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| Good morning.
I really blew it big time when I planted my American Hornbeam in May, on the same day it arrived after 3 days of transit. I take full responsibility for that. I figured since it was being planted on the north part of my house (but getting full sun) and that if I baby it enough, that no harm would come to it. Wrong. That very day the tree started changing into its fall color and within weeks the tree was 70% red. With a lot of watering (and praying) the tree has finally come back from the brink. Most of the leaves are green now, it has a lot of new growth, and the leaves have tripled in size. The tree went through a lot of unnecessary stress when it didn't have to. I will never do that again. My question is this, I am getting 2 more trees this Friday. I know that the best time to plant is spring and fall, but I still want to give this a try. The trees were only $15 each. The nursery (Forest Farm) said to take at least a week to harden them off before planting. Do I keep them inside my house the first day? They are tiny trees, only 2 feet tall. Or should they go out on our covered porch? I just don't know exactly how long they should be inside or outside before they are planted into full sun. Thanks in advance. I wish I had done this with my other tree. Live and learn. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, Jun 26, 12 at 12:08
| the rule that got me from 50/50 to 95% success ... was learning that JUST BECAUSE YOU GOT IT IN SUMMER.. DOES NOT MEAN ITS PROPER PLANTING TIME ... and to facilitate this rule .. i learned to pot things up in summer... and HOLD THEM until proper planting time ... [and i am presuming they are sending small tree bands.. not one gal pots] ... either use a cactus mix.. or your own equivalent mix.. and pot them into one gallons ... and hold them where the pot will always be in BRIGHT shade.. and plant them near dormancy.. in mid to late sept ... for your zone .. and then you dont have the sunshine stress.. because the leaves will have already fallen off ... WAG .... they are growing them in a shade house.. and they have never seen sunshine.. so you would have to ween them into sunshine.. on these.. you will have stress from moving them where they sat.. roots out the bottom.. packing stresses.. shipping stresses .. and that is just too much stress ... on a SMALL babe.. to then give them.. root disturbance stress.. root surgery stress.. planting stress.. and sunburn stress.. what could possibly be the upside.. to planting them in mother earth ??? pot and hold 'em ken
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| I think you are asking how to acclimate them to sunlight again. Bright indirect light the first couple days, then increasing from there. Allow a little (maybe 1-1.5 hours) direct sun about day three, then increase each day, but avoid mid-day sun until about day 7. At that point it is probable safe as long as proper attention is paid otherwise. Assuming these are container plants, then it's possible to plant is summer IF you are VERY diligent, and VERY careful. I would not plant here now (101F yesterday the highest ever recorded in June), but I would in early to mid-May which is probable about equals the weather you are getting now. BUT again, you have to know what your doing. Ken's suggestion is much better, and the plants should fare much better. But that again requires knowing how to handle a plant in a pot in full sun. I have many, but I water the stink out of them daily in weather like this, but I might water every other day depending upon conditions. Fertilizer properly is very important as well. The daily watering rapidly leaches nutrients. Just my $0.02, |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, Jun 26, 12 at 17:43
| if you put the pots in shade.. there will be no reason to water them everyday ... you know the drill ... water when they need it .. insert finger .... [you can actually tell how wet a pot is by its weight ... you can feel the water wieght.. versus the fluffy media ] i think ark is doing this professionally??? ... but i just dont see why a tree.. in a pot ... in shade .. once settled in.. and deeply watered at potting.. needs to be watered more than once per week ... and by my experience.. every other week ... but then he said.. POTS IN FULL SUN ... i am guessing.. he has them in full sun.. to maximize growth for sale.. and with the volume of water ... he needs fert ... i do it.. to grow some roots for fall planting and to wait for cool days and cooler nights ... and if you use fresh media.. i wouldnt bother fert'ing.. for the two or 3 months they will be potted ... 6 of this.. half dozen of the other... everything in moderation ... ken |
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- Posted by ilovemytrees 5b Western NY (My Page) on Tue, Jun 26, 12 at 18:20
