I recently received several peach trees much earlier then I expected. I am in zone 4b in Minnesota and we are still in winter with frozen ground. The bare root trees are beginning to leaf out that I received today from the nursery. I am looking for suggestions for these trees until they can be planted in about 4 weeks. Currently I have them heeled in a bucket with moist pine sawdust.
I would keep them in an unheated attached garage if you have that, assuming it stays 30 plus in there, otherwise basement possibly. Keep the roots in saw dust that is slightly damp. What nursery sent them so early? Usually, they ship by location. Hopefully you get lucky and get an early spring
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i had that happen from a nursery out west. mine wasnt budding out though so i buried the whole tree. under 3ft of snow. come late april when it started to get exposed, i planted it out and it grew fine.
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What about potting them and putting them in a sunny window then slowly introduce them outside in the weather warms?
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I’m in the same boat - I received ten peaches from Vaughn Nursery today that have started to break dormancy and am looking for the same advice. I’ve potted them all up for right now. Not looking forward to the idea of having to baby them along inside for the next month or so, but if that’s what I’ve gotta do…
Common problem I have seen being mentioned on a number of sources lately.
While at the time you order it may seem like a good idea ordering from a West Coast nursery. If you dont live on the West Coast or the Deep South it is never a good idea.
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Fortunately my zone isn’t as cold but last year I ordered a bare root red haven peach tree from isons and it arrived leafed out with open blossoms. Crazy young tree put on 6 peaches. I took it down to one even though I should have pinched them all. Almost got to taste it but some critter beat me to it. The tree isn’t even five feet tall yet.
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You would be surprised when some nurseries ship their plants. Stark Bros is sending me trees the week of March 13th. We can only hope those trees are dormant even though the are potted trees. Grow Organic Peaceful Valley sent me trees in January. I think Grow Organic Peaceful Valley states they can even come in December for some. For reference my last frost date is around mothers day in May. If they are not leafed out I say do what I did with Grow Organic Peaceful Valley and just spend hours hacking away at the soil with a shovel. It took two people 5+ hours to plant 4 trees what it worked.
That’s a tough situation but any florescent bulb would work better then nothing as a grow light.
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