Tips for when you order/receive your bare root plants

Planning and preparing your planting area ahead of time can be very helpful. When you receive your bare root plants, getting them planted, mulched, and watered in a timely manner gives the best results in ensuring healthy long living plants. If you are unable to plant right away, healing the plants in is a safe way to give you time to prepare and plan your planting site.

‘Healing in’ is a simple, effective technique. You dig a hole in a shaded location (north side of a house or garage), bundle your trees/plants together and lay the roots in the hole at a slight angle so the above ground portion of the plants are at a 45 degree angle. Then you cover the roots with soil, breaking it up to make sure there’s not air pockets between roots. Firmly tamp the soil over the roots. Then water the area and mulch with leaves or wood chips. We highly recommend wrapping the above ground portion of the trees in aluminum window screen to protect them from bark nibbling critters like rabbits, voles, etc. The trees will be safely healed in while still dormant, but it’s important to get them planted in their final location before they begin to leaf out.

To prepare your planting site for trees, we recommend creating a weed free area of 3’ x 3’ for each tree by either removing or flipping the sod over with a shovel, hand weeding, or planning ahead by laying cardboard over the planting area months before planting.Once your area is free of sod, digging down to loosen the soil in the 3’ x 3’ space with a spade, broadfork, or tiller will give good results in the long term. If the tree you’re planting has a fibrous root system, it’s best to spread the roots out and layer soil over them as you go so the root mass isn’t all bunched together in the same area. Once planted, tamp soil firmly, water the tree in and mulch with wood chips. Don’t add compost to your planting hole. Doing so can create a spiraling root system and inhibit lateral root growth. If fertility is low, you can mulch with a good quality compost. After planting, watering, and mulching, we again recommend wrapping the tree in window screen or making a tree guard with hardware cloth for protection while it gets established.

Happy planting!