To plant now or To plant later?

I'm planning on buying a large quantity of dormant tree seedlings and I need to know if I should buy them now so I can plant now or should I buy in the spring? I'm a little worried about planting now and not having them survive over the winter. I'd like very high survival rates and was wondering if planting in the spring from dormant seedlings would produce higher rates since they won't have to face harsh conditions. I'm in zone 7... I think... maybe lower.

Thanks!

I've had pretty good success moving somewhat established (small) trees and planted bare-root dormant trees this tiem of year. You're one zone warmer than me, so I'd say you've got a few more weeks of time tacked on to plant things.
I once bought a left-over weeping juniper tree from a garden center in the middle of winter. The rootball was frozen solid. I thawed it a little, planted it and it's doing just fine.

Just make sure you keep the new plants watered well if it's not raining...even into winter a little.

I did some research on this last fall for zone 6b. Seems like all the experts recommend Fall planting for almost all trees. Dogwoods are one of the exceptions, although the two large dogwoods I planted anyway survived.

I'm getting 30 river birch and 30 red twig dogwoods after the first hard frost so they are dormant, which I will plant right away.

That's great news! I was hoping I could put all that work off until spring.. I'm such a procrastinator.

I like planting bare roots in the spring. I'm no expert but it seems as if the growers keep them in cold storage over the winter and ship them dormant anyway so why not let them decide when to break leaf on their own once they hit what ever zone they are being shipped to.

We had severe flooding in my area and I lost tons of trees this past season because they basically drowned. 100 year flood again. That's two 100 year floods in the past 10 years now. If I had it to do all over again, I'd still place my orders to be able to plant in the spring. Less risk of deer and rabbits stripping the bark and girdling the tree over the winter months when food supplies become scarce.

Ha, it's all zone/area related I suppose....we plant bare-root in January! The roses are usually in bloom by Easter here! :~D

In January you'd have to take a jack hammer to plant anything bareroot here if you even could get to the ground as we are normally knee deep in snow.

By Easter time; the crocus, puschkinia, and muscari have normally bloomed and tulips and daffodils are on their way.

Did you have to rub in your weather?

They have that show I have heard advertised called "Trading Places". Maybe we could start our own little deal called "Trading Gardens". I'm thinking Z10 or even 11 is sounding pretty darn good to me for January through April. Any takers?

I think maybe I will not order and plant in spring. You know, spring and those showers? Maybe I won't have to water all those seedlings.

As for my January bare-rooting....I still cheat and prepare the hole, dug, mulched, etc...in the fall...then I run out quick...plant the thing and head in for a nice hot cup of coffee before my feet get cold....wimpy me!

On the other hand, it's probably nice where you are when it's 110 degrees here! LOL

I can always send pics in April........... :~D

Whoops, I meant I think I will not order NOW so I can order and plant in the spring.

That's such a good idea Kachina! I never would have thought of that! I would do that now that I've heard of that, but all these babies are filling in spots in the woods under a bunch of leaf litter and junk so once I dig a hole, I'll probably never be able to find the exact one again.

This message was edited Oct 15, 2004 2:31 AM

I do what April does and try my hardest to dig holes now in preparation of what I will be ordering in spring. Maybe I only get 20 holes dug but that will be 20 less to do next spring. A few reasons for this, water and snow accumulate in the hole over the course of the next few months and that seems to eliminate my need to fill the hole with water to saturate the surrounding earth in preparation of planting. The other reason is that I like that leaf litter in the hole. Adds to organic matter.

And CaptMich... I lose my holes all the time so you are not alone. Borrow a leaf blower. If you can remember the general area in which you dug your holes, you will be good to go! Surveying flags in assorted colors work well also.

