Bare Root Season
By Bob Chapman
The shorter and cooler days tell many gardeners that it is time to purchase and plant bare root stock. Buying plants bare root is economical, the choices are wide and the survival rate is the highest. Holes are easier to dig due to the moist soil and your bare root fruit trees, berries and roses will adapt quickly to their new environment. As an added benefit for the gardener, all bare root plants and trees are individually wrapped and contain water-retaining materials inside the wrappings to protect the roots from drying out prior to planting. Just look at the wide variety available in our nurseries now:
Fruit trees
• Apples
• Cherries
• Plums
• Apricots
• Peaches
• Pears
• Nectarines
• Persimmons
• Pomegranates
• Quince
• Three-in-one
• Pluots
Berries
• Blackberries, Himalayan and Evergreen (trailing or erect)
• Raspberries, summer and fall ripening varieties in red, yellow, purple and black colors
• Strawberries, everbearing or standard
• Blueberries
• Gooseberries
Grape vines
• Wine grapes
• Table grapes
Roses
• Hybrid tea roses
• Floribundas
• Tree roses
• Climbing roses.
• Hedge roses.
• Grandiflora
PLANTING BARE-ROOT TREES, BERRIES, GRAPES AND ROSES.
Allow sufficient space. Before planting any bare root plants, vines or trees, determine the space that it needs to grow. You wouldn't plant fruit trees 3 feet apart, but this spacing might be nice for hybrid tea roses.
Digging the hole. Dig the hole for your new bare root plant when the soil is dry enough. You can tell when it is dry enough when soil does not cling to the shovel when you insert it into the soil and remove it.
Dig your hole twice as wide as the roots and as deep as the roots. Add organic amendments, such as compost, if your soil is clay- based and heavy. You can add as much as 50% amendments by volume to these heavy soils.
Planting your bare root shrub or tree. Check the roots, noting any broken or damaged roots and clip them off. Insert the roots into the hole, making sure that the bud union (the swollen part where the graft is made between the root stock and the desirable scion) is above the native soil. Backfill using the soil removed when digging the hole. Tamp the soil around the roots to eliminate air pockets. When the hole is filled, soak it with water. If settling has occurred, add more soil to bring it to the level of the native soil.
Create a watering basin. Now use any excess soil and form a circular berm around the outside of the hole at least 4 inches high, creating a watering basin. You may need to scrape additional soil from the surrounding area to create this berm. The basin will direct water to the roots. You will want to use this basin to water your new tree or plant all summer long.
Staking and protecting newly planted fruit trees. Consider placing a sturdy stake beside your new tree and using tree ties to give the tree support for the first few years. Use white latex house paint on the trunk from the first branch down to the crown to protect the thin bark from sunscald. This frequently happens when young trees are moved from a shaded nursery to an open area and are exposed to the hot rays of the sun causing sunscald which in turn can kill the young, tender bark. The damaged bark splits open, forming long cracks or cankers, allowing entrance for decay fungi. Young trees may die from sunscald.
If you live in a rural or semi-rural environment you may need to protect young trees from the nibbling of deer, mice, voles or rabbits. Enclosing the tree trunk (up to the first branch) in a wide tube of hardware cloth or rabbit wire will help protect the tree.
FOLLOW THE SUGGESTIONS
For best results follow the above suggestions when planting bare root stock. Doing so will ensure many, many years of successful crops and enjoying colorful roses all season long.