Need help with bare root cherry trees

[Lenore]

Recently I ordered two cherry trees from Blackmoor Nursery, and they sent them last week, in that small window of non-freezing weather that we had here in south Wales. They came last thurs, and as we couldn't put them in the ground, we potted them up in large pots with garden centre compost, and watered them in, and placed them in an unheated storage room. Now, a week, later, the top foot of both trees are showing signs of desiccation. Does anyone have any advice to help them? We tried calling the nursery but they're gone until the new year! I'd hate to lose my trees..help!

[Mell]

You could try misting them if you have a sprayer handy.

[FB.]

When you say:

"signs of desiccation"

What are the signs that you're seeing?

and

"an unheated storage room"

what is the environment in there?

Are you trying to say that the trees are still growing?
If so, they should be dormant for the winter, otherwise they will lose their hardiness and may take a few seasons to realise what season it is and start growing properly.


I would have just potted them and put them outside until the weather improves. To moderate temperature fluctuation around the roots, you could have used some bubble wrap around the pots and stood the pots in a sheltered spot.

Another option would have been to just lay them on the ground outside and cover the roots with a few inches of your compost (but not home-made compost!).

[WrexTheDragon]

I like to put my bare rooted plant in a large bucket of water for 24 before planting. Too late now I guess for you, but just make sure that compost does not get dry.

[FB.]

In view of me having serious problems with crown rot on certain apple rootstocks (M25 and MM106) and pear rootstocks (Pyrus), I would suggest not putting trees into water (especially stagnant water from a water butt) for more than several hours, otherwise crown rot fungal spores may be able to germinate and enter into the rootstock.
Apple rootstocks M9, M26? and MM111 have partial resistance to crown rot, as do the pear rootstocks Quince A and Quince C.
It can take a few years for young trees infected with crown rot (sometimes brought with them from the nursery if the nursery is prone to heavy soil) to gradually suffer from the fungus eating away the roots before finally killing the trees root system - the disease is unseen until the tree dies suddenly without warning - apart from some mild previous mild symptoms such as: reduced vigour, unusually heavy blossoming, fewer/smaller leaves and unusual-coloured leaves in autumn.