Planting bare root fruit trees is an excellent way to start an orchard or add fruit trees to your landscape. Compared to potted trees bare root plants are cheaper and easier to transport. More importantly their roots establish and grow faster since they don’t have to transition from nursery soil to native soil. With the right planting methods and care, bare root trees thrive and bear abundant fruit.
What Are Bare Root Fruit Trees?
Bare root fruit trees are field-grown nursery trees dug up while dormant. Growers remove the soil from roots before shipping the plants. This allows packing trees close together to reduce shipping costs. It also prevents roots from drying out since bare root trees don’t lose moisture through porous nursery pots.
The main advantage of bare root fruit trees is the extensive root system Without restrictive pots, the roots grow freely. They develop into a dense mat of fine feeder roots essential for growth and fruiting. Pot bound trees often have circled or compacted roots unable to expand properly after planting.
Nurseries offer many fruit tree varieties bare root including
- Apple
- Apricot
- Cherry
- Fig
- Nectarine
- Peach
- Pear
- Plum
- Persimmon
Growers dig up one to three-year-old bare root trees in late fall or early spring when dormant. Planting the young trees while leafless and resting reduces transplant stress.
When to Plant Bare Root Fruit Trees
Plant bare root fruit trees during the dormant season for the best chance of survival. In most places, the best times are late fall, after the leaves fall, or early spring, before the buds open.
Fall planting has these advantages:
- Trees develop roots through winter before spring growth starts.
- Soil moisture is plentiful in fall and winter.
- Cooler air temperatures prevent moisture stress.
Spring planting works best when soil is moist and frost risk is past. Plant trees as soon as ground thaws since delays can cause trees to break dormancy and suffer from being moved after leafing out.
Planting in summer or mid to late spring is risky due to heat, dry soils, and leafed out trees. However, providing shade, wind protection, and regular irrigation can allow later plantings to survive.
How to Plant Bare Root Fruit Trees
Follow these steps for successful bare root fruit tree planting:
Choose a Planting Site
- Select a site with full sun – at least 6 hours daily.
- Check for good drainage and fertile soil.
- Avoid low areas that collect frost.
- Give trees room to reach mature size.
Test Soil Quality
- Take soil samples from several spots around planting site.
- Send to lab for nutrient and pH analysis.
- Adjust pH and fertilize according to recommendations.
Prepare Planting Hole
- Dig hole 2-3 times wider than root ball but only deep enough to accommodate roots.
- Build soil cone in center of hole to prevent tree from settling too deep.
- Fill hole with water to check drainage.
Prepare Tree for Planting
- Unpack tree and place roots in bucket of water for 1-24 hours before planting.
- Prune any dead or damaged roots.
Plant the Tree
- Position tree on soil mound with graft union 2-3 inches above soil level.
- Arrange roots evenly and cover with soil halfway.
- Water gently, finish filling hole, and tamp down lightly.
- Do not amend soil in hole but mix in organic matter if needed to fill hole.
Complete Planting
- Water thoroughly to eliminate air pockets.
- Mulch 4-6 inches deep around tree but not touching trunk.
- Stake tree if needed for support.
- Prune tree back by 1/3 to stimulate new growth.
Bare Root Fruit Tree Care After Planting
Proper care during the first year ensures bare root trees survive and grow strongly.
Watering – Water regularly so soil stays evenly moist but not soggy. Water slowly and deeply.
Weed Control – Mulch and hand pull weeds to reduce competition for water and nutrients.
Fertilizing – Apply balanced organic fertilizer around tree after one year. Avoid high nitrogen.
Pruning – Prune only lightly in year one to shape tree and remove crossed branches.
Pest Control – Monitor for pests and diseases. Apply organic treatments promptly to prevent spread.
Protection for the trunk: Paint the trunk with white interior latex paint that has been watered down to keep it from getting sunscald.
Support – Use stakes in windy areas or for dwarf trees. Remove supports after 1-2 years once tree establishes.
Choosing Varieties– Select recommended disease-resistant, self-fruitful, and locally adapted varieties.
If you plant and take care of your bare root fruit trees the right way, they will give you lots of tasty fruit for years to come. When your home orchard starts to produce its first fruits, all the work you put into planting bare root trees will be worth it.
Purchasing and Transporting a Bare-Root Tree
Because they’ve never been in a container, these bare, young roots have not become circled or compacted and are often more fibrous.
- Look for a tree with strong, fibrous roots that are evenly spread out around a tap root that isn’t broken.
- After buying the tree, move it with its roots in wet newspaper, shavings, compost, or mulch. Do not allow exposed roots to dry out.
- Keep trees out of the sun and wind for a short time with wet material covering their roots.
- If planting is put off for more than two days, heel-in trees by putting their roots in a moist medium like compost, wet shavings, sand, garden soil, or a thick pile of wet leaves. This is similar to planting.
