Help with new tree from cummins

chummer

5 year old buck +
I just received my trees from cummins and I am a little concerned. There were 20 trees in the box stacked 10 one direction and 10 the other. They have large root systems so only about half of the root were in the moist mixture they send them in. The other half were on the dry side with some roots completely dry. I separated them into 5 bags and luckily I had a bag of wood shavings to cover them with and soaked them down. I have never received trees this big before. How much of these trees should I cut off. Usually the trees I get don't have branches, these thing are like full grown trees. I cut off all the damaged branches but stopped there. I will be planting them Saturday. Is it bad to have a couple inches of water in the bottom of the bags.

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Do not leave them in standing water more than an hour or two, they will be rehydrated by then. At some point the standing water will kill the roots. Likely that your roots that were "dry" will still be fine. Keep the roots damp until planting time. Looks like from the size of the bags you have decent roots. If the limbs are lower than you will have permanent limbs you could remove those now to ease the transplant shock a bit.
 
If you go to their web sight they explain and have pictures of how to trim the new tree. In a nutshell you cut most of it off.
 
They ship overnight so they can't be that dry. Put in some wet paper and or soil and get them in with this's great weather
 
When did you order those to get that size? I've always been hesitant to get bareroot because they usually come as whips. Did you have to order at this time for next year (if that made sense). Even if you trim those limbs back half way or 3/4 of the way, you're still way ahead of whips. I mean those are the size of container stock!
 
FYI most container stock begins the spring as bareroot, then they put them in containers for sale
 
If you go to their web sight they explain and have pictures of how to trim the new tree. In a nutshell you cut most of it off.
I am used to trees with one or two small branches. It is going to hurt to cut off all those branches. They are bigger than the trees I planted two years ago!
 
They ship overnight so they can't be that dry. Put in some wet paper and or soil and get them in with this's great weather
I must have got two day shipping. They went out Monday morning and arrived Wednesday night. I am less than 2 hours from them. I emailed cummins and they said it is normal for some of the roots to appear dry. They said they were wet when shipped and will be fine as long as I got water on them. They are going in Saturday and calling for rain Monday and Tuesday. Shaping up nicely.
 
The trees I got from Cummins had a piece of tape on the central leader that was about where I wanted to prune. The tape seemed to be there as a suggestion.

The bigger feathered trees I tended to come back to a 3/4" nub. Much smaller when I got done.

I had one sour cherry that was "feathered" but was a tiny little whip. Maybe 30" tall witht 1 side root off the tap root.
 
When did you order those to get that size? I've always been hesitant to get bareroot because they usually come as whips. Did you have to order at this time for next year (if that made sense). Even if you trim those limbs back half way or 3/4 of the way, you're still way ahead of whips. I mean those are the size of container stock!

I ordered the chestnut and dolgo November of 2013. The rest I ordered last March. That probably means they were all grafted at the same time. The goldrush are the most impressive they are almost as big as my wrist. I think I ordered them last. Someone must of cancelled an order because there were only 2 available. I wish I had more of them, they look like they will have blossoms this year.
 
I ordered the chestnut and dolgo November of 2013. The rest I ordered last March. That probably means they were all grafted at the same time. The goldrush are the most impressive they are almost as big as my wrist. I think I ordered them last. Someone must of cancelled an order because there were only 2 available. I wish I had more of them, they look like they will have blossoms this year.

Do those goldrush have big healthy root systems as well? I might make an order for next year. I'm fine with cutting some limbs back as long as the trunk and roots are strong.
 
Do those goldrush have big healthy root systems as well? I might make an order for next year. I'm fine with cutting some limbs back as long as the trunk and roots are strong.
The roots on all the trees are big. But the goldrush and enterprise are huge.
 
The roots on all the trees are big. But the goldrush and enterprise are huge.

This might be a pretty good investment. I'll contact Mr. Moser at grandpa's orchard and ask about his trees. All else being equal, I'd rather buy from a Michigan company, but otherwise I'll get the Cummins!
 
This might be a pretty good investment. I'll contact Mr. Moser at grandpa's orchard and ask about his trees. All else being equal, I'd rather buy from a Michigan company, but otherwise I'll get the Cummins!

Those are beautiful trees from Cummins but I wouldn't expect them feathered like that routinely. I have ordered from both Grandpa's and Cummins several times. Grandpa's on average are consistently larger trees. They are also more expensive as they don't offer a volume discount (although it might not hurt to ask). Both have been healthy and haven't lost a tree from either yet.
 
Those are beautiful trees from Cummins but I wouldn't expect them feathered like that routinely. I have ordered from both Grandpa's and Cummins several times. Grandpa's on average are consistently larger trees. They are also more expensive as they don't offer a volume discount (although it might not hurt to ask). Both have been healthy and haven't lost a tree from either yet.

I don't mind paying for larger trees. My neighbor seems to think that I should be getting containerized trees because we've got a nursery nearby that has some real beauties. I mean they are 7 feet tall with a trunk the size of my wrist. They are only $40, which is a lot, but for only 2-3 trees it isn't an insane amount of money. He thinks that it'll drastically reduce the time until production. I would personally rather get some big bareroot trees like this, and I think that if I can get bareroot of this size, they'd be about the same as far as development. That being said, I would most likely order early to insure that I would get the largest available , e.g. this summer for next spring.
 
Rally,

Definitely find out the rootstock and the variety. You want disease resistance.

I'll be going and checking the rootstocks out next time I get up there. I have a feeling that they'll be on M7's, in which case I'll just go with grandpa's or cummins.
 
All 20 trees planted, fabric, and crushed lime stone. I am glad I dug the holes with a backhoe because I needed a full bucket to bucket and a half to fit the roots. Got them all planted and watered twice, can't believe how dry the ground is for this time of year. Ran out of time on the cages so hopefully the one deer we have seen this year leaves them alone for a couple weeks. I am not sure how cummins fills their orders but the majority of these 20 trees are all ready bigger than the once I planted from them last year. Maybe ordering early makes a big difference. I will do some pics later after I wash the 10 pounds of dirt off me. What a great weekend.
 
I am not sure how cummins fills their orders but the majority of these 20 trees are all ready bigger than the once I planted from them last year. Maybe ordering early makes a big difference. .

I think it really just depends on the year and on the inventory, it could be a total crap shoot. Ordering early can probably help, but nothing is for sure. In 2013 I put in a big order in June the prior year, i had some wolf river whips that were almost 7' tall and I had some Kerr that were barely 3' tall. Glad you got nice trees though, thats the important thing.
 
Ordering early can get you the biggest trees from Cummins unless you tell them otherwise. But if the biggest trees aren't that big, it is underwhelming. My "feathered" trees this year ranged from 7ft tall hard to get into the truck to a 30" whip sour cherry.
 
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