For being huge nurseries and such, Field’s/ Gurneys are decent, and they will replace failed plants. I know I asked them to, not a problem at all
Bob, like you did, you have to choice shop, and use the specials. I got a Carmine Jewel for 7 bucks and it was a super nice specimen. It grew over 2 feet the first year.
Cumberland Valley Nursery aka fruittreefarm.com is a grower for Gurney’s/Henry Fields (at least they were a couple of years ago). CVN typically grows very nice trees. This was the only year in the last four that I haven’t bought from CVN.
Bob,
I’ve planted trees like that for years. We planted about 40 grafts of our own this season, plus another twenty purchased trees. I’ve thought about making a video how we plant trees, but I think it would freak people out.
We have the spots for the trees already flagged and mulched. We start by kicking mulch away from the flag. My son then digs a hole in about 1 min, then I prune the roots to fit the hole. We drop the tree in, cover up the roots (making sure any roots left are not wound around the hole) stomp the soil down and kick mulch up against the tree. We don’t water, soak or anything. I’ve roughly been planting this way for the last 5-6 years and it’s worked well for smaller trees.
I think the key is planting in good soil which is fairly loose and well drained. Some trees benefit from a larger root ball. Peaches are primarily what I plant and they don’t seem to mind a “carrot root” almost.
I may have to re-think the above statement. I was more closely examining the box it came in (very well packed) and noticed the circled part below. It is particularly interesting, as they don’t appear to sell any female kolomikta.
As far as I’ve been able to find, Kolomikta (arctic kiwi) won’t pollinate hardy ones (arguta). First, they bloom earlier. Even if bloomed later, it seems they aren’t generally compatible (per Kiwinut’s posts on GW). I do see Burnt Ridge offering a hybrid of the two, so it must be somewhat compatible (though maybe it was an arguta pollinating a kolomitka?).
I remember you used heavy equipment to make raised ridges to plant in. I’m guessing that process broke things up pretty well and made the digging a lot easier.
I think that’s about how long my holes would have taken if the soil was loose like yours. After removing the turf, I had to whack away at it with a iron bar to loosen things up and remove some rocks, before I could shovel out the small hole. As it was, I didn’t take that much longer on them, less than 5 minutes each. It’s reassuring to hear that such “efficient” planting can produce a nice tree.
Well, I hesitated to report who I ordered from this year,I am aware of the rating is not good,But I am willing to give Willies a try. Will see.
I have , not arrived yet, I asked for April delivery
Red Baron peach
Mume Japanese apricot
Black Berry thornless Natchez
Nectar Boysenberry
White Pomegranate & Utah sweet
Niabell grape
Persian Mulberry
It is interesting that Persian mulberry is Zone 5 hardy. Is it a hardy mulberry go by other name or truly persian (Morus nigra)? I am very curious. Anyone grows Persian mulberry ??
Also, I would like to have some feedback of Natchez blackberry, the flavor , growing habit, disease, and hardiness of this cultivar?
I absolutely need to know what fuzzy ones you like best. I always have tomatoes, but besides the yellow pear and Cherokee purple I just usually get an early slicer.
I did get seeds last year for Matt’s Nearly Wild tomato, but never got around to planting any (maybe this weekend)
Scott
I lost my first Mango because of my, at the time, brand new dog. The next year I planted a second one, much nicer than the first, and a tree fell directly right upon it.
I planted a medlar in its place and it has not had any problems. (got fruit last year and my wife really liked it)
I figure it was just not meant to be
Maybe if I have luck grafting apples (going to try grafting my honeycrisp onto my liberty just as practice) I’ll consider trying grafting onto one of my pawpaws.
Chills
Zendog, I got the Romeo today. At first, I thought there had been some mistake, as the box was huge, more than 4’ long and big enough for 10 full size trees. But the single Romeo was all they packed into it. While not worthy of a 4’ box, it looks to be a very nice specimen. Good branching, with a full root system.
Wow, that is indeed a pretty nice little bush for the price. Maybe I should order one and try to wedge it in somewhere…
Thanks for following up with the pic.
Here’s my Cummins order, which arrived on Friday. I planted it today, as most of the snow from yesterday’s storm (6") melted by afternoon.
The 3 on the left are apples: Rubinette-G16, Zestar-G41, and Frostbite-G41.
The 3 on the right are plums: Opal-K11, and Kubanskaya and Geneva Mirabelle on Penta.
While the Opal is the thinnest of the trees, it has a monster root system. I was a bit surprised that the 2 plums on Penta weren’t bigger. Last year I got two (Lavinia and Jam Session) and they were huge (1"+, with lots of branching).
I would have like to have better feathered trees, but these should do fine.
Bobvance and Olpea- I’m a little late but wanted to capitalize on your discussion of hole digging. I always read that the hole should be twice as wide and twice as deep as the roots and then backfilled, so the roots would have nice, loose dirt to grow in. Therefore, I’ve dug about 60 holes this way (pretty much all my fruit trees) and every one of them has been a monumental job, often talking more than an hour per hole. Now I hear you all seem to say you aren’t doing that. Have I been wasting my time and effort? From here on out, do you think I’d be ok to just dig the hole just big enough for my roots? My soil is actually quite good, by the way. No clay and not many rocks. Thanks.