| Thank you both so much for answering my question today. Yes, I am speaking specifically about acclimating the trees to sunlight. I really blew it by not following Ken Adrian's advice of protecting that American Hornbeam from sun when it had been in transit in a dark box for days. Ken, I bet you knew I was in for a mess by doing that. Both of these 2 new trees are supposed to be between 1-2 feet tall and they are in 1 Gal pots. I had told Forest Farm on the phone that I wanted to plant the trees at the end of October while they were dormant, but she said they don't ship to my zone after October 1, (yet on their website it said Oct 30) She was adamant it was October 1. She said though that if I waited that long (Oct 1) that if I had a "freeze" before the tree was in the ground 6 weeks that it would freeze the roots and basically the trees would die. That spooked me, although I see people planting here in November all the time, granted they are evergreens. I was spooked about the freeze so I got the trees now. They are going into all day and afternoon FULL sun so I want to be very careful. I think, since they are 1 Gal potted that I will acclimate them very slowly and give planting a whirl.I have no problem with heavy watering. That is how I brought my Hornbeam back from the brink of disaster. My sandy soil holds no water. I get that I am making a gamble.... Thank you again to both of you for responding. |
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- Posted by cearbhaill Zone 6b Eastern KY (My Page) on Wed, Jun 27, 12 at 7:26
| Be aware that "a freeze" relates to air temperature only. The soil does not freeze until much later in the season. I plant everything pretty much throughout the entire month of October and would not do it any other way. You can rig a dandy shade cloth with some stakes, an old sheet, and a handful of clothespins. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Wed, Jun 27, 12 at 8:05
| She said though that if I waited that long (Oct 1) that if I had a "freeze" before the tree was in the ground 6 weeks that it would freeze the roots and basically the trees would die. where are they.. z8???? .. your ground freezes to a foot or two.. like mine.. doesnt it .. lol ... we would prefer the tree leafless.. aka dormant... ABOVE THE GROUND ... but it will continue to grow roots.. at least get them pumping again ... until the GROUND FREEZES .. the roots will presumably be down 6 to 12 inches.. or so.. and at that level.. the soil will not freeze until after thxgvg... if not 1/1 .. in a NORMAL winter ... whatever that is anymore.. lol ... [we are both z5] the temp of the air has nothing to do with root temps ... in the ground.. [now a potted that late in fall .. well the pots can get really cold ... and the roots might freeze and the plant go totally dormant] you dont have to wait until october ... your window of opportunity ... is when the days barely get into the 70's .. but MOST IMPORTANTLY... the nights are down in the 50's ... a cool moist night to recover from any day heat ... and by that point.. who cares if the leaves fall off.. the only concern.. is that it is cool enough.. that the tree goes dormant ... and does not try to releaf and waste stored energy.. only to get hard frosted ... i learned this stuff.. when i had a guy who would allow me to mark things all summer.. for digging.. but he refused to dig in summer.. and i would get the call in late august or so ... when he felt.. in his vast experience.. that he could be digging in a few weeks [soil moisture was another variable for him] ... so i usually got the 'come get them call' .. right around mid sept or so ... which gave me a couple weeks notice to go dig some holes ... if they come in one gal's .. i would still pot them into 2 gallons... and stake them thru the holes in the pot ... so they dont fall over.. just to give them some extra root space.. and have some fresh media.. for some root extension ... finally... i would put them right out my north facing front door.. extremely bright.. but shade.. where i could check them every day.. AND ONLY WATER WHEN THEY NEED IT ... [and i presume you know to wet the media.. before potting...] be the tree.. do what it needs done.. not what you want done.. which a lot of us want it to be out in the garden ... the minute it gets 'home' ... ken |
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| ken, Again, I do not grow anything professionally. I do grow some few trees that I give away. It is only a hobby. Also can't speak for Michigan, but for this part of the world, even in full shade, you would be watering potted plants at least every other day. And with the weather of the last few days, you would still be watering daily. For us, it's part of the daily routine. ilovemytrees, Arktrees |
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| The landscaping industry would come to a grinding halt if it were thought that containerized plants (annuals, perennials, vines, shrubs, trees) could not be planted in the summer. It can be done, even in the hottest of locations, with few problems. Truthfully, there are more problems associated with container growing than planting in the ground. Ken, as a professional living in the south for over thirty years, I can assure you that installation projects do NOT cease in the summer. Nor does job quality suffer, plants don't suffer. I would not dig and plant field grown woody stock in the summer, but have planted very large container grown plants with great success. Small plants acclimate rapidly with common sense care. I would far rather see these two young trees planted as soon as they have have been properly acclimated to full sun. By fall, they will be fully prepared to withstand the winter. I will warn against planting in a hole filled with amendments of any kind. By the way, we will be planting several containerized plants this weekend....dwarf Crapemyrtles, roses, and Parsoni juniper (a shrub!!) . They will be so happy to be planted....even though we will probably see triple digit temperatures this weekend.