I am SUCH a cheater-pants!........(perhaps just lazy?)...........I put a stake in the amended hole......... then staple-gun a tongue depressor to it with the plant name (that I will plant there later) written in black Sharpie pen. Easy-peasy! I've also found that holes amended ahead of time make for really happy plants.......I suppose all the leaf mold, chicken manure, humus and whatever have a chance to break down a bit. I my area, since we don't get that cold, the earthworms probably work it over too.

Oh My, a staple gun! Never thought of that. Wonder if I would be able to hold a tongue depresser to a stake while using one WITHOUT stapling my fingers? That would be a real trick for me since accidents seem to just happen to me lately.

You would get mighty cold standing out there with your finger stapled to the stake this winter! LOL

Now there's a pleasant thought...
I could get my Mother In Law to help. She could practice first!

That's funny...... :-)

I love my Mother In Law but there are days! I am going to let her read this tomorrow so she will have a good laugh. We get along famously so she'll just tell me to "show her how" to do it FIRST so she can get the hang of it. I know there are Daughter In Law Days where I have no doubt she'd like to see me stapled to a stake.

yeah....and then she can get back at you by talking 'bout you here! LOL

A friend of hers who is in her mid 80's got a lap top last week. The Senior Center is offering classes and my MIL is actually considering purchasing one. My Mom got into computers shortly before she died, she loved photographs of birds. Oh how I hope my MIL will get a lap top. Sadly, my MIL is not a gardener but she buys plants for me all the time and hauls them over here, she is particulalry fond of white roses. She also pulls up a lawn chair and keeps me company for hours on end when I am outside playing in the dirt. When I take breaks during the day, she comes in with me to see what people have written here at DG. It's fun. The people here make her laugh and sometimes she sits here after I have gone back out and looks at all the photographs that people post to share. She used to be a tennis player and golfer and still does love to play bridge. I have no doubt there must be some sort of an online bridge group. Cross your fingers for me that she gets one.

Wouldn't that be great for her!!! I hope she does! You should show her how she can play games on the computer, maybe it will encourage her! Doesn't Yahoo or MSN have Bridge in their free games section? Seems like they would. Since she likes white roses, are you familiar with 'White Owl'? A rugosa I think.....check it out. It's one of my favorites....unusual, but lovely!

Woody plant root-growth is most active during the fall. IF you can plant the trees/shrubs at least 6 weeks before the ground freezes, I would plant now. Fall is the perfect time for planting because the ground is warm, but the air is cool. In the spring, the exact opposite conditions exist - ground is cold and the air is warm - not the best conditions for root growth.

If you live in an area that gets really hot during the summer, fall is the best time to plant.
My .02
Mike

Oops I meant Rosa 'Snow Owl', Equilibrium...sorry for getting off-subject folks!

Hi Kachinagirl, I don't play games on the computer. Never have. We also don't allow the kids to go on line and play games. We do let them go on the Internet but only when we can see the monitor. I'm glad you mentioned MSN and Yahoo have the free games. I'll look for them. I think XP came with card games but I went in and removed them, Hearts comes to mind as well as Black Jack but it has been a while. She definitely likes her Bridge! I have to admit I am not a fan of roses. I haven't found the way to tell her yet. I'm in zone 5 and they require too many chemicals to look good. I have found that the Icebergs she bought seem to be a little hardier so they tend to look better throughout the season. She also bought me Iceberg climbing roses and those seem to be holding their own here. I love the way roses look in other people's yards but they are tough for us northerners.

Say Mike, do you think I should revert to planting bareroots in September? We've been getting a lot of rain the past few springs to the extent that roots are literally rotting in the gorund. I suppose it would be just my luck that the heavy rains would come in fall then. All the experts do seem to encourage people to plant their trees and shrubs in late summer/early fall well before the first frost but gosh darnit, everytime I did that we seemed to get a few early frosts and the following spring the trees never leafed out. Interestingly enough, I seem to be able to plant trees that I germinated from seed outside just fine and they don't seem to be affected one way or the other. It's the bareroots that get nailed by those frosts. What do you deem to be an area that gets really hot in the summer? Zone 7 or higher?

