Need a little help.....

[H20fwler]

A couple weeks ago I ordered 50 4' bare root hemlock trees to be shipped to me late March.
Somehow the signals got crossed at the nursery and I now have a huge box of fifty hemlocks sitting on my porch!

Do they have to be planted right away? Our ground is semi-frozen right now.
Can I keep them dormant? If so how?
If they can wait what can I do to keep them healthy and alive until March?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tooln]

I'd suggest getting a hold of the nursery you got them from. But then again the order got screwed up so any info from them needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

If there's any way to plant them now, that would be your best bet. Digging holes in mostly frozen ground with a pick axe isn't fun, but it can be done. One year I had to plant a lot of apple trees in frozen ground and they did great. Digging the holes really, really sucked though.

 

[H20fwler]

I sent an email to the nursery, will call them if I don't hear back today.
I wondered about healing them into a big horse trough or something in pete and topsoil?
I couldn't even use an auger this time of year as half frozen and muddy as it is here, and it's early in the week.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I've kept bare root evergreen seedlings alive and healthy in a 5 gal. bucket filled with peat moss and compost that is well dampened. I drilled (4), 1/8" holes in the bottom of the bucket first to let excess water drain out. They kept for up to a month for me. No probs. Get supplies at H.D., Lowes, TS, etc. I stored them in an un-heated garage near a window - 45 to 50 degrees in there. FWIW.

 

[John-W-WI]

If you do try to keep them for a while prior to planting, be careful. Evergreens will transpire moisture out of their needles even when dormant. Cover them with something maybe? For the same reason, evergreens should only be spring planted, where deciduous trees do well planted in the fall. Just my humble opinion. Not saying it's correct! :)

-John

 

[H20fwler]

I think I'm going to try and get as many in the ground as I can today, it's supposed to get close to 40f here today. Then temps are back down into the twenties for a few days then another warm up so I will try and get the rest in next week.
Still haven't heard back from the nursery, going to call them today.

 

[H20fwler]

I got them all planted, went pretty fast and was plenty muddy. I hate to be rushed planting trees.
The nursery wasn't very helpful, said sorry that was it.
Some of the trees may have been 4' with the roots but in the ground they averaged closer to 2'-2 1/2'..hopefully the majority will survive, if the deer don't eat them up they shouldn't need watered as much this summer.