Advice Needed - transplanting apple grafts after bud break

General Fruit Growing
1

Hi Everyone,

Have myself in a bit of a conundrum. Wasn’t able to get up to the orchard in time to transplant grafts before bud break.

I now have about 100 grafts sitting in the nursery that are green tip and spaced very close together (12 inches by 12 inches)

My options are to:

  1. Keep them there - though this might not even be possible and they are spaced so closely together I am worried it won’t be good for them

  2. Transplant them in the next few days - this is by far the preferable option if it won’t damage them too much. I can dig and transplant to their home within an hour so no storage considerations.

How bad is it to move them now? Photos are below to get a sense of what stage they are at

Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can offer…

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2

I would transplant them now. I would dig up as large a rootball as possible, leaving all of the soil on the roots. The less they’re disturbed the better.

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3

Depending on root stock type you can easily leave them another year and transplant next year. They will have larger root masses to dig and depending on your soil type that might be a lot more work.

If they are just showing green tip, dig and transplant and I wouldnt worry much about root ball. Not ideal but they will be fine. Once leaves start to unfurl then yes large root ball or wait it out until next year.

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