Apples at Christmas

[snohare]

So there was this lovely advert, apple trees £10 apiece, free P&P from the company, one weekend only, delivery sometime before April.
They arrived with no warning day before yesterday, bare rooted, still in leaf ! Freshly in leaf, perhaps. They look awfully fresh young leaves.
My problem is this: the ground outside is frozen, I cannot plant either one of them where they are to go. I don't even have compost or soil which will not be very chilly at present.
For the moment, they are in a hermetically sealed plastic bag, the roots are wrapped in another tightly sealed plastic wrapper. The instructions on what to do with my James Grieve M27s are sealed inside the big bag.
So what I'm wondering is, can I keep them inside their Wardian tomb, where presumably the moisture level is fine for them, or do I take them out and stick them in the hoary ground, hoping that they don't go into some kind of shock ? After all, don't they normally meet the opposite situation - cooling head while the feet are still warm, rather than active leaves and chilled roots ?

[Nicos]

To be honest- I've no idea!!
Gut feeling would be to pot up- if they're in leaf then they'll presumably need water- so they need to be in soil at some point in the near future.
The frost would- I imagine- see off the leaves.
Can you pot up and leave them somewhere frost free with a bit of light???

Why not give a ring to the peeps who sent them to you? They should advise you on what to do. They shouldn't be in leaf at this time of the year. Maybe they could be persuaded to send you replacement ones in the Spring? ( they may not be aware they were in leaf???)
Let us know what happens!

[rustylady]

I really think you need to unwrap them. As Nicos says, can you pot them up and put somewhere frost free for now.

[veggiechicken]

Poor Snohare. If its not enough to wonder how you can store your carrots and parsnips, you now have apple trees to cope with. Maybe you could plant the trees in your drawers (teehee) and hang the carrots and parsnips from the branches (suspenders?). It would look very festive and if you had some lights they would help the tree to believe it was springtime. Just another of my helpful suggestions!

[Aberdeenplotter]

If you can get through the frozen crust of soil and then down a bit further you should be able to heel your tree/trees in. Soil is a really good insulator. I'd be a bit disappointed if I was sent bare rooted trees at this time of year. The supplier should really know better.

[snohare]

Well, part of what is confusing me AP is that at this time of year, when I worked as a tree nurseryman (no fruit trees, alas), we were sending out most of our orders - because of course the trees were dormant on account of the cold, and there was no loss of moisture through transpiration from the leaves due to there being no leaves. This is a bizarre juxtaposition of active leaves and bare roots - there might be a very small amount of soil around the roots but it's a tiny amount. But the trees are beautiful specimens, about five feet tall, nice growth habit, if only the soil was a bit warmer then I might be more tempted...
I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and either plant them out, or put them in a tub in my living room !
Veggiechicken, I can see me having a truly bizarre Christmas tree this year...well, at least I have the decor to match it !
There had to be an advantage to having a house so cold the granny gauges all scream "Danger of hypothermia!" most of the time...it looks like this one occasion, might be it.

[FB.]

Can you show a picture of how the roots are packaged?

Also a picture of the new shoots/leaves, to see whether the leaves have burst-out while in transit (due to being in a hot warehouse and thinking that spring has arrived) or whether the trees were still in full leaf when shipped?

I would suggest that you ask the company for advice because it will be them who have to replace the trees if they die.

If the company is unhelpful, I would suggest heeling-in as suggested above (the frosts will soon persuade them to drop their leaves), or, if worried about deep freezing, put them into pots in the shed, filled with damp compost.

Not that I'm an expert on Scotland's climate, but I thought that M27 was supposed to be a bit frost-tender and not really suited to deep freezing soil conditions.
The most cold-tolerant of the reasonably-available rootstocks tend to be M26 (semi-dwarfing; about 2metres) and MM111 (vigorous; about 4 metres).
M27's shallow roots may be freeze-damaged, while MM106 and M25 tend to try to keep growing as late as possible and the not-fully-hardened shoots can be frost-damaged which then allows canker to attack.

