Bare Root Fruit Trees

One of the best ways to plant fruit trees in the springtime is bare root. Bare root is a strange term to most people, but it means pretty much what it sounds like...the roots are bare.

That may seem weird to most folks, and it might even a little scary to some, but you can feel confident that when handled properly, transplanting fruit trees bare root is the preferred way to go. The key to that statement is “handled properly”. Bare root fruit trees (or any other bare root plants for that matter) have no soil on their roots. Their roots are very susceptible to drying out, and when that happens, plants die. We have refrigeration facilities to hold and store our fruit trees properly. We take time on a daily basis to make sure they are staying dormant and their roots are being kept moist. When you come in to make your purchase, will package your purchase up to protect it until you get it home. The only time these trees aren’t in refrigeration is on their ride home with you. Don’t get these confused with the dried up bundles of near dead plants you walk past as you enter a lot of the big stores or you maybe have received through mail order in the past.

We have them available for only a few months each spring and then after that, they are “out of season” until next year. They transplant easier (usually that means more successfully), they are less awkward to haul home and best yet they are cheaper!

And don’t think bare root automatically means the trees will be small and puny. Most of the trees were sell are 2-3 years old, allowing for a nice starting height and usually a good set of branches.

We don’t have them in yet, but it won’t be long, hopefully before the end of February. If you are thinking you would like have some fruit trees growing in the yard, keep bare root in mind!

Click here to connect to the Edible Section of our catalog. There are a few variety changes that will be made to it in the upcoming weeks, but it is a pretty good representation of the kinds of fruit trees, as well as other edible crops we have available both container grown and bare root at Skinner’s.

"Thymely" Advice...Winter Pruning

  

 

Now that we are approaching the later part of winter, it’s time to think about doing pruning projects before spring gets here. It’s easier to see what you are doing when there aren’t a lot of leaves in the way, so take advantage of a nice afternoon and get some work done!

Here are a few tips to help you out.

• As a general rule, try not to prune early spring flowering shrubs until after they have bloomed this spring. Shrubs that bloom early have dormant flower buds already formed on the overwintering branches. Pruning now removes the flowers you want to be enjoying in the months to come. On the other hand, if your shrub doesn’t bloom until summer, or doesn’t really have showy flowers to begin with go ahead and prune it now. This year’s flowers will form on the new growth that emerges.
• Remove broken, diseased or damaged branches first, then prune branches out to help direct growth, control size as needed.
• Learn where and how to make a proper pruning cut and always use sharp pruning tools that will do the job properly. Hand pruners and loppers are for smaller twigs and branches and pruning saws are for larger branches.
• Never use pruning paints or sealers. These products were once thought to help protect trees when large cuts had to be made. We now know that these products are cosmetic at best and in many cases, they actually slow down the healing process and increase the likelihood of rot and decay setting into exposed branch tissues. Just learn how to make proper cuts and let your tree do the rest.
• Unless you really want your plants getting big, most shrub roses will benefit from a hard pruning each spring. In most cases it’s safe to remove around 2/3’s of the old top growth. Then thin and the remaining branches as needed.
• Most clematis should be pruned to about 12-18” tall each spring. Do this before the new growth starts and remove all of the pruned off branches from your trellis.

We have lots of great pruning tools at Skinner’s. If you need help figuring out what you need or what style or type of pruner or saw would be best for you, just come on out and we’ll give you some recommendations.