Eric, I made that mistake once. Its best to pay the extra shipping and not ask them to hold the order. Low 90s is not a good time to transplant stock, and shipping in hotter months can significantly damage plants. But, you can mitigate the problem by erecting a sun shade for each plant. I would let in only about a third of the sun, or less if you have nothing that would do that job well. I don't know about 80's, my personal feeling is shading for sunny 80's days is also not a bad idea. I shaded a mulberry a few weeks ago because it was in the 80s when I planted it.

Scott

It looks to me like half your order could handle it just fine but the other half could have problems. It all depends on how you're set up for stressed out trees - will you be able to water them during these heat waves? provide shade? etc.

I'm the odd guy in that I feel like you have no control of the weather - specially the weather of the future so I would ask if there is any sort of replacement offer and accept the order and hope for the best. Things could be worse next year or this fall.

Up here in z6 southeasern NY the problem wouldn't be survival so much as not getting great growth the first year.

I agree that it would have been worth the price (for me) to pay the extra shipping but I think you might as well plant now and get quicker establishment than waiting another year. Just have them agree to replace any plants that don't make it.

It is in some ways easier to establish BR's late than container trees because BRs will establish roots as they need more water. Container trees have all their roots in a coarse mix that dries out much more quickly than soil and dry soil next to it will dry it out even quicker.

I have peach trees I planted a month ago that are barely leafing out so far because of cool weather lately.

They must be busy or slow. I finally got my order about a week ago. They sent me 2, maybe 3 dead Western Hemlock. The 3 kiwis all looked good....with all of them having good roots. I'm ticked about the hemlocks because they literally sent me trees with no needles...just dead looking sticks. I like there prices and selection but if they seem hit or miss. My one and only mail ordered dead fruit tree came from them, which they credited me for.

I once ordered IE mulberries from them- 5 in total and none grew. They seem reasonably well rated by customers in general.

I ordered at the start of April and they just shipped my order a couple days ago. A reminder email from me may have helped things along.

Most of my order will go in containers, which I can keep in the shade initially and gradually shift into the sun. Hopefully that will help counter-balance any issues from the speed at which the mix dries.

I think it would be better to put them in the ground right away. It is not that late for CT, and trees will establish more quickly if you put them in the ground now.

I have planted 100's of trees later than this that I healed in and then planted when well leafed out a month later and they did fine. Just didn't get as good of a first year as trees planted the first week of April. I've actually planted bare roots as late as June. They usually only start growing a couple of weeks later than established trees anyway.

For most of this group, the intended destination is in fabric pots. I've mostly filled the actual planting locations in the yard. Now I'm working on the deck, patio, driveway, etc.

Only one item is actually going in the ground- a gooseberry to replace a cutting which didn't take last fall (most did). I'll probably just plant that, as the spot gets plenty of shade as it is.

I've planted trees in a heat wave in July...lots of water, keep them shaded...etc...although that was for trees that were growing in pots.

Burnt Ridge ...i'd rate them a C at this point... They aren't Raintree. ...at least in my book.

I received my Burnt Ridge order today and am quite happy with it. It took them a long time to ship, but the trees are all very nice.

Persian Black Mulberry- this one is perfect for container growing- it branches just 8" above the graft union and has 4 main stems. 3/4" caliper.

Montrose Apricot- this was pricey at $35, but it is quite large at 7/8" caliper, with 3 nice thick 2' long branches and 5 smaller branches. The tag actually says "for pickup only" on it.

Satsuma Plum- While the apricot was expensive, this was pretty cheap at $16. It was still 9/16+ caliper, had good roots, and half a dozen small branches.

Sugar Cane Jujube- Much nicer than the jujube from Raintree. This one is similar to the one I got from JustFruitandExotics last fall, except it is taller and bare root. 1/2" caliper.

Amish Red Gooseberry & Arapaho Blackberry- both are pretty small. This was to be expected for the Arapaho, as the site says 2x3 pot. The gooseberry was described as large, but was a single 16" tall stem. I'm OK with these, but I think there are better places to get berries (Rolling River and Nourse in particular).

Even though the berries weren't ideal, the quality of the trees blows away my recent Raintree order.