Wherever fruit trees are to be planted, evaluate the soil beforehand. It is critically important to know how easily the soil drains since trees will not survive in completely soggy conditions. Any kind of fruit tree can have trouble with soil that stays wet after it rains, but cherries and apricots have the most trouble with it.
- Choose a spot that gets six to eight hours of sun a day and has enough room for the tree’s full height and width.
- A hole that is two to three times as wide as the roots should be dug, but only as deep as the longest root should go. A shallow hole prevents the tree from sinking too low.
- Put water in the hole, let it drain, and then put water back in. If it drains in more than three or four hours, the site is not right. Either select a different site or plant on a mound.
- If the soil drains well, use it to make a cone in the middle of the hole, leaving plenty of room for the roots to spread out. If possible, the top of the cone should be two to three inches above the ground. above to allow for settling.
- Remember that encouraging healthy tree roots and root growth starts when the tree is planted. The goal is to get roots to grow out of the planting hole and into the native soil around it, both laterally and deeply. There should be no amendment materials in the planting hole. You can add amendments to cover the top of the root area if you need more stuff.
- If it’s hard to drain, dig a hole that’s not as deep so that the cone sticks out 4-6 inches. so that most of the roots will spread out in a wide mound above ground level where water can drain well. Make sure to break up the soil where the roots will grow.
Plan in advance to remove roots from packaging material and to rehydrate. Soak them in a container for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. Use a sharp tool to trim off any diseased, kinked, or broken roots.
- To keep the tree from getting sunburned, put the trunk on top of the soil cone in the hole so that the bud union or graft faces north. There should be a small jog on the lower stem where the trunk meets the roots, but it could also be a few inches higher up. This is where the graft is.
- Spread the roots out over the soil cone, fill in half of the way with the dirt that was dug up, and water gently.
- Finish filling in the hole or covering the roots on a raised bed; lightly tamp the soil and water it well but gently to get rid of any air pockets around the roots. If the cone and stem of soil have sunk below grade, gently pull on the stem to lift it a bit and keep covering the roots.
- If you need more soil, especially when mound-planting, mix equal parts of native soil and amended soil to cover the roots.
- Make sure the soil doesn’t touch the stem; only the roots should be cover.
- Make a shallow, narrow moat around the planted area that’s about 8 to 12 inches wide. either from the trunk or as far away as the roots’ tips go Use this soil to finish covering roots if needed.
- Fill this moat when you irrigate. As the roots spread out and go down from the trunk, water will filter down to the fibrous roots. Do not allow the root area to dry out.
- Cover the exposed surface area with 3-4 in. 4-6 inches of compost or other mulching material to help keep the soil moist. area around the trunk that is left open so that mulch doesn’t let water damage the crown, which is where the roots meet the stem’s base.
- You don’t need to use fertilizer when you plant, but you can after the plant has grown for a year. Also, you usually don’t need to stake because there isn’t a heavy root ball or crown to hold it in place.
What is a Bare-Root Tree?
By definition, bare-root trees are not grown in pots and do not have soil around their roots—hence the name “bare root. ” Our bare-root trees are shipped dormant, which allows for easier transplantation and reduces transpiration (water loss) immediately after planting.
Getting rid of as much transplant shock as possible is important, so plant your tree at the right time. The best time to plant a bare-root tree is in the fall or early spring when temperatures are mild and trees remain dormant.
Is Buying A BARE ROOT Tree Worth It?? | Bare Root Fruit Trees Explained
FAQ
When should you plant bare root fruit trees?
Bare-root season for ornamental trees and fruit trees is from mid-December to early spring.
Do you have to soak bare root trees before planting?
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Arbor Day Foundationhttps://www.arborday.orgHow to Plant Bare-Root Trees | Arbor Day FoundationStep 1. Unpack your trees, remove all packing materials, carefully untangle the roots and soak the roots in water 3 to 6 hours. Do not allow the roots to dry ou…
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Jung Seed’s Gardening Blog!https://blog.jungseed.comHow to Care for Bare Root Plants and Tips for PlantingMar 25, 2020 — Before planting, you’ll need to soak the roots for at least 2 hours and up to 8 to 12 hours, but no longer than 24 hours maximum. This is an importa…
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YouTube · GrowVeghttps://www.youtube.comHow to Plant a Bare-root Fruit Tree Step by StepNov 21, 2019 — if your soil is either very sandy or heavy with clay add plenty of organic matter to the entire planting area and dig this in i’m using well-rotted …
Should a bare root tree be planted as deeply as?
Don’t dig deep. Planting trees too deep can kill them. The hole should only be deep enough so the tap root does not bend. The root flare should be level with the original soil level.
Is it better to plant bare root or potted fruit trees?
If we are thinking only about the health of the plant, then a branching, fibrous, bare root tree is far superior to a potted one with circling roots that has been nursed along on irrigation and fertilizer. If it is the health of our environment then the choice for bare root trees is even easier.