Help With Planting Fruit and Nut Trees

[John3]

I have ordered the following fruit and nut trees-
Apple -Fuji and Gala
Pear - Kieffer
Peaches - Bell of Georgia (white meat) and Elberta
Shagbark Hickory Nut
Pecans- Elliott type2 and Pawnee type1
Almond - All-in-One

This is what I have that tells how to plant them - is there any more info I should know?
General Planting and Care Instructions

Receiving Trees

Once you receive your trees, try to plant them as soon as possible. If a few days are needed, take the tree out of the box, leave the root wrap on, and place in a shady ventilated location. Try not to damage the bark of the tree while handling it, as this may make the tree vulnerable to insects and fungal diseases.

Planting Trees

Dig the hole two to three times as wide as the root system to allow loosened soil for new root growth. Fruit trees and berry plants like well drained soils so add 1/3 sand or pea gravel mixed in with the extracted soil is recommended for compact or heavy clay soils. Otherwise, a standard topsoil is good. The hole needs to be just deep enough so that the tree is planted at the same depth at which it was grown. Do not bury the trunk. The base of the trunk should be at ground level; on grafted trees, leave the graft knot at the base of the tree one to three inches above the ground. Backfill the hole with the soil mix. Tamp the soil with your foot to remove any large air pockets that may exist. Now build a soil barrier around the circumference of your hole to form a dam that will retain water from easily running off. Finally, water the tree. Soak it. Adding a two or three inch layer of mulch around the tree is recommended. For less cold tolerant trees or in extremely cold winter areas, adding four to six inches of mulch will be beneficial.

Watering Trees

For Spring Planting: Frequent watering is crucial for newly planted trees. Water your tree every other day for the first two weeks. Over the course of a month or two, taper off watering to twice a week as the tree establishes itself. It is very important not to allow the soil to dry out with your newly planted tree. After a few months, the tree will acclimate and routine watering will not be so critical for its survival. As for how often to water after this point, will depend on the climate, the seasons, and the frequency of rainfall. In most cases, a good soaking two or three times a week in the summer months and decreasing to once a week in the colder season should be adequate.

For Fall Planting: Soak the tree at the time of planting, then again once a week for two or three weeks. The trees do not require much water throughout the winter months, therefore, to water every couple of weeks will be adequate until spring. Then increase your frequency to once a week, then twice a week in the summer.
Fertilizing Trees

To maintain a healthy tree, you will want to fertilize your tree in the Spring, Summer, and early Fall. Besides nitrogen, trees must have minor nutrients such as manganese, magnesium, potassium, iron, and copper sulfates. A slow release fertilizer is recommended. Bare root trees should not be fertilized until the year after planting.

Good Fungi for All Trees

Another natural organic additive that will give a powerful health boost to your tree is a Mycorrhizal Fungi. This is a naturally occurring fungi that has a symbiotic relationship with most trees and plants growing in native woodlands. Mycorrhizal fungi helps plants exchange nutrients and moisture. It is not 100% necessary to make your tree survive but, considering most urban areas are deficient of this beneficial fungi, it would provide an enormous enhancement for your tree's survival, overall health, and growth rate. If you are interested in purchasing fertilizers or Mycorrhizal fungi for your tree, please give us a call and we can supply you or help you obtain them.

[dustdevil]

If it's warm with no rain, you'd better water the bare root tree every day in the beginning...preferably early in the morning. If it doesn't get enough water, it won't break dormancy. As for using sand and pea gravel in clay soil, don't do it...it will turn to concrete when it's dry. Best to add compost,leaf mulch,etc...organic matter to break up the clay.

[John3]

Thanks dustdevil for the information
BTW any advice about using Mycorrhizal Fungi

Also, After these I'm working on getting a plum tree - Cherry trees > Compact Stella and (...) - Walnut trees > Carpathier English and (...) - a Hican tree - Pomegrenate > Wonderful - Fig > Brown Turkey
Any advice for the the ones that need pollinators and I understand there are Plum Trees that do not need any any names of good sweet tasting ones.

[mensplace]

Put the trees in a bucket of water for an hour immediately upon receipt. I personally do not recommend fertilization either in the planting hole or during the first year. Fill your planting hole with water and let it seep into the ground until it is totally gone before adding soil. Prune heavily after you plant to both remove extra limbs and to provide the future main branches.

[dustdevil]

I can't recommend varieties for you, since I am restricted to those that can survive -30F winters. I'd Google southern ag extensions and dealers to see what they recommend for your zone. The MN ag ext recommends pollinators for plums in my zone. Even if it's purported to be self-fruitful, they usually do better with pollinators nearby.

