the package to ensure everything is there and made it through the shipping process ok (if there are things missing or severe damages, please let us know!)
- If you can plant your trees right away, that is always the best option.
- Because we only ship small 1st and 2nd year trees, we often recommend our customers plant their plants in a small nursery bed to be grown out and sized up for a year or 2 before being transplanted to their final location. This accomplishes a few things:
* It increases efficiency and ensures you can keep an eye on them and keep them all protected (from animal browse, pest pressure and weed competition) and watered during the first few tender years of life. This often keeps survival rates and growth rates higher.
* It gives you time to dig all the holes and prepare the final planting sights for your plants. This can take more time than you think, especially for larger orders!
- If you cant plant your trees right away don't fret, you have options!
- If it will only be a few days before you plan to plant, you can open the packaging and keep the roots moist by adding some water to the roots and shipping media (we usually ship with sawdust or shredded paper) then wrap the roots back up. As long as the roots are kept moist this can buy you a few days (plants should be stored in a cool shaded spot).
- If it will be any longer than a few days before you can plant in a nursery bed or permanent planting spot, you will want to "heel them in".
* Heeling in a plant is just digging a temporary hole to store a plant for awhile.
* To do this, grab a shovel and dig a shallow trench (in the ground, a compost pile etc.) just big enough to cover the roots of your plants and plop them in. Cover all the roots and water them in well. You've officially heeled them in!
- Heeling in can buy you a week or 2 while you make proper preparations for a more permanent home. It is recommended though, that the plants not be allowed to "wake up" and start actively growing and budding out before you get them in a nursery bed or permanent hole. This ensures the least amount of stress on the plants. Pay attention to your local weather forecasts and plan accordingly!
- A special note about mulch: Use it! Using mulch (any combination of wood chips, grass clippings, cardboard, sawdust, hay etc.) will do so many great things for your young establishing plant. It saves on watering, builds the soil over time, increaes airflow around the plant and cuts down on weeding and overall maintenance. You will thank yourself for spending the extra time up front to properly mulch a young establishing plant.
Protecting Trees from Wildlife
**Special Note: Although we stand behind our trees and guarantee the trees ordered from us will wake up and grow their first spring, we can not be held liable and replace plants that have not been properly protected. Please take this section seriously! **
- Although this is site specific, you should always take the proper precautions to protect your young plants from animal browse. This is one of the main things that get overlooked or forgotten when people plant new plants and nothing is more disheartening than coming out first thing in the morning to see a tree mowed to the ground or completely girdled by voles when it could have been easily prevented.
- The culprits we are referring to are deer, moose, goats, rabbits and voles just to name a few. Although these animals are just trying to make a living, we as plant growers often need to find a balance and strike a deal with these creatures.
Some options:
- Fencing is a viable option if you plan to have one designated area such as an orchard plot you would like to keep free of browsing animals. Height and type of fence is often a matter of preference and can be specifically designed for different species (a rabbit fence will look different than a moose fence). Do your research for what is most effective and available in your area.
- A note about fencing: know your land. Study the movement of wildlife across your property for a few years. This can help you make some decisions on locations of fencing and orchards. If you try to put a fence across a heavily used game trail, you will often have more issues than if you allow them to continue to use established trails where possible and fence other areas.
- The other option is protecting trees individually with tree cages, grow tubes etc. This can be a viable option and each method has it pros and cons. It often boils down to time and monetary considerations (how many plants are you growing? How much time for maintenance do you have? Are you mowing? Mulching? etc.)
- Regardless of if you are fencing large plantings or caging trees individually, growers in the northern regions experiencing any snowfall should also put tree guards on the trunks of their trees and shrubs during the winter months. This helps prevent girdling (chewing of the trunks bark and cambium) from vole and rabbit species. Voles tunnel through the snow and actively feed all winter on the cambium of trees and shrubs. This can often go unnoticed until spring when the snowpack melts and it is too late. Make sure to put your tree guards on every fall and remove in the spring (tree guards left on all year can cause airflow issues as well as making managing tree borers more of a challenge).
Diseases and Insects
- There are far too many insects and diseases to get into specifics in this guide. We recommend you do some reading online for the most common pests and diseases in your area and the possible control methods available to you. There are many good resources out there detailing the use of conventional and organic options for your specific area. Utilize your state agricultural departments: here!
- We also highly recommend Growingfruit.org for any and all questions you may have about growing fruit and nut plants of any kind. There are some amazing knowledgable people there and years of archived discussion and resources!
Pruning Trees
Again, this is a very nuanced topic with many things specific to your site and goals.
- Acquiring any popular book on the subject and giving it a thorough read will be helpful and we again can not recommend Growingfruit.org enough. They have a wonderful section for guides on subjects such as these.
- We are a big proponent of the fruit tree training methods presented by Steven Edholm of Skillcult.com. His methods are outlined well on his youtube channel. This is the primary method we use with our young fruiting trees and it has proven successful.
Seeds
For all things seeds please refer to the Woody Plant Seed Manual