Hi folks - I have about 40 newly grafted trees that I currently have spread across 3 large ports. Im looking to get into the ground sometime in early May once the danger of frost is gone (Zone 4b) I want to get my nursery setup so I can transplant them next month. When I spoke to the nursery where I bought the rootstock from I swear he told me that he planted them in a nursery 8 inches apart for the first 2-3 years before moving them to their final location. 8 inches apart seems terribly close to me. That cant be right can it?
I was thinking more like 2 feet apart thinking I dont want to damage the roots when I move them later on.
At three years you may damage the root system transplanting for some species if planted at 8" spacing if directly planted. I damaged some of my apples transplanting after two years, more because how deep the root system had grown. If you plant that close maybe planting in buried containers?
I’d upvote the 2’, It will also make maintenance (trimming unwanted suckers, weeding, etc.) easier. But if there only a single row that is a moot point.
what rootstocks are you using? And for how many years do you plan to grow them out on that spot?
8" in the row i have planted before. You do get some slower growth than further apart. But not that bad.
Yes the roots do grow into the next plants. But when digging up the tree’s to transplant your always gonna loose some roots anyway.
If you plant them 2 feet apart, are you gonna dig 2 feet of rootbals for each tree?
This is assuming you dig up the whole row.
If some tree’s need to be dug out of the row earlier then others. I would keep more space to not disturb the roots of the tree’s that stay for another year.
That’s a good point on not disturbing trees that don’t get moved. I only transplanted the apple trees that would be over the top of the 5’ tree tubes. It was a little awkward for the rows where I had mixed sizes.
I would be transplanting all of the at the same time. The goal would be to let them grow in this smaller fenced in nursery for about 2 years and then move them or a larger orchard with proper spacing for a full size tree. Variety of rootstock - G890, M7, and M111.
So it sounds like 2 foot spacing might be ideal? Is 2-3 years in this kind of setting OK? Or would folks transplant them sooner to their final location?