I grew some peach trees from seed this Spring and a few are close to 3 ft tall. I want to dig them up from the bed in my garden and move them to a permanent place but right now it’s 100 every day. The roots will be disturbed but not cut hopefully.
I live in 9a and it doesn’t freeze until around mid December. At what temp would it be ok to move them? They go dormant in late Nov or early December and I have to knock the leaves off manually around Thanksgiving so I can spray for Leaf Curl
I live in a very similar climate to you by the sounds of it. Some of my fruit trees don’t become fully dormant until Dec in my climate. Even then some late apples still have leaves in Dec which I strip to promote dormancy.
I always wait until January to dig up and transplant my in ground fruit trees This way I know my trees will be in the most dormant state. Even in January my early plum trees are beginning to have bud swell if January temps have been warm.
The best time IMO is after a bit of a cold snap in January that will put them into their deepest state of dormancy. Once the freezing temps let up and the weather has warmed again is the best time IMO. The key is to never dig them up during freezing weather, but right afterwards when you hit a warm/wet stretch of weather.
The ground in my area is rarely frozen long enough to prevent transplanting, but best to wait until a bit warmer temperatures early in the year to dig up in ground trees.
Potted trees I usually transplant in Nov, to allow them to have some root growth and establish themselves over the winter. That gives the best chance for survival and good growth in the spring IMO. I would only recommend fall transplanting for those in warmer zones that rarely see extended freezing weather during the fall/winter.
No big mystery, move them when they are in about the deepest dormancy they get in your warm climate. I’m a nurseryman in S. New York state who sells baring age fruit trees. I do most of the tree moving in fall because the ground can freeze here, although these days some winters don’t make that happen. Any time during dormancy is ideal, but once the trees start to grow (and roots start first) you are squandering their energy with any delay. In early spring the planting I’m doing is mostly the bundles of whole-sale fruit trees that I start with and then sell 3-5 years later after sizing them up. I always dig up a few of my big trees in spring as well, but I have too much to do during that season so fall is much better. Here fall and spring seem to work almost the same with fall giving a little more growth the first season they are in the ground.