[snohare]

Needless to say, all my rechargeable batteries for my camera are dead. But I will do my best to take a photo or two and post them online, FB.
I can't even remember the name of the company I got them from. (My brainfog is always bad at this time of year.) Suttons ? I will have to look up my emails, see which one it was, give them a shout.
Half my problem here is that I have no shed, nor anything like it. The best I can do is send 'em off to someone with a greenhouse, but transport is the thing there, me not having a car.
Really wasn't expecting them at this time of year ! Although I have decided to give one to my mum for Christmas - a bit of nice blossom for her to look at from her kitchen window - so I can't complain really.
Is M27 a dwarf rootstock ? Because they were advertised as being such, but although the labels say M27 I have the funny feeling it was supposed to be MM106, and I am planning on using one as an espalier against the screen round the whirly.

[veggiechicken]

My free Copella apple tree arrived 4 November, looked dormant. I planted it a few days later and it was in leaf by beginning of December. This one was supplied by T&M. Whatever time of year did it think it was?

[FB.]

Needless to say, all my rechargeable batteries for my camera are dead. But I will do my best to take a photo or two and post them online, FB.
I can't even remember the name of the company I got them from. (My brainfog is always bad at this time of year.) Suttons ? I will have to look up my emails, see which one it was, give them a shout.
Half my problem here is that I have no shed, nor anything like it. The best I can do is send 'em off to someone with a greenhouse, but transport is the thing there, me not having a car.
Really wasn't expecting them at this time of year ! Although I have decided to give one to my mum for Christmas - a bit of nice blossom for her to look at from her kitchen window - so I can't complain really.
Is M27 a dwarf rootstock ? Because they were advertised as being such, but although the labels say M27 I have the funny feeling it was supposed to be MM106, and I am planning on using one as an espalier against the screen round the whirly.

Apple rootstock approximate sizes (variable +/-50% depending on soil and on the variety grafted)

M27: extremely dwarf, 1.25m
M9: dwarf, 1.5m
M26: semi-dwarf, 2m
M116: medium, 2.5m
MM106: semi-vigorous, 3m
MM111: vigorous, 3.5m
M25: vigorous, 4.5m

The chances of managing to create an espalier from M27 are very low; it will need a lot of fertilising (see the other espalier thread running at the moment).

Note that the above are *typical* sizes, but the MM106 in particular is very variable; it can be as small as M26 in the lower-rainfall, warmer and sunnier East/SouthEast of the UK.
MM106 dislikes hot and dry soil, just like its parent; Malling-1 rootstock.
But in the cooler and damper Midlands soils, MM106 can rival MM111.

MM111 copes well with hot and dry soil (but also copes well with heavy and cold soil), just like its parent; Malling-2 rootstock.
However, as said above; MM106 encourages the variety grafted to it to hold its leaves late in the season and risks some frost damage. MM106 also encourages the variety grafted to it to leaf-out and blossom early, so risks further frost damage early in spring which can kill blossoms and result in no fruit.

[northepaul]

My apple trees arrived on the 1st Dec - they usually send bare rooted plants out in the winter, so the trees are not too shocked about being dug up and moved.
Happily for me the company I used, emailed me to advice me they were on their way so I could prepare. (Blackmoor)
M27 is very happy in a big pot, atleast temporarily until you can plant them in their final positions. Can you provide them with any shelter at all? Maybe against a warm protected wall if nothing else is available...fleece the pot??
Definately contact the supplier as stated above.

[snohare]

Hopefully you will be able to see the trees in pictures below.
I was driving past molehills today, they had been sitting in the sunshine and were totally thawed out - oh to have been able to stop with a sack and shovel ! By now they will be getting refrozen again.
The advert by DT Brown definitely said they would be M106s, so I will be on the phone to them pdq tomorrow.

[Alison]

Blackmoor are sending me some out this week but they're usually very good on doing it right so am not too worried although might not enjoy planting them up at the weekend if the weather is bad

[VirginVegGrower]

A couple of my apples are in leaf and blossom - mad mad weather and mad mad fruit trees. They are either trying too hard for me or are incredibly stoopid.

[northepaul]

Snohare they look like they might need a drink maybe if they've dried out.

Are you gonna send them back?