Starting off a variety of new fruit trees

[jonahjonah]

Hi all,

I just received six bare root fruit trees on dwarfing stocks. The trees are currently 90 cm and include Braeburn apple, Stella cherry, Hungarian Best apricot, Williams pear, Stanley plum, and Fantasia nectarine. I've taken them out of their root wraps and placed them in some water. Does anyone have a good resource for the size pot they should go in? They look like their roots could be comfortably contained in approximately 7L pots.

Also, any advice for the early days of getting them settled in their new pots? I'm wondering if they want to stay out of the direct sun and heat for a bit.

Thanks!

[nickdub]

As long as the roots can fit comfortably, then whatever size of pot you have will be fine for now.

In the short term you are absolutely right about conditions, put them somewhere with at least dappled shade for a week or so - preferably also protected so they don't get blown about by the wind. Best to mix some blood, fish and bone in with the compost when you pot them up, so they have a bit of longer term nourishment to go at. Obviously they will need to be watered regularly - probably daily - until they start putting on some roots.

In an ideal world the nectarine and the apricot would be best planted in the border of a poly-tunnel/GH /conservatory.

The pear and the cherry at your location would do well fan-trained against a south wall planted in the soil.

The plum and the apple would be best planted put as freestanding trees.

I know there are other people on here who have experience of growing fruit trees in containers, so I'll leave them to comment further, as that is not something I've done.

[veggiechicken]

Hope they're OK jonah.
I planted mine in the ground as I'm not very good with watering pots.
They're all alive and in leaf. The plums were the slowest to do anything.

[jonahjonah]

Thanks, VC. I'm sure the selection sounds familiar

I'm happy if I can put them at least temporarily into pots.

[Fruitz]

I know that nurseries put even bigger trees in even smaller pots so you should be fine planting them in a 7 litre pot this year as long as you look after them properly. You can plant them in the ground or a bigger pot next year.

How are the trees you received? I only know one company that are still selling bare roots and I saw the same deal and at just over £4 per tree i was interested but it just seems so late in the season. I wonder if they were kept in fridges to keep them dormant?

[jonahjonah]

Thanks, Fruitz. It was from the deal posted on this forum a few weeks ago. Some of the trees have a few leaves out and the rest have just a couple little buds. The soil/compost/material the roots were packed in still damp and the trees with leaves didn't look wilted. I received notice of dispatch yesterday and they arrived today. I realize it's late for bare root trees, but it was a small investment to give it a go. They're in their pots now in a shady, sheltered area. Fingers crossed.

I can take a photo of them tomorrow if you like.

[nickdub]

Thanks, Fruitz. It was from the deal posted on this forum a few weeks ago. Some of the trees have a few leaves out and the rest have just a couple little buds. The soil/compost/material the roots were packed in still damp and the trees with leaves didn't look wilted. I received notice of dispatch yesterday and they arrived today. I realize it's late for bare root trees, but it was a small investment to give it a go. They're in their pots now in a shady, sheltered area. Fingers crossed.

I can take a photo of them tomorrow if you like.

Sounds like you got them in really good condition - I think they'll do fine - as has already been said, they were probably kept in cold storage.

photos are always appreciated - we're a nosy lot :-)

[Fruitz]

Thanks, Fruitz. It was from the deal posted on this forum a few weeks ago. Some of the trees have a few leaves out and the rest have just a couple little buds. The soil/compost/material the roots were packed in still damp and the trees with leaves didn't look wilted. I received notice of dispatch yesterday and they arrived today. I realize it's late for bare root trees, but it was a small investment to give it a go. They're in their pots now in a shady, sheltered area. Fingers crossed.

I can take a photo of them tomorrow if you like.

Yeah for the price it's definitely worth a try at least. If i had space for another 6 trees i would have bought it for myself but I already purchased some more expensive bare root trees a month or 2 ago. A relative was interested in purchasing a few trees however for their new garden.

And as already said, pictures are always welcome.

[meanmoose]

I know that nurseries put even bigger trees in even smaller pots so you should be fine planting them in a 7 litre pot this year as long as you look after them properly. You can plant them in the ground or a bigger pot next year.

How are the trees you received? I only know one company that are still selling bare roots and I saw the same deal and at just over £4 per tree i was interested but it just seems so late in the season. I wonder if they were kept in fridges to keep them dormant?

Just curious what company is this? Looks like a good deal.
If you cant post the name you can PM me?

[meanmoose]

Hi all,

I just received six bare root fruit trees on dwarfing stocks. The trees are currently 90 cm and include Braeburn apple, Stella cherry, Hungarian Best apricot, Williams pear, Stanley plum, and Fantasia nectarine. I've taken them out of their root wraps and placed them in some water. Does anyone have a good resource for the size pot they should go in? They look like their roots could be comfortably contained in approximately 7L pots.

Also, any advice for the early days of getting them settled in their new pots? I'm wondering if they want to stay out of the direct sun and heat for a bit.

Thanks!

Looks like I did an overkill here. I have trees arrive last month and I used 30L pots per planting instructions! Now thinking I should have gone smaller.

[nickdub]

The basic rule is that you need to allow a bit of room for root growth, but not too much. So if a plant will fit comfortably in a pot without forcing the roots in, then it should be fine for a while - of course in the case of a tree the chances are that a larger pot will be required - probably sooner rather then later.

[jonahjonah]

meanmoose, I ordered them from https://www.gardenbargains.com/item-...productReviews as first posted in https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...offers-67.html.

Don't mind the weeds etc in the photos...

Back row, left to right: apricot, pear, nectarine. Front row, left to right: cherry, apple, plum.

Second photo is a closer look at the leaves.

[nickdub]

Looking good - keep them well watered at this stage by trickling a little water daily down near the trunk of the trees - the roots won't have spread much in the compost, so you need to get the watering aimed towards where the roots are active.

Subsequently, when the trees are no longer on the "high dependency" list, you can go back to normal watering.

[jonahjonah]

Thanks. They've had a little drink today. Luckily it's cooler today and they're sheltered from the wind. Now to figure out what I ever thought I'd do with six trees...

[veggiechicken]

............I ordered 2 packs - 12 trees to find homes for.
Because I'm lazy, I'm bunged them in the ground and watered the hole before planting - and let Mother Nature do the rest. They've survived and look healthy so far!