I don't use Mycorrhizal Fungi for my fruit trees.

Pay careful attention when you prune fruit trees...there is a recommended time of the year to prune them. If you prune at the wrong time, the wound may continue to bleed sap on some fruit trees...not good!

Don't forget your rabbiteye blueberries ;-)

[John3]

Thanks for the tips mensplace

Thanks dustdevil for the tips and for the pruning information
LOL I forgot about them rabbiteye blueberries
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1078/

[habitat_gardener]

When you dig the hole, rough up the sides of the hole so that you're not planting in a "container" with slick sides.

Some experts advise digging a hole just a little bigger than the rootball, and putting no amendments in the hole, so that the hole does not become a container with looser, richer soil. You want the roots to grow beyond the hole, rather than reaching the native soil at the edge of the hole and then "deciding" not to venture beyond the nice, rich, cozy, amended soil. But I'd always add compost on top.

When I was taking hort classes, it was pointed out that the "how to plant a tree" instructions changed every few years. So one way to tell when the nursery owner started in the business was to look at the vintage of the tree-planting guidelines. As far as I know, the latest advice is what I said in the previous paragraph. But all I know is California planting. I assume your ag extension will have the latest advice, but then again, I've heard of one state's ag extension that still recommends adding calcium for BER, so... (Oh, and an alternative explanation is that if a nursery owner started doing it one way and has been successful, and new research says do it a different way, they may see no need to change.)

I think the "prune on top to match smaller root mass" advice that mensplace mentions has also been superseded.

Re staking, the current advice is to leave a stake for no more than 6 months. The ties should be loose enough so that the trunk can move a little. You want the tree to develop a good taper (thickness of trunk), just like tomato seedlings, by being buffeted gently back and forth by the wind. As soon as the tree is firmly rooted, the stake should be removed.

Anyway, here's a good source to follow up on horticultural practices and myths.
http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%2...20myths_files/

[John3]

habitat_gardener thank you for the tips and advice - I'll be contacting the local ag extention here. And thanks for the link

[mensplace]

"I think the "prune on top to match smaller root mass" advice that mensplace mentions has also been superseded."

There are other reasons for properly pruning a new tree than just matching the top and root mas. Each type of fruit tree has a particular shape that is optimal. One prunes to assist the young trees in developing the proper framework for its type. For example, a peach should have an open V shaped vase to assure that light can get into the central core. Apples should have a strong central stem and opposing branches at intervals araound that central stem. In neither do you want most branches very close to one another around the trunk. European plums/prunes are pruned like appales while others are pruned like peaches. Pears should be pruned the least due to a greater risk of fireblight, but both pears and apples should be pruned with cutters that are sterilized with a chlorine wipe between each cut..especially when pruning the two at the same time. In all trees, you want space between the branches of at least six inches as the circle the tree and an even distribution on all sides of the trunk. For peaches you need three or four primary fruiting limbs. Four apples you can have many more as they circle the trunk, but, again, well spaced and preferably on apposing sides from one another as they do so. You top the peach and non-european plums to develo the vase and that should be done early. With all new trees it is unusual to have an adequate number of main fruiting stems, you may have some with far too narrow a crotch, stems that are vertical and want to compete with the main trunk, or weak and broken stems. Pruning will influence the growth of new stems where you need them. Along the individual stems that are to be saved you also want to prune vertical shoots, those that point into the middle, or those that will rub other stems.
In places like the south, where the summers become very hot, bare root trees are virtually devoid of any real, life giving, water drawing roots. Putting out trees now means that in very few moths they will be facing very hot temperatures and drought in just a few months. The main task of pruning is to give those young tree a better chance to support the top growth in those upper ninety and 100 + degree days when the limited root systems simply cannot provide sufficient moisture demands. Since you never want to plant too deeply such as below the graft or orginal planting depth, that top foot of soil warms and dries quickly. Lastly, since few people stake and tie the trees to prevent blowing in the wind and opening a gap around the stem and the dirt, the lessening of the top reduces the winds ability to loosen the tree. The first few years of a tree's life are a critical time to shape the tree while also removing those branches that draw moisture while also being in the wrong place, weak, or poorly formed crotches. Very few of those folks who sell or pack trees will take the time to consider all of the above, but with bear root trees, they surely are good at cutting the roots to get them to fit the box.

[John3]

mensplace thanks for the pruning information.