When do you all start buying your trees?

14 years ago

With trees I start ordering my mail order stuff between Valentine's and the end of this month. They typically show up during the month after that.

My tree ordering is split about evenly between spring and fall.

The perennial flowers/bulbs I grab whenever the opportunity presents over the spring, summer or fall. The wife does usually get me on one late spring annual buying binge.

Trees are more permanent fixtures I put some planning into. Bulbs, whatever, I have room for a dozen someplace if I like em!

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
in my z5 .... ground thaw is around 4/1 .. last frost around 6/1

by experience.. i have found.. with totally dormant.. mail order trees

that my planting window ... for fail free planting is 4/1 thru 4/15 ... with each week thereafter adding to a potential failure ...

this give me 6 to 8 weeks of potential root growth .. BEFORE the heat of summer hits between 6/15 and july/august ...

and its not that freak few warm days that bother me.. its all about soil temps.. and when all the spring water is starting to be pulled out of the soil ... thats when problems begin ....

IMHO .... timing is absolutely the most important variable ... for the highest chance at success with the least aftercare ....

waiting until summer .. and planting fully leafed out trees from pots.. is just so problematic ....

if i end up with stock .. and i am running that far behind.. i have found i am better off.. sinking the entire pot in a location with no hot .. afternoon sun.. and then denuding the root mass in fall ... PRESUMING I HAVE A SOIL THAT WILL ALLOW DRAINAGE thru the pot ....

ken
xentar_gw
14 years ago
Well, I probably start buying deciduous trees as early as December locally, but a lot of mail order companies won't ship out until January through March. That's the time when I do mail orders.

Then, for citrus, I'll buy them any time of the year except in mid and late summer.

As far as flowers and such, I usually look for clearance stuff, and you never really know what time of year something will be on sale.

Of course, I live in Florida. So, there's a bigger time window for planting here.
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Hi Michelelc, I see you're fairly near me. I'm in southerastern CT, about 15 minutes north of the Foxwoods casino if you know where that is. I'm one of the more conservative here on this forum, as I start them later. I usually start the annuum varieties around April 1 and the chinense varieties two weeks earlier, about March 15. I start to harden them off when the weather gets real nice, about the second week of May, and transplant around Memorial Day every year. I usually get good fruits starting in late July, and the chinense are even later, usually late August up till frost. I've had some bad luck in the past with setting out too early, where they get cold feet and refuse to grow for a few weeks. That experience has left me a little bit timid about setting out too early. Others here have had good results setting out much earlier, so I could probably get away with it too, but in truth, I'm pretty busy before Memorial Day anyway (I'm a teacher), so it works well for me. Here's an old photo of my peppers about two weeks before transplanting them. This was just before I began to harden them off. It was a good year.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
what i MEANT to say ...

is that i mail order most trees.... and no matter when they offer to send them... i demand they send them according to the specific timing mentioned in my first post ... 4/1 to 4/15 ... which is usually a couple weeks earlier than they would themselves ....

if i find any potted stock after about 5/1 .. i will hold it over for fall planting .... ESPECIALLY if it is already leafed out ...

one reason is that with my 5 acres .... i tend to forget about TLC .... you can plant later.. IF YOU CAN ADD THE EXTRA CARE for the summer ....

ken
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
Original Author
14 years ago
What do you think about this,

I always wonder if planting some zone 3 hardy Larix laricina it wouldn't matter as much if I decided to plant it in December while planting a barely zone 6 tolerant Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia) in late September might be pushing it.
scotjute Z8
14 years ago
For bare-root trees, I typically order in September to lock in the varieties I want for delivery in January/February. This year it was 10 grafted Pecans and 25 Green Ash. Next year it will probably be pines.
For potted trees - I switched to raising my own from seed and usually transplant in fall depending on rainfall that year. Plan trips to collect desired seed.

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When do you all start buying your trees?

Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

xentar_gw

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When do you all start buying your trees?

Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

xentar_gw

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