CaptMicha,

I agree with HC, Darius, and Treelover (name says it all) - it's good to plant in the fall so they will establish deep roots. You can wait 'til spring, but the general idea is to get them in the ground before it starts freezing and let them take advantage of the rains (giving supplemental waterings as needed). Then give 'em a nice thick mulch and goodnight 'til spring. With the fall plantings, you get a headstart and deeper roots which usually means less frequent watering and more robust plants, IMHO.

Hi E,
Sorry, I haven't been back to this forum for a while.

When you plant will depend on when you can get the stock. I doubt that you will find dormant, bare root stock available in September, so spring planting is probably when you will need to plant.

If you have been having a problem with the roots of bare root stock rotting, then I would put the plants on small mounds of soil when you plant so the roots are a little above the soil grade. This will help prevent the roots from rotting. On the other hand, if you plant this way and we have a dry year, it will mean you must irrigate all of the newly planted trees until the natural rains return to the area.

Any area that gets above 86°F for any length of time would be considered hot. I believe that 86°F is the temperature that plants stop growing, or something along those lines. The new AHS Heat Zone map that came out a few years ago has areas that are based on the number of days above 86°F per year. I would guess that anything above 86°F stresses a plant and could possibly kill the plant which would be similar to a plant getting too cold during the winter.

Depending on the size of the bare root stock that you purchase, you might want to put the plants in pots for a season before setting them out in your garden. That may help reduce your losses.
I hope this helps...
Mike

OK, I'm fine then as it is only the bareroot I have been planting in early spring. Small container trees and B&B's have been going in the ground in early fall. I have raised the base of my rootballs by 2-3" above ground when planting them. I also mulched them well with cypress or cedar or pine mulch. I will not be using the Cypress or the Cedar mulch any longer but will be using either pine or hardwood mulches. If we have another year where neighbors are using canoes and small fishing boats to get to their homes, I may consider 10 gallon planters for a season but I am hoping I get a break now for a few years. We only had 2 days this entire summer that exceeded 90F. Although it was unseasonably cold, we rarely get many days over 90F. Also too, I can only remember one year in the mid 1990's where we had weather over 90F for about 2 weeks as that was out of the norm for us back then. We actually had snow flurries last weekend. Thanks for getting back to me.

We are talking seedlings right? Unless you have a place to protect them over winter I would wait until spring. I live on the edge of 6a and 6b zone and our nursery purchase 64 seedlings about one month ago. The only reason why we did was that they was a little cheaper (so the buyer didn't have to overwinter) and we had a place to protect them, just incase of a hard winter.

Yes, zone does make a difference as pertains to when it is best to plant seedlings/saplings. I went and spoke with a few people from the DNR here in my area. For my particular situation, spring is best.

I've had good luck in fall as well; the roots can get a foot hold,your warmer there and shouldn't have any trouble.Hope this helps,Jody

Well, we went ahead and ordered trees. I'll just have to take my chances with the coldness b/c if I procrastinate I know I'll never get around to it.

I'm really excited! Here's what we bought. (If anyone wants to know!):

2 Austrain Pine trees
4 Black Mulberries
2 Canadian Hemlock
1 Eastern White Pine
4 Elderberry Bushes
1 Red Maple
6 American Arborvitaes
2 Flowering Ninebarks
1 Lincoln Douglas Fir
3 European White Birch Trees
1 Japanese Black Pine
2 Norway Spruce

I hope they'll bring even more wildlife

Sounds like a really good selection. Are you planning to plant the black mulberry trees anywhere close to where a vehichle is parked or where you have furniture , etc. You know the birds will carry the fruits a long way and you may get stains where you don't want them.

I have 6 or 7 varieties of elderberries, they are one of my favorite shrubs. Donna

No, these are all going to fill in the woods behind our house. Do black mulberries really get worms or would I be able to grab a few before the birds get them all?