Fall barefoot planting???

[Mattyq2402]

With ehd destroying my Ohio herd, I’ll likely be attacking habitat plans during my trip in a few weeks. Would any of you reccomend planting barefoot pear and apple now? I have a good dozen or so trees I’d like to get in the ground, my other option is June which has proven to be dangerous with the drought.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

With ehd destroying my Ohio herd, I’ll likely be attacking habitat plans during my trip in a few weeks. Would any of you reccomend planting barefoot pear and apple now? I have a good dozen or so trees I’d like to get in the ground, my other option is June which has proven to be dangerous with the drought.

I’ve done several plantings in northern PA of pear, apples and crabapples into the third week in November had every one of them come back and get to growing well the next spring. Just gotta make sure the ground isn’t frozen solid using a soil temp map. I feel like it gives them a bit of a leg up on the spring planted trees.

 

[bigboreblr]

In fall 2022 I planted about a dozen bareroot apple / crabapples. All are alive and doing well, except one not well suited for zone 3. I think its superior to spring planting. Gives the trees several months to get used to their new home. Also, fall trees are very likely freshly dug. Some bareroots for the spring sit in storage for awhile.

I graft rootstock in the spring and grow them in rootmaker pots more than buying bareroots. I have planted anywhere from june to december with good results. I do not suggest you plant rootmakers pots that late, rootball freezes. Probably planted 25-30 of my own, and gave out 20-25 to friends to plant. I have also bought bareroot trees in the spring and put them in rootmaker pots too. That works ok too.

Lots of good fishing an bird hunting you can enjy while the herd recovers. Hit NY is 2021/2022 almost back to normal far as herd numbers / sightings.

Finding fall bareroots can be tough. I got mine from whitetail crabs in PA. Cant speak of the fruit because theyre too young, but 30-06 and crossbow come recommended. Grow well, handle disease well too, some reason crossbow isnt bothered badly by bugs. I do spray 3-5 times a year at home and 1-2 at camp. Folks like droptine, but I get winter dieback in zone 3 and get CAR pretty bad at home. I pluck off the flowers on my trees for the 1st 3 years. Missed a few on 30-06 at home, still holding well despite drought conditions. I do water them a bit at home.

 

[BuckSnort]

There is another thread on here somewhere that I’ve posted about this as well. For the last several years I’ve moved to fall planting. This is largely because I’m grafting my own trees at home, transplanting them to the hunting property, however largely because spring planting does not work well with my job. I was nervous reading what I could on the subject, especially being colder here in WI but it’s worked really well for me. In fact, last year my fall planted trees did better than the ones I had potted for people in the garden for the spring. I should have topped them in compost as well because the very cold temps and no snow for insulation froze the roots and they never leafed out in the spring. I usually try to dig as the trees as dormant or just about there (significant leaf drop). Just make sure all the air pockets are out of the hole and protect from critters. Ran out of small fence one year and the rabbits got a few trees.