Re: Getting started with fruit trees and bushes

4) What are the risks of planting fruit trees in the summer? Most of
> our nurseries will not be restocking for fall planting and we'd like > to get them in this year. I know we should plant early in the morning > when it's cool.

Sher, I'd like to suggest waiting until evening to plant. This way they get a better head start before having to deal with the sun. Another suggest ion is to keep an eye on the weather and, if possible, plant on the last ni ce day before a few cloudy / rainy days.

KEEP THEM WATERED. Although they may seem to have a nice root ball, the truth is that most of the hair roots ... the ones that do the actual feeding ... will have been damaged or severed. By the end of this season, the hair roots will have re-established themselves.

Let us know how things turned out, eh?

Bill

Try to get larger ones, full size or semi-dwarf. Dwarf trees are commonly devastated by deer, at least up to 5 feet high. If the dwarf survives to above 5 ft then it might have a chance, especially with plastic netting and/or chicken wire layed in a 5ft radius around the tree.

Main risk is that the trees have been laying around the nursery in a rootbound pot for 3-4 months. The bonus is they're almost always on sale.

If you want to risk the purchase then go for it. I just bought a 6ft royal gala semi-dwarf apple for half price. The leaves started falling, and it started to die when I planted it, but luckily I pruned back some growth, limed a little bit, and now 3 weeks later it's got bright green sprouts all over it. I believe the century-old record-smashing 7-inch June rainfall caused some of the problems, but luckily I installed some very good drainage around it.

They can get very wild in the pacific northwest. Here in the mid-atlantic blackberries are aggressive, but containable.

Dan