BTW…I’d also love to hear what you all or anyone else recommends in terms of amending the soil when you plant a tree. I usually mix a small amount (about 15-20% of total volume) of pretty well decomposed mulch in with the backfilled dirt. I’ve heard its a good way to add some nutrients, to keep the soil from packing too tightly, and its helpful since I usually end up a little short on dirt when backfilling for some reason. But I’ve read that it can harbor fungus and/or other diseases that can harm the roots. I also usually throw about a 1/2 cup of 10-10-10 general purpose fertilize at the very bottom of the hole and cover it up with 2-3 inches of dirt before putting tree in the hole. The idea is that this will prevent burning the tree but will provide a little boost once the roots grow down to it. I know many fruit tree people aren’t fan of fertilize and it can cause too much vigor. But I’ve read this is a good thing to do in more than one place. I’d love hearing other people’s opinions on the fertilize and the organic matter (ie composted mulch). Thanks. Sorry if this is too off topic.
There was a large thread here a few days ago that talked about amending soil in the planting hole. it included pictures of what can happen if your disturbed soil is substantially different from the ground soil. the consensus was don’t do it. Dig your hole only as deep as the roots on the tree and 2-3 times wider. Backfill with native soil. If it’s heavy soil don’t tamp it down too much. Just water it in.
I don’t think adding that much fert to the hole is a good idea either but I’m no expert.
Yeah I don’t add anything with trees, With other plants yes. I dig holes elsewhere, steal the soil mound up my trees and fill the holes with top soil. This year I have a few currants coming so i will dig out a nice hole, use the dirt for my trees, and fill the hole with compost for my currant. You should not use anything, not even starter fertilizer. Fertilizer burns tree roots when first planted. Compost decomposes and the tree sinks. So do deep holes so wider than deeper. I barely cover roots, but water them a lot. Deep planted trees are not a good thing.
City,
I used to dig big holes, you know the old saying,“Dig a 10 dollar hole for a 5 dollar tree”. I think that makes sense if someone is digging in very hard soil the roots will have a hard time penetrating. I keep mulch on top of my soil, so even if I’m digging in soil which has settled, it stays moist enough with the mulch that the roots can push through fine.
If you mulch around the trees, or if the soil is loose because you’ve built a mound, I wouldn’t waste my time digging a big hole. As I mentioned, for peaches I pretty much trim the roots for the size hole we dig. For apples and plums, I try to keep more of the root. To make the hole easier to dig, we dig a “slotted” hole (it would look like an oval, instead of a circle). I then “part” the roots (like you’re parting hair) and half the roots go on one side of the slot, half on the other. That way no roots are wound around the hole. A slotted hole is faster to dig than a large diameter hole.
As Drew and Speed mentioned, I would not add anything to the hole. You want those roots to search out their nutrients and give the tree a well developed root base. Place all your amendments on top of the soil. They will still feed the tree, but will spread out in the soil where it will encourage better root spread vs. placing the amendments in the hole.
When I used to dig huge holes, I would mix some composted leaves into the dirt before refilling. I also did a layer of composted leaves on top of the soil and below the wood-chip layer. In most cases, I don’t think it hurt, But now, I don’t bother with such elaborate preparations. It’s too bad I didn’t do some side-by-sides at the time.
With yesterday’s holes, I didn’t dig all that deep. Just enough for most of the roots. To cover the top roots and make a slight mound, I took some soil from another part of the yard and mixed it with pine bark. The pine bark can buff up the volume a lot without adding much weight.
But for the Opal on K1, I felt too guilty to cut it back or to dig an insufficient hole. I was lucky where I put it, as it had been partially dug several years ago as a garden. I still didn’t dig a super-big hole, but it was enough to lay all the roots out flat, even though in a few cases I had to widen the hole a bit in a spot for a root. I remember Alan mentioned doing this in a GW post- digging a trench for a particularly long root.
THanks, all. I don’t know how I missed the thread on amending dirt in holes/planting trees that speed refers to, but I’ll go look for it. Otherwise, it sounds like I may not have to do all the work and elaborate amendments that I’ve been doing, which is good to hear. But I still like that phrase (first time I’ve seen it) “dig a 10 dollar hole for a 5 dollar tree”! ha. I’ve definitely been doing that-whether I had to or not.
I believe that this is the post:
Thanks bob…you are the King of finding old posts. This is like the 3rd time you’ve helped me in that way! Thanks.
Didn’t plant much last year so I figured that I’d make up for it this year a little. I never see a thread anywhere that says what did you plant or order for this fall so I’ll include mine in this post.
Fall 2014
Stark Bros.:
Tasty Red™ Urban™ Columnar Apple
Stark® HoneyGlo™ Miniature Nectarine
Spring 2015
Stark Bros.:
Elberta peach
Red Anjou pear
Raintree:
Nadia Cherry plum
Isons:
Spring Satin plumcot
Cummins:
Opal plum
Harglow Apricot
Southmeadow:
Oldmixon Free peach
Fall 2015
Honeyberry USA:
Romeo cherry
Juliet cherry