young apple tree protection - advice needed

[seneca196]

Need some quick advice :

I'm getting some 1 year old bare root apple, pear and plum trees delivered this week and have totally overlooked the thought of protecting them. Been only thinking about planting and preparing for that recently. Just occurred to me that the 1 year old bare rooted trees may just be attractive to the local wildlife. I back onto an allotment, so there may be a few rabbits. There are loads of mice and rats. Also, our garden is well occupied by a gang of squirrels this time of year, as well as the usual bird life.

Do I need to protect them some how? What are those plastic guards for?

If I need something I need to buy it quick as I planned to plant this weekend!

HELP!!

[Guest]

I have all of those except rabbits and they are not a problem. Muntjac tend to be a problem, thankfully my boundary is fenced and gated but my neighbours have lost a few things over the years to them (they don't have a gate) I have also watched them eat the fallen bird food as well in the neighbours.

Hopefully another grape can tell you if rabbits are a threat to them.

[Kristen]

Spiral tree guard will stop Rabbits etc. eating the main stem, but once the plants have sideways branches at low level Rabbits will still eat them (won't be a problem if your plants are Standards, rather than Maidens, as the branches will be above Rabbit Chewing Height )

If you need to protect lower branches then a circle (cylinder-shaped) of chicken wire should be sufficient, held in place with a few canes so the wind doesn't shift it. Rabbits are unlikely to bother to try to burrow under the wire, so just making sure it is in reasonable contact with the ground should be enough.

Note that small rabbits will get through the holes in chicken wire sold for Chicken runs so you need Rabbit wire, which is chicken wire with ... ermmm ... smaller holes ... although I doubt you need to bother with that just to protect a tree, more of a problem when building a wire fence around a whole patch (otherwise baby rabbits would squeeze in, set up camp, breed, and eat all your veg! I don't think they will bother to squeeze in to a single tree's cage to nibble the tree's branches, and probably couldn't reach up anyway!, so just need to keep the bigger ones out. Long story short ... if you are buying Chicken Wire specifically then get Rabbit Wire, if you are scavenging some then probably anything will do, smaller "holes" is better.

So: if you are buying maidens, with just a single stem (for now), you'd get away with spiral guards for the first winter, at least.

[Kristen]

Hopefully another grape can tell you if rabbits are a threat to them.

Rabbits have chewed off all the bottom "arms" of my espalier Apples My whole garden is netted, but a couple have got it (under the gate when we were having some work done and the Dumper made deep ruts for a while), so an army would be likely to be even more of a problem.

[seneca196]

Thanks for the prompt help. Much appreciated. Will grab a load of those plastic spiral guards just to be on the safe side. They are cheap enough anyway. I will have a couple of pre-trained espaliers, so will have to keep fingers crossed. Otherwise I get a rocking chair, flashlight and shotgun to keep guard (always dreamt of being Elma Fudd!)

[FB.]

Don't plant your trees until you can protect them from rabbits.
Rabbits love the bark of young fruit trees. One rabbit can cause enough damage in just a few minutes to result in what will ultimately be fatal damage to a tree.
If not fatal, it will still 'girdle' the scion so the fruiting part dies and leaves you with just a rootstock, which won't produce the quality of fruit you were hoping for.

[seneca196]

Better order quickly then. What's the best way to delay planting bare root? I'm ordering from Keepers and have a dozen or so trees of differing types, form and ages. Is there an alternative to digging a big hole and "heeling" them in it together?
I will plant over the week after they arrive and one at a time. Could I leave them packed in a cold, dark garage for a week, or is that too long? How about regularly sparying roots with water using a mist sprayer for a week. I think they should be all done planting within a week, but was hoping I could avoid temporarily heeling them and just store them. Heeling seems a bit long term and I hope to be finished by Christmas/Boxing Day (means I can unavoidably dodge the family and festivities!)

[Kristen]

Sounds fine to me; I've frequently taken a week, sometime more, to complete planting of a batch of bare root plants during Winter. Dunk roots well when they arrive - assume they were lifted early, sat around and then travelled to you . Wrap in old compost bag or similar preferably with something in/around/near the roots that is damp - hessian would be good, rolled out newspaper better than nothing. I personally would dunk them again every couple of days. Leave them in a dark and cool, but frost free, position until ready for planting. Keep them (i.e. the root end) in a plastic bag until the moment of planting - so the roots are not subjected to cold / drying wind - if they need it then sit a few in a bucket of water as part of the planting sequence. (Important not to leave them sitting in water for significant periods, although an hour when they arrive might not be unreasonable, particularity if the roots look dry)

That's what I would do, others may have different opinions / advice.

[Kristen]

P.S. if you dig holes before hand, to prepare them, don't leave them open - cold nights will penetrate the soil below the hole and that will be cold long after you plant & backfill. If preparing holes then backfill and reopen them when the plant is available and ready for planting.

[FB.]

What's the best way to delay planting bare root? I'm ordering from Keepers and have a dozen or so trees of differing types, form and ages. Is there an alternative to digging a big hole and "heeling" them in it together?

Just leave the packaging unopened and keep it outdoors in the shed until you're ready. You could poke a few small holes in the packaging to allow some air in if they'll be waiting more than a few days.

Keepers usually lay a roughly 2x2m plastic sheet on the ground, chuck a layer of straw on it, place the trees inside, tied the trees to some canes and to each other as a bundle, then chuck more straw on top, roll up the plastic sheet around the trees and tie with string.

[FB.]

->

Several pictures showing the way Keepers pack their trees:

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[seneca196]

Many thanks folks. Come to my rescue in my hour of need. I had intended to take time off this week as part of my Christmas leave, but so busy can't do so. Trees arriving Thursday and I have no free time until Monday. I am then off for the whole week. I plan to plant them (13 in all) one at a time over the week, as time and conditions allow.
Great info on the keepers trees FB. Wonder if it would help to put some holes in the root end of the bag and dunk the whole bag in water for an hour once a day. That should keep them well soaked and hopefully ok until planted. Will it do them any good/harm? I'm a bit of a novice in these matters and am fussing trying to get things just right. Hope to relax once it's all over!

[seneca196]

Interesting pics FB. What are they : rootstock, age etc?

[FB.]

Wonder if it would help to put some holes in the root end of the bag and dunk the whole bag in water for an hour once a day.

I wouldn't advise it; root-rotting diseases will love it. They will be fine in the packaging for up to a week. Longer than that they might need 'heeling-in' somewhere safe - which could just be laying them on your patio or in your garden (away from rabbits) and shovelling some soil or compost to cover the roots (protecting from light and drying-out) until you're ready to plant.

The trees are mostly dormant so they don't need much of anything until they come into leaf, other than to be kept cool to prevent them thinking it's spring.
They may continue very slowly growing more roots during the dormant period when the temperature is above about 5'C, and root growth will accelerate as the soil warms in spring, just before leaves start to appear.

[FB.]

Interesting pics FB. What are they : rootstock, age etc?

I can't remember specifics, but they will be mostly one-year maidens (apple, pear or plum), with perhaps the chunkiest one on the right being a two-year-old or three-year-old standard/half-standard bought at a reduced/clearance/end-of-season price.

Rootstock will be vigorous, so the likes of M25, MM111, Pyrus.communis/seedling, Pyrodwarf, Brompton etc.