Tree/shrub planting question

[PrincessFiona]

Alright...so I bought tons of trees/shrubs on sale a month ago thinking we were about to move in to ouir new house. (We were supposed to close last Friday). I thought I'd have *just* enough time to get them in the ground. Now we aren't closing until Oct 21st.

We live up north in the frozen tundra of MN...what should I do with the trees/shrubs? Should I try planting them at the end of October and just hope for the best...or....should I try and keep them alive in my garage all winter and plant in the spring?

I also have tons of perrenials that I split too....

Any advice?

kris

[mommax3]

see if you can go over to the new house and plant them anyway? I wouldn't think that anyone would object....

Sally

[PrincessFiona]

I thought of that too. Unfortunately, they haven't laid the sod/landscaping 'stuff'. They are supposed to be clearing out the forest of weeds at the end of this week. Next week they are laying sod as well as placing edging for *garden* areas for me to plant the trees.

I wonder if mid-october would be too late?

kris

[Cumberland]

Sod has much shallower roots than trees do. If the sod can make it, then the trees can too. Some planter's association came up with the slogan 'fall is for planting' bc it is the best time to plant as the root systems can develop. I know it is too late to lay sod here in Georgia- so it seems kind of odd to me that they are laying it up where you are- I wonder if that is ok?

[PrincessFiona]

Hmmm...I had wondered the same thing myself. I'm going to check into this because that sod is expensive!

kris

That's a tough one, I'd call a local nursery.

Fall is a great time for planting shrubs and such here because of all the winter moisture but I'm not sure how the MN cold plays into it.

Arborea??? Any advice?

I know zone 7 LOL.

Fall is good for planting because the soil is warmer than the outside temp and this encourages root growth.

I'd go ahead and plant them as soon as you can. Overwintering is probably not a practical approach. Depending on what you have, there is the space issue, plus,its too easy to forget to water them if they are sitting in the garage or basement when its snowing out.

When you plant , go about a foot past the rootball all the way around. Since its going to be a late planting, I'd skip any amendments to the soil or fertilizing. You can do that in the spring.

Just chop up the backfill really well with your spade and use that, making sure to scratch up the sides of the hole so the roots can get through easily. I would just water well the first month, starting daily and tapering off to once a week at the end of the 4 weeks. If there isn't a lot of snow, keep watering so the plant gets at least one inch per week.

You can mulch the ground around the plant with pine straw(dropped pine needles) or leaves that have been chopped up by running the mower over them so they will compost easily to help with insulation. Snow is a really good plant protector, it insulates the roots from the cold air, but the organic mulch will help too.

If it doesn't snow much, you'll need to continue watering. No snow is the same as a drought.

Since the plants will be a little traumatized by the planting, you may want to cover them with bedsheets the first couple frosts til they harden off more. You could also spray the foliage with water when you are expecting a frost...the water freezes on the leaves and actually protects the plant.

This is all from memory, you might want to check out...

http://www3.extension.umn.edu/index.html
The MN Extension Agency


Here's a link for Iowa State on fall planting
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews ... plant.html

[PrincessFiona]

WOW Tracy. Thankyou so much!!!!!! I'm going to do exactly what you said!

What is...backfill?

kris

The soil you take out of the ground to make the hole.

[PrincessFiona]

DUH!

Sorry about that!

kris

[PrincessFiona]

Sunday was a beautiful day and I snuck over and planted more than half of them. Hopefully, this won't be a big deal. We had a frost again last night, so I felt really good about getting most of them in. I'm hoping it will warm up a little tis afternoon so that I can go and plant the rest. :>

[Meenah]

LOL, I hope the new neighbors didn't see you sneaking around with a shovel digging a hole!!!!!!!!
Tracy, please come live with me for a planting season.
Luanne