Bare root is spring planted. There is not enough time in fall to wake up and store photosynthate products.

Dan

if you have ground freeze in your z5 ..... ask for delivery as soon as the ground thaws.. or between 4/1 and 4/15 ....

NOT the mid may they might suggest ....

april gives you up to 3 months.. before the high heat of july hits.. giving it plenty of time to get some roots growing ... to better handle that heat and abuse ...

may, 2 months.. and there is just not enough time after may ..

these are dormant plants.. shipped directly from a refrigerated warehouse... and should be fully dormant when you get them ... ready to go straight into the ground ....they will not need to be 'held' nor coddled .... and do not waste more than a day or two with them in the garage ....

if you have clay type soil.. you might want to dig the holes this fall to loosen the soil for next spring ....

what nursery are you ordering from?????

ken

For those further south, winter (Dec-Feb) is typically a good time. There is usually enough moisture for the roots to grow some before spring, and the ground does not usually freeze. Cold weather takes the stress off the tree. Pine forests are typically planted then. Nurseries here are shipping stuff as early as Dec.

I agree with scotjute. ^

Dan is correct - bare root stock is not available for fall planting because it is not even harvested until it is fully dormant (as in winter). If that's what you ordered, then a spring (or even late winter) delivery and planting then is SOP. B&B and container plants are available for fall planting and depending on specific location, any time from now to mid November is an ideal planting time. In warmer zones (not always 'south' :-)), winter planting as scotjute mentioned is also popular. By warmer zones, I mean 7 or above.....or anywhere the ground does not freeze solid in winter.

The cutoff for fall planting is USDA 6. Zone 5 and colder is generally unsuitable. And that's fall planting of potted stock with intact roots. Bare-rooted stock is left until spring because most of the new, fine roots are killed by bare-rooting and will not start to be replaced until winter buds open in spring.

Since potted stock is often root-bound and in need of correction, fall planting even of potted stock in cold climates becomes questionable.

When fall planting is possible it is absolutely preferable.

For us fall planting has been consistently superior. To illustrate, we have two sugar maples. One was planted in the spring, and the other early November. The fall planted tree has had zero issues, and needed basically no extra care, while the spring planted tree needed ALLOT of careful care during a rather mild summer and still got allot of leaf burn. Both are doing well now however. Also almost all of our plants have been from containers. Down side to fall planing is often much more limited choices, and often stressed plants from having sat in a container poorly cared for during the summer. However all other things being equal, and a favorable climate, then fall planting is my opinion.

Arktrees

I'm gonna stick my nose in here to say that Beech trees are supposed to have spring planting according to articles I've read but I impatiently dug one up from the woods in fall and it's been doing great for about 5 years so far.I know it's not good to dig trees out of the woods but I just had to have it and they're not available most places.Poaky1

Fall planting for container trees by far. I had maple clones and one was planted in the fall and one in the following spring right before spring growth. The one planted in the fall had a lot more growth for the first year.

The BH runs a major tree-planting program that stops mid-summer and picks up again in fall. I'm out often running volunteer crews and here too we find fall planting is superior, but the soil is harder to work and it hasn't rained here in many weeks so establishment will be an issue this year.

So there is something to be said for spring planting, if you can overcome summer stress. But I prefer fall.

Dan

this is a very interesting dichotomy of opinion... based on zone ...

the poster is in z5 ... and should lean toward the opinions of peeps from z5 or 6 .... IMHO

i have moved and planted hundreds of conifers and trees in october or april ... i SUSPECT that the suspended animation of ground freeze is the key .... and.. in my yellow sand... EVERYTHING ends up near bare root ....

planting in oct in my z5 .. gives you about 3 months for root growth in fall, before the ground freezes .. and then the additional 3 months next spring ... etc ...

dan added that its hard to get bare root stock in fall... my experience is in moving things from one spot to another on my 5 acres ... so i never contemplated the mail order issue ...

so i am hoping to get some things moved this fall.. and some more next spring.. it simply doesnt matter in my z5 near ann arbor MI ...

i did hear an opinion recently.. that anything variegated .... with white or yellow tissue plus green .. that tissue which is most prone to winter dessication .... should be moved in spring .... it would answer why conifers with such variegation ... in my yard.. suffered greatly the first winter ....

but i am still wondering what nursery is sending bare root stock in fall ..... if you are using a sub par seller... it might be moot whatever we say ...

good luck

ken

There is a burst of root elongation in fall when the winter buds are set and then roots are doing very little again until spring. In both spring and fall root activity is controlled by hormones generated by winter buds on the ends of the branches.

I've planted in both spring and fall here on the border of zones 4 and 5. I've been quite successful planting in the fall, usually between mid-September and mid-October. We tend to have long falls with adequate moisture, and I often mulch (in a donut shape so it isn't against the trunk) so that the ground doesn't freeze until December or later. Our springs tend to be short and wet, so it's difficult to find a time that it's suitable to dig before the weather gets too warm to ease the plants into their new home. So it takes much more work (watering and monitoring the new trees or shrubs) and stresses the plant more to plant here in spring. However, I have healthy woody plants that have been added in both spring and fall, but I can't think of any that I've planted bare-root.

I managed to plant a Coast Redwood in New Jersey (border between zone 6 and 7) in early November, and they made it through the winter. Both started growing in the spring, but one ended up not making it.