Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction More trees going in this weekend

No problem Tracy- one of the things I enjoy most about this site is hearing about all the regions we're blessed with in this country (and others) and the differences and similarities. Glad to hear the deer like the pears... That's mostly why these are going in. I've heard they'll walk past 100 Apple trees to get to a pear tree.

TJ- at first I tried fabric and mulching. But after awhile and after enough trees go in, so far in order of planting, 32 crabapple, 50 Apple, about 200 chestnut and now the new trees... I'm following the lead of my friend that I get the fruit trees from and just keeping weed growth from around the drip line. He has over 20,000 trees and that's how they do it. He and two helpers planted 1,100 Apple trees last weekend. They use an 18" auger off the back of the tractor, go down about 8 inches, plunk down the barefoot tree, kick the dirt back in over the roots and heel it in a bit. That's it. So that's about all I do now as well. I loosen things a bit more than they do around the outside to help give the new root growth some room. With the bare root fruit trees, the most important part is to lop off the tree about belt buckle high after you plant it. They'll grow twice as fast as an uncut tree this way. I water them in very well at planting, but that's it. We live in a pretty wet part of the country (pretty similar to Seattle) though we went through a pretty dry spell last summer. I was too busy to water the trees and was very concerned about them. My buddy with the orchard told me to relax, they'd be just fine. He was right. The way things have played out this spring (not according to plan, as usual) I'm winding up with a two acre clean slate where I had planned to put this years trees. Time to start figuring out what I'd like to go there for next spring already. Good trees sell out early!