It’s bare root planting season and that is the best time to plant fruit trees… and the cheapest. In this video I go through everything you need to know to including how to plant a bare root fruit tree, how to prune a bare root fruit tree, how to grow a fruit tree from bare root.
To see our fruit tree haul visit our Homestead Channel: http://www.youtube.com/nextlevelhomestead
It’s kind of a long video, so below is a time stamp table of contents!
02:45 Chill Hours for bare root fruit trees
03:24 Do I need a pollinator for my fruit tree?
04:28 Bare root fruit tree Sun & Spacing Requirements
06:50 Check bare roots
07:37 Ready to Plant our bare root fruit tree!
09:05 Fruit Tree Gopher/Groundhog Protection
11:00 Back to Planting or fruit tree
12:10 Best way to stake a fruit tree
13:43 How to prune a bare root fruit tree
FELCO 2 PRUNERS and Other Products I Love: https://www.nextlevelgardening.tv/products-i-love
34 Comments
It's kind of a long video, so check out the time stamp table of contents in the video description if you want to find a specific subject!!
I want Bing cherry and golden delicious apples
I’m super excited about the espalier trees! I can’t wait to see that show!!! ❤🎉
Remember to plant the grafting point bump of the root stock and the tree trunk to the north – protecting it from sunlight and heat damage.
This is also the most premium time when starting the new tree with a painted coat (especially the dark-purple barked plums and cherries) with a 1/2 – 1/2 household LATEX paint and water. Spray or lightly paint the trunk and the limbs – no saturation painting. The household latex has an embedded anti-mold, – mildew, -fungus ingredient in the paint – so this helps the tree from getting infected from diseased soil (soil blight single celled virus – from rain bounce getting onto the bark, and into the cambium and heart wood destroying the tree). It also stops ants, termites, aphids, thrips, and other molds from infecting the tree from its start.
Dark-barked trees, especially with our heat domes and other extreme summer heat, need whitewashing protection, as this keeps the bark cool, and the whiteness also helps with sunlight bounce (albedo effect) amongst the trunk and the limbs for the fruiting and the tree's foliage chlorophyll photosynthesis processes.
If you have the chance, find Bartender's friend or STEARAMINE – which is the restaurant bar – sanitizing rinse solution. Make a very dilute concoction and MIST the tree trunk and limbs – no water drips and soaking !! – only mist the tree. This will also sanitize the tree from molds, mildews, fungus, lichens (that birds will transport on their feet when landing in the tree). It also makes a nasty taste for insects wanting to drill into the bark and cambium. This process can be done annually as a preventative measure.
Extremely helpful video, thank you!
A good way to make the tree baskets – is make them first above ground. Make the sidewall cylinder, then place the chicken wire over the top, snip the wire edges, interweave the clips and netting, and twist-lock them to the cylinder. This makes for a very sturdy protection basket.
Plum
Great video!
Hope that May Pride works out for you! 👍
Great information!!
I planted a peach tree 2 years ago it's self pollinating. I don't want it to get to tall can I still trim it down. Thank You this video was very informative.
Loved the intro–I was waiting for the disclaimer: until a gopher finds a way around your barrier–sigh.
I planted 4 apple trees. I grew 3 of those from seed. Then I added 4 pear trees. All but one of my apples from seed made it through the summer. I want to propelgate many trees from the trees I bought, so I'm hoping I can. I'm making an orchard in my front yard. My great aunt had one in her backyard and when I was young, my brothers and sisters and I would help harvest the fruit. I've wanted to have an orchard ever since. My great Aunt Thelma died last year, and I believe she was 99, but her life will live on through me and my memories and my orchard.
Just planted four grape vines. Berries and apricots after this next storm passes. Ground is so nice to dig right now. 😉
Great job of explaining and showing the process of buying, planting and pruning. TY Brian.
Hey Brian, I’m just now getting to the point of finally planting trees. When you mentioned popping it in the ground until you can move it In to its new home, and then soaking in water for an hour before putting in its permanent spot…I’m just curious if it would harm the tree to let it sit in water for a few days, if our tree arrives when we just don’t have time yet to do anything with it? And if it is ok to do that, would it be best to bring it in to the house until we have time to deal with it? Or would outside or the garage be best? I’m in Oklahoma (7a) and we are experiencing below freezing temps right now. Which is typical through most of February too. Thank you for this very timely video!! As always, you are the YouTube gardener I trust the most!!
Fruit tree pruning is way different then nut trees then… if you cut the center trunk in say an oak would it not make a weak branch or main trunk
In South Texas we really can only plant orange or grapefruit. We planted a grapefruit and planted last year
I bought two Mulberry trees and got them in the ground. All was going well until we had the last hurricane come through. I should have taken the chance of them getting shock and dug them back up and put them inside until the storm passed. One made it, one didn't. Oddly, the one that is making it is the one where our swamp bunnies leave their "deposits". Built in fertilizer!!
Great video Brian, thanks!🤗❤️🤗
I’m just north of STL Mo and I would love to have a Bing cherry tree and a peach tree. Maybe even a plum 😎. Great video Brian 👍🏻
My question is can I plant some of this trees in tropical Africa? It’s never snowed here before at least to my knowledge and keep hearing you talk about things that give me the impression that they need very low temperatures to be successful
To get your fruit tree off to the best start it doesn't hurt to consult with orchardists who really know pruning methods to best suit the type of fruit tree you are growing and the particular climate and sun exposure and temperatures the tree will be exposed to all of which can impact how the tree should be pruned. I found out through a local orchardist I talked to that my local university agriculture extension had a fruit tree expert that was helping these professional fruit growers and he came out and looked at my fruit trees.
Also I found a few good fruit tree pruning channels on YT one, Stefan Sobkowiak also offers an in depth course.
Cherry trees please!
When pruning the tree please show both sides of the tree. I couldn’t see the other branch at all.
Great video, always learning something new. I live in zone 3-4 so trees have to be cold hardy. I have 4 apple trees right now. I’m hoping to add an apple and maybe a plum or two this summer. We have a honey crisp, a zestar and two chestnut crab. We have only planted bare root. I’m wondering if we can espalier here in this cold climate. Looking forward to your next video. Thank you.
I recently bought and planted a low chill apricot, nectarine, Pink lady apple, Anna apple, Dorset apple, 2 pears, an olive, mulberry, 2 pluberry, I have two plum and a peach already. A satsuma, Tahitian lime, clamondin, 2 avocado, 2 cherry. I am following Ann Ralph’s “Grow a Little Fruit Tree”. The cherry trees will be fan espaliers. Takes guts to follow her plan but so far so good!
Would love a more detailed video about care and fertilization of fruit trees over the winter. Last year we had rust and I think maybe fire blight on our pears. I know there are preventatives you can add in the dormant season to help the tree become stronger and healthier tree during the growth season.
There is no chill hrs here in the Philippines what do I do for apples and the like!!!
Thanks for the video. It was very interesting. I do have a couple of questions. When is the best time of year to do this pruning? Right after fall or before spring? And is this something you do once a year for the life of the tree?
I have not been able to get a cherry to grow. They always die
Nice! Thanks.
I would love to see a video on trees that have 3-4 grafted fruits. Do the varieties pollinate each other? Are there special growing or pruning requirements?
Well done Brian, as usual – thorough and detailed, including having the extra apple blooms inside the house – what a treat. Bought more? Of course you did :O)