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| I would say that its best to plant in fall because the short-term maintenance is much lower, especially in areas with significant natural rainfall (i.e., unlikely at my current place of residence). Soil moisture generally is more constant in the winter months due to the much lower evapo-transpiration rates. The soil has time to settle, roots have time to grow without the great stress of supplying a crown full of leaves. In New Jersey, for example, you can plant in late October or November and then you only need to water the plant if you go a week or so without rain during the following summer. However, I also agree that, with proper care, you can definitely plant containerized plants at just about any time. Its just a lot more intensive (making sure soil stays quite moist, which usually means regular watering unless you are getting absolutely deluged with natural rain). |
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- Posted by sanctified Zone 5 (SLC, UT) (My Page) on Thu, Jun 28, 12 at 13:04
| Great information. I have a few quick questions. When you pot up your not playing with the root but are just pulling the plant out of one pot and adding "stuff" to fill the extra space of the bigger pot right? Also, how much root pruning do you do in the fall? Just enough to trim the circling roots or is there more to it than that. I have done some reading about bonsai root pruning where you take about a third but wouldn't think you would do that with a full size tree. I guess I could ask this question in the fall when it is closer to planting time. |
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| It probably is best to "tease out" the roots a little when you pot up. But just a little, unless the plant is dormant. Yes, in the fall when you are planting in the ground, generally you just want to cut any circling roots. |
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| FTR, I have hacked the crap out of the roots (root prune) while potting up in mid-summer, but I usually do this in early summer/late spring. I then put them in a larger root pruning pot with the ideal of having the best root system possible by fall. Once planted, all the small roots that formed from the root pruning pots, get into the adjacent soil quickly. I haven't killed one yet, but they clearly often times do not like it. Usually after a few weeks they are fine again. Arktrees |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 28, 12 at 17:43
| working them free .. from wound around the pot.. minimal invasive.. go for it ... digging deep into the root mass.. to work out and do surgery on the mess left from a quart pot.. 3 years back.. ONLY in dormancy.. in my experience ... the problem ... especially with grafted trees.. aka conifers.. is that by the time they are salable.. they have been potted for 3 to 5 years.. and that aint good.. for a tree ... you will lose.. what.. maybe 25% of them.. if you simply stuff them in a hole in the ground.. . ken |
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| You plant the thing, you don't pot it up. If it appears to be a bit girdled leave it and rework the roots once it goes dormant in the fall or late winter. If you are worried about keeping up with water, plant in a temp. location that has a little more shade. |
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- Posted by ilovemytrees 6a Western NY (My Page) on Tue, Jul 3, 12 at 17:27
| We planted our trees earlier this afternoon. We hardened them off the last 5-6 days with shade, then bright shade, then morning sun, then late afternoon sun, and then planted them today where we are going to have 2 days of overcast white clouds today and rain. They should do perfect! Thanks everyone for responding! |
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