In the Garden Articles

Bare-Root Fruit Trees

by Joan S. Bolton

Miracle on a stick.

That may be a minimalist view of planting a bare-root fruit tree.

But truly, the skinny, leafless trunk with a handful of brownish-orange, hairy roots that you plant now will grow, thrive and yield tree-ripened fruit in just a few years.

Many folks think of bare-root season is just for roses. But the same planting technique applies to deciduous fruit trees, including apples, apricots, nectarines, peaches and plums.

The trees are dormant this time of year and suffer no ill effects from the growers digging them up, hosing the soil from their roots and transporting their seemingly lifeless forms.

In the garden, we derive even greater benefits. There are many more varieties available during bare-root season, compared with the rest of the year when a nursery may stock only a few different kinds of container-grown fruit trees. And because the trees are dormant when you plant them, their new growth in spring easily adapts to the soil and conditions in your own garden.

Chill Hours

Before you get too excited about a particular tree, though, check the number of chill hours it requires. That number is a measure of how many hours the temperature drops below 45 degrees from November 1 through February 28.

That's important because many stone and pome fruit trees do best with much colder winters than the Central Coast offers. Some apples, apricots and peaches, for example, require 800 chill hours or more to grow properly. Yet on the Central Coast, many neighborhoods barely reach 300 chill hours a season.

The California Department of Water Resource and UC Davis keep track of the numbers. The three closest reporting stations are in Nipomo, Santa Ynez and Santa Barbara. As of January 28, Nipomo had 398 chill hours; Santa Ynez had 765 and Santa Barbara had 185. During last year's brutally cold winter, Nipomo's season total was 570; Santa Ynez tallied 1,100; and Santa Barbara had 354. The mildest season in recent history was 2002-2003. Santa Ynez dropped to 928, Santa Barbara had only 96, and there were no numbers available for Nipomo.

Planting Options

After narrowing your choices to low-chill varieties, decide how you'll plant your trees. This will determine how many you buy.

Traditional thought is one tree per hole, with ample spacing between trees.

But some folks plant three or four varieties of fruit trees in the same, albeit wider hole. This may be three or four different apple trees, or two peaches and two nectarines. The idea is to conserve space, boost pollination and extend the harvest by selecting trees that bear early, mid and late-season fruit.

The Lifescape garden at Santa Barbara City College embraced the concept years ago, and a number of combinations are on display. Bay Laurel Nursery in Atascadero and Dave Wilson Nursery, a wholesale supplier to many Central Coast nurseries, also promote the idea on their websites.

If you do go with a high-density planting, plan to aggressively prune all the trees that share the hole several times a year, to keep them to a manageable size.

Selecting Stock

At the nursery, start by inspecting the roots. They should be plump, hairy and evenly distributed, like spokes on a wheel. If they're shriveled, look weak or are severely lopsided, move on. If the tree is packed in plastic, sniff the roots to make sure they smell earthy and fresh.

Above the roots, look for a smooth, even bud union. This is the section where the root stock is grafted to the bearing wood that forms the trunk of the tree.

Check the trunk. Its diameter should be 1/2 to 5/8ths of an inch. Any narrower, and it may not survive. Any wider, and it may be out of balance with its roots.

Next, flex the branches. They should be limber. If they are brittle or snap, the tree may have dried out and died during transport.

Last -- and counter to advice on buying a container-grown tree -- don't be too concerned about the branching structure. You'll tip back or prune off most of the branches anyway, when you put it in the ground. Be sure to ask for planting instructions for your particular tree.

Planting

At home, protect your tree from wind and direct sunlight until you plant it. Keep the roots moist in wet sand, sawdust or very loose soil. If our recent rains have so thoroughly saturated your soil that you can't plant for several weeks, temporarily plant your tree in a spare vegetable bed, if the soil is loose and dry enough, or in a large pot.

In the garden, fruit trees need good drainage. If water collects in your intended area, create a mound or raised bed for your tree.

For a single tree in a single hole, dig a hole about a foot deep and 2 to 3 feet wide. For a shared hole, you may have to go 4 to 5 feet wide, but still only a foot deep. Break up the excavated soil and mix in up to half as much planting mix, soil conditioner or compost.

Hold the tree in one hand over the hole, and gently fill in the space beneath the dangling roots with the other hand. Or, just as you would for a bare-root rose, create a cone of soil in the bottom of the hole, fan the fleshy roots over the top, then fill with soil.

It may be difficult to figure out just how high or low to plant the tree. To allow for settling, the faint soil line on the trunk should be an inch or two above the new soil line. This puts the bud union 3 to 5 inches above the soil line.

Shape a berm about a foot away from the trunk to create a watering basin. Mulch the basin, but don't pile the mulch against the trunk.

Water thoroughly. Fertilizing can wait. There's plenty of energy stored in the tissue to break dormancy, and any salt in the fertilizer may burn the new roots.

Trim the trunk and any branches. Don't be surprised if your instructions call for cutting your "tree" down to a knee-high stick. Warm temperatures in spring will break dormancy and the tree will take off.

As our winter rains fade away, plan to deep-soak your tree once or twice a week. You can look forward to your first fruit within a few short years.

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Low-Chill Fruit Trees for the Central Coast

Apple: Anna (200 hrs), Beverly Hills (300), Dorsett Golden (100), Ein Shemer (150-250), Fuji (200-400), Pettingill (100).

Apricot: Gold Kist (300 hrs), Katy (400).

Nectarine: Arctic Star (300 hrs), Desert Delight (100-200), Panamint (250).

Peach: August Pride (300 hrs), Babcock (250-300), Bonzana (250), Eva's Pride (100-200), May Pride (175-200), Mid Pride (250), Santa Barbara (300), Tropic Snow (200).

Plum: Beauty (200-250 hrs), Burgundy (150-300), Methley (250), Santa Rosa (300).

Pluot: Flavor Grenade (200-300 hrs), Flavor King (400).

Sources: Dave Wilson Nursery and Bay Laurel Nursery.

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Seeds of Wisdom

Now is the time to plant bare-root deciduous fruit trees. Wait until spring, after any danger of frost has passed, to plant evergreen fruit trees, such as citrus, avocado, banana, cherimoya and other subtropical and tropical fruit.

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Web Sites for More Info

www.davewilson.com

While its nursery operations are wholesale only, Dave Wilson Nursery's website has a separate section for home gardeners, including information about high-density planting, AKA "Backyard Orchard Culture."

www.baylaurelnursery.com

Based in Atascadero, Bay Laurel Nursery offers more than 375 varieties of fruit trees online. Photos accompany nearly all the offerings. There are also guides to low-chill varieties, rootstock and Backyard Orchard Culture.

http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu/chillcalc/index1.htm

Here you'll find cumulative chilling hour numbers for more than 100 weather stations across the state, including Nipomo, Santa Ynez and Santa Barbara.

http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/

Beginning with The Big Picture, this website about the California Backyard Orchard runs through everything from site considerations to first-year care to harvest. Click on Tree Selection, scroll to the bottom of the page, and listed under Varieties, you can download Suggested Fruit and Nut Varieties for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties' Backyard Orchardists.