I have some apricot trees I bench grafted a couple years ago and just planted the in a nursery bed. They should be big enough this year to move to their permanent location. Does anyone have any experience on how soon I need to dig them up, or best practices? There is still a little frost in the ground, I just don’t want to miss my window.
Im in an completly other zone/climate than you. So keep that in mind.
But from what i think/understand. Replanting in fall, just after leaf-fall is best. That way they can regrow roots all fall/winter to be ready for spring. And not miss much growth.
It might be best to replant in spring for you, since you get harder frosts. I would try and replant them well before they leaf out. What date that is is hard for me to gues, since your climate zone is so different from mine.
Feels like a “not that helpfull” reply. Sorry.
When you replant them. You could consider getting the dirt of the roots, and mabey do some rootpruning (if any roots have wierd bends/ cross eachother etc)
When replanting, dig a wide hole, and backfil with native soil. (if you want to amend. only amend a small (10-20% of the total backfill soil, and mixx it well)
Spready the roots out well to the sides and slichtly facing below.
Hi there - thank you for your reply! The issue is that the greenhouse is at least 2 ‘zones’ ahead of the outside and we get hard freezes all winter long. Three years ago there were a few weeks of -25. I felt that a spring transplant was the best option but I don’t believe I’m supposed to be doing that while it’s flowering?
2 Likes
I just read your answer again and you are saying to dig & replant well before leaf out not necessarily bloom? That’s actually quite helpful because they bloom well before leafing out.
I’ll have a window in the next few days in which the air & ground will have warmed up considerably and they will be in heavy bloom but not leafed out. Maybe that’s my opportunity.
Most transplants should be done in the fall after the trees go dormant. Once the tree wakes up, as in this case with trees in bloom, you can do severe damage to the root system and shock or kill the tree by leaving the root system open to disease, insects, and rodents. Perhaps waiting until fall would be your better option.
1 Like
Sorry MaureeninMaine.
I should have worded that better.
I would transplant well before leaf out or flowering.
When transplanting a bigger tree, you damage a lot of the roots. And almost compleetly loose your fine roots or root tips. Those fine roots absorb the most water.
So when your large transplanted tree has 1000’s of buds brake and make leafs. They all evaporate water. And the roots have almost no fine points left that need to absorb that water. This is a problem.
If you transplant in the fall or winter. Your tree has some time to regrow those root/tips and fine roots.
And also those root tips produce hormones that make the tree leaf out/grow more. So if you prune those by replanting well before the buds “brake”. The tree will leaf out / grow less and thus need less water. And thus have higher chances of survival.
With large tree’s this is more inportant than small 1y old bench grafts. (a late planted bench graft is usualy fine)
Thanks for that clarification. Sounds like I really do need to wait until fall! Just as I feared, but don’t want to kill these beauties.
Well they’re still dormant as far as I can tell. I know they tend to come out of dormancy sooner though. What about root pruning around the tree with a spade this spring to encourage root branching, and actually move it next fall? Would that be a safer option? I have Wescot, Brookcot, and Alfred that could be moved this spring, but they’re not overly large where they could grow where they’re at another year too.
My sincere apologies! I posted a similar question to yours and somehow folks answering your question came into my inbox and so I chimed in without realizing that it was an answer to your question. Confusing! Not sure how it got entangled but good luck to you in transplanting yours!