From my understanding fall is the best time to plant a bare root tree, right? I have been scouring the internet trying to order some trees to plant in the fall and I can’t find one nursery with the trees I want that is doing fall shipping. Am I missing something? Its not a huge deal to plant them in the spring, but I’d rather get it out of the way when there is less to do. Also, none of the nurseries I have looked at have all the varieties I want. Are people on this forum just paying multiple shipping charges from different nurseries or is there a secret nursery that has them all (I know the answer is no, but what the heck.)
Spring is the best time to plant bare root trees. Potted trees are often planted in the fall. A lot of bare root trees aren’t available in the fall becuase they must be totally dormant in order to remove from the ground
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thanks
Jim you are zone 7. You can plant any time you can get the trees and the ground isn’t too wet or frozen. In zones 8-10 winter as soon as the trees can be purchased is the best planting time. In zone 5 and colder it’s spring as soon as the soil is ready. Fall planting in cold zones can result in tree damage.
Trees usually don’t become available until after the new year starts. There are a few places with short fall shipping seasons. But by the time the trees are dug, sorted, and ready for shipping it’s often too cold for safe shipping.
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I’m geared up and ready to go!
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You order in the fall and winter and plant in the spring.
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My opinion is that fall planting is the best way to get your trees off to a quicker start next year. I prefer to get them in the soil slightly before dormancy. Easy to do if your moving trees from one location of your place to another. I guess I should say that these are only my opinions and can’t back it up with data. For all the reasons listed in the other post above your not likely to get trees shipped to you during this time of the year.
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I just checked my records from Stark and I did plant most of my trees in the fall of last year. They do ship in the fall and it has worked well for me so far. I’m just going to wait it out and get the trees recommended by this site.
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When you plant depends on where you are planting what. Like fig trees are not good to plant in the fall unless you live in mild winter place like Florida, actually in Florida because most of the year is so hot, especially in southern Florida, the coolest time of the year is the best time to plant a lot of things there. I try and plant fig trees right after last chance of frost because they grow much faster in the ground and the thicker that they are when winter comes the better they deal with winter, and the more root-bound they are the better they deal with the winter. It’s not just how well will they deal with being in the ground when they are planted, it’s also about how well will they survive the winter.
For example Hazelnuts here as long as you plant when it can not freeze they will be ok. I’d imagine that there would need to be about a month of in ground time before freezing temps hit. Yet they are very cold hardy in our climate, if I put them in a zone 6a/b climate I’d be worried that I’d have to plant them earlier than I would have to here in zone 7a/b
There is not a one answer for everything.
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Most nurseries are located in the north, where fall planting is a bit more dicey.
Off the top of my head, Isons, Raintree, and Just Fruits and Exotics do fall shipping. I’m sure there are others.
I’d rather plant in the fall (zone 8a here) because in the spring it can get very hot, very quickly. But I ordered the majority of my trees from Cummins and ACN, who don’t regularly ship in the fall. So I got most of my trees in the early spring, and planted them, and they’re doing good. They’ve grown, and they look pretty happy.
However–The one tree I did get in the fall is doing absolutely fantastic. From a small, unbranched twig barely a foot high, I now have a shoulder-high tree with some good branching. It took off running.
That’s just my experience, take it for what it’s worth.
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I’ve tried to avoid promoting my nursery on this forum to keep things from being commercialized, but I do ship trees in the fall. Its called Twisted Tree Farm if you’re interested. I also wondered why more nurseries don’t offer fall shipping, I think it is because a lot of them are in more mild climates than mine and their trees don’t reach dormancy until december or january.
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Good point that I totally didn’t consider.
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In Texas, fall is the recommended time to plant potted or bare root. The roots grow all winter because ground doesn’t freeze and in spring there are established roots to support top growth. I too would love to find trees available, but have given up looking.
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I am in 8B zone and I can’t find anyone who will ship to me now. I have two PAWPAW trees on order from Willis but they say not until November this year or March next year. We don’t have any real freeze issues. Altough up in Monticello it does have even below freezing temps. it rarely lasts until after the sun comes up…I lied. It ships from November until April only. Don’t know if that is there policy or because of my Zone…
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Im in Texas too and like to plant in the fall. I have ordered some apple trees and they are going to be shipped this fall. This place has a few pears and figs too I think.
http://www.centuryfarmorchards.com
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I ordered from Century Farms two years ago and they shipped in November. The guy even gave me a choice of shipping dates and personalized recommendations for my specific site! I only ordered five trees! They are all doing great now.
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Oh boy…
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I dug up and moved a few sweet cherries many years ago…i dug them as soon as the leaves started changing colors. They did excellent… Just water them in good.
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Here in California some nurseries start selling bareroot trees as early as just after Christmas and the sales pick up in January. This is when I plant most of my trees. I dislike planting after early-mid March since trees need time to establish before the heat strikes. However, if I order from places up north like Raintree or Cummins, they ship later (late March to early April), this is not ideal but still works most of the time. I did receive bareroot bush cherries (the Romance series) from HoneyberryUSA in early November and that worked very well for me, but not many nurseries do that.
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Uh Oh…What’s that mean? I can stand the truth…