Bare Root - or not?

Fruit trees now - or later?
From the trees perspective, NOW is the time for them to get into the dirt. They are just barely waking up as this Central Oregon spring has been so very long and cold, (yeah, don't we all know it!) The soil is still moist but workable, not too dry or muddy, and the soil temps are just right for developing roots. And most importantly, yes, (sorry to bring it up again), but it's cool out and this causes much less stress due to evaporation and heat/sun damage.
From the human perspective, yes it's cold and windy out and uncomfortable for us, but if you can "buck up" and deal with it, great for your trees! But even the most enthusiastic gardeners have their gardening plans dashed by all sorts of life-interruptions, so trees available in containers are a wonderful convenience...but the sooner you plant them the sooner they adapt and will produce...
Our fruit trees are typically planted into pulp pots, allowing the roots to penetrate right out of the pot, and believe me, they do! This way, the new roots remain undisturbed. All you need to do when planting fruit trees is follow a few simple rules:

• Select a site that has ample air circulation - avoid low spots as cold air tends to collect, freeze and really damages trees.
• Be mindful of spacing: for a standard tree, allow a diameter of about 25'-30'. For a semi-dwarf, between 15' - 20' is ideal.
• As with any tree or shrub, the planting hole should be 3x as wide as the rot ball/pot, and the same depth from the soil line where the trunk emerges, to the bottom of the pot. Break out the bottom of the hole, especially in hard ground.
• Note: If planting a tree that is in a pulp pot, make 6-8 vertical slashes just through the pot - be careful not to cut into the roots. Cut an "X" in the bottom too. Now return to planting notes...
• Fill the hole with water and allow to drain out, keeping an eye on it as it does. If the water whooshes out through the bottom of the hole, you probably know it already but you have sandy soils that lack organic matter to hold moisture - so make a note to add extra compost throughout the back fill, not just right next to the root ball. If the water persists in the hole for more than 3/4 of an hour, you have either a hard pan layer or clay or both! So, get out the pry-bar and go to town, or head down to the rental yard and rent something called a hammer drill, with a chisel attachment. (One made by Kango is ideal, so call around if you have more than one rental store in your area.) These tools make fast work of rocky hard pan.
• Amendments: if you have decent or average soils this isn't such an issue, use about 20% compost to native soil. But if you have very "bony" mineralized soils, you'll need additional compost, so add up to 50% compost but thoroughly mix it in and distribute throughout your planting hole. Please do not add any synthetic (16-16-16 etc.,) fertilizer at this time as it is unnecessary for an un-established tree. However one key amendment to always add-in is a balanced organic fertilizer that contains mychorrizal bacteria.  It is a living bacteria, so when you purchase a fertilizer with this in it, pay attention that the fertilizer has been stored away from excessive heat, and look at an expiration date on the label, as mychorrizal potency can diminish over time. Per the directions on the label, add-in to the back fill, taking care that it be included not in the top or bottom of the planting hole but throughout the middle, so 1/3 of the way into planting, start mixing it into the back fill. I prefer to water-in the backfill as I go to allow the water to do the job of moistening & settling the soil, so with this in mind please avoid "silly" stomping on the soil surface. It can damage the roots & eliminates the desirable small air pockets that are good for the plant!

• Staking: Unless a tree is terribly crooked and needs coaxing into the right direction, or has an unusually heavy and developed crown (such as in a more expensive mature tree) no staking is needed if you have followed the planting directions so far. Believe me: a healthy young tree that is planted correctly and is un-staked learns to stand on it's own faster than a staked one.

Here is my 6'2" nephew Ben holding a stout 'Fuji' apple in the nursery...Ben just turned 16 and has his learners permit. He probably wished he were behind the wheel of my sister's Jetta rather than holding some silly tree in his aunt's nursery ;~/

 A shot of all of our bare-root and potted-up fruit trees this spring:

This is a list of trees that we have this spring:

APPLE - Braeburn / Fuji / Gala / McIntosh / Spartan / Honeycrisp*
PEAR - Red D'Anjou / Bartlett / Shinseiki (Asian Pear)
CHERRY - Bing / Lapins
PEACH - Hale Haven / Reliance
PLUM - Italian / Santa Rosa
APRICOT - Goldcot 
*Potted only

Next time we'll talk about aftercare of fruit trees: fertilizing, pruning and disease prevention/dormant spraying. Stay tuned!