Anyone have experience root dipping bare root trees when planting?
pros or cons?
Welcome to the forum!
Can you clarify what you mean by “root dipping”? Presumably you are referring to some kind of compost tea/mycorrhizal concoction?
Personally, I just soak bareroot trees in water before planting them in my soil, and then mulch with aged compost and wood chips. Any other “dip” seems like a YouTuber-inspired gimmick to me, but I’m happy to learn otherwise if I’m wrong.
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Hi Matt,
Welcome to the forum,
I suppose you are referring to innoculants?
I am using this process to make my own this spring so I have set up a grow bed using this method. Once it’s ready for harvest I will use it to plant a number of new plum trees in a location where the funjii can promote soil fertility. It’s my first attempt but the directions are fairly easy to follow. My new plants are on the border of an 18” deep Hugel mound that I constructed this winter.
Dennis
Kent, wa
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Yes, I’m curious about the amendments that go around the roots when planting to promote healthy roots. Like the ones from Tainio. It could be just internet advertising, so thats why im looking for feedback from people who have tried it.
How long do you soak the roots before planting?
Thanks
I don’t know anything about root treatments but the growers here have learned a lot about planting trees. Planting on mounds helps keep roots from staying wet too long. Many trees have been lost to wet feet which causes an anaerobic environment various root rot fungi love. Do not amend the soil except in extremely poor soil conditions. Roots do not want to leave the good soil for the poorer native soil. This causes the roots to keep circling and eventually will girdle itself. Also the change in soil texture can cause water to stay and not drain from planting hole. You can amend many bush and shrub fruit but mixing native soil to break texture up is a good idea. Do not plant deep. Root flares should remain visible.
Trees buried deep do fine at first but have a shortened life from lack of oxygen to the roots. The surface roots around the drip line need air. If buried deep the tree grows its roots upward to get near the surface. The tree has to work a lot harder. Instead of amending the soil one should mulch with compost and bark or any organic material. This will help give the tree some nutrients. Keep mulch from touching bark, leave a couple inches or more. Most believe you should not fertilize the first year, mulching is fine. Fertilize in the spring or late fall. Follow label directions as to when to use. All this is subject to change as we learn more. Best practice often changes in horticulture. Like we used to only fertilize in the spring but recent and still ongoing studies are pointing towards the fall as best time. The fertilizers I use suggest the fall.
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I soak all my bareroot trees in water added with kelp/seaweed before planting them. Soak for an overnight and sometimes I have forgotten they were soaking for day and a half. If you are planting in a hole, throw a lb or two of bone meal or rock phosphate. Definitely dust your trees with mycorrhiza inoculant, don’t need to buy an expensive one. This 1lb packet for $30 will inoculate thousands of trees.
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Unless, of course, you already have more than adequate phosphorous in your soil. In all my years of managing many orchards I’ve never identified P deficiency symptoms, but that is mostly east coast experience and even here, commercial orchardists are often advised to add phosphorous to soils before planting trees so it gets in deep enough for roots to reach it. I am skeptical given that mycorrhizal relationships tend to assure all trees get adequate P- but what do I know?
I have seen research showing the only nutrient amendment (not in excess) most trees show a measurable response to in most soils is N. That has also been my own experience.
It’s always a good idea to do a soil test through your cooperative extension before planting an orchard.
I once threw some bare root shrubs in a pond and forgot about the for a couple of weeks. They did not fare well. For my nursery planting my routine is to pull bare root trees from the box they are shipped 5-10 trees at a time and sticking them in a water filled garbage can pulling them out one at a time as we plant them.
I have accidentally left a single tree to dry out for a day before planting and it still survived. I honestly don’t know how much difference it makes to keep the roots of bare roots wet. The feeder roots are probably already dried out and the main roots are self-protected from rapid dehydration.
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you’re 100% correct. I still out some bonemeal because its cheap $3 ammendment.
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The only root dip I’ve ever used is something like powder form watersorb on bareroot trees/shrubs. Definitely helps during droughts.
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I used to do that also… maybe placebos also work for trees. The idea of them feeding on bones is certainly appealing.
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Hmmm… this is interesting. Not sure it’s true, but it’s interesting. Hydrating new bare root trees for planting - MSU Extension
The article is not based on research but claims of commercial growers in Holland. Somehow it seems that if this worked as well as suggested it would long since have been adopted by growers all over the world. The article was posted over a decade ago and I can find no recent research to support it.
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I think every company I’ve ordered bare root trees from recommends 12-24 soak before planting. I’ve always done so.
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Exactly! My soil is actually so high in phosphorus that I could cause problems if I add more at planting time. I posted my soil test a few years ago here, you can see it’s in the “very high” range:
I sometimes mix a little compost with my backfill because my soil is so low in organic matter, and because I want to make sure I have enough backfill for the tree to be slightly above grade, but I don’t add any other amendments, I mostly just top dress with compost and mulch.
Same! That’s why I started doing it. But just with water, nothing added to the water. I don’t usually do the full 12-24 hours, I just throw them in buckets of water when I unbox them and usually plant them later that same day, occasionally the next day.
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I sort of missed addressing the main thread theme.
I have put rooting hormone on the roots right after removing from the soak and before planting. The powder adheres easily to the wet roots that way.
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i never amend either and prefer just to mulch with some composted manure and woodchips over that. the next spring i repeat. once the tree is well established i just put woodchips to keep weeds down.
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Which is half as much as recommended in the link. The point is to “hydrate the trees” and it is suggested that this brings a great deal of water up into the wood of the trees themselves. This description is completely new to me and puts an entirely different angle on the reasons for soaking the trees- I had only thought of the roots themselves before.
It would seem if this was effective it would be much more discussed in the commercial fruit trade. The claim of increase in growth would be enough to make it an essential practice if it was well known and it seems that if it was so essential it would become well known very quickly. It is such an easy claim to confirm through experiment and, if you have a pond or stream on your property it would be easy to do.
My shipment will be coming soon and I will do my own experiment which should easily validate or debunk the claim in soil not likely to dry out during tree establishment. Unfortunately, all I can use is garbage pails.
Are the results nearly as dramatic if you have irrigation? Wet spring weather? High water retaining soil?.. and so on.
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All good points and an interesting clarity on the reasoning.
I also wonder what role temperature takes during the soaking. I’d think warmer temps would be more active water transport.
Not that I have the time or money to experiment…
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