You should be fine, I always wait until the full moon in October, the gravitational pull following is more conducive to root growth. I never refrigerate them and have had success for 3 years, in fact I will be putting another 3500 cloves in this weekend; looks like it might be the last nice weekend here in Southwest Ohio. I mulch with Moo-nure because it seems to keep the top soil a little warmer, if it's a nice crisp morning it will still be steaming... Anyway, happy planting!

FWIW, I would rather plant now than in the spring. They will be breaking dormancy much sooner in the spring coming from a warmer climate, than if you get them in the fall. I have had this happen, and ended up holding plants in pots for a few weeks due to them breaking bud immediately upon arrival, instead of the time they would have been. another option is to get them in spring, and keep them in sun when weather permits until it is safe to plant. Of just pot them up and keep them for the first growing season so that they are fully climate acclimated before planting. I have done this many times, including a Beni Fuji dogwood this past growing season. So to me the best options are get them now and plant if dormant. Get them now, hold until dormant then plant. Get them in spring, and hold until weather permits, or just hold until next fall. Just the same, graft size may be too small for planting anyway and need a years grow out.. I would probable get them this fall and adjust as required. JMHO Lastly, on the Bihou. Got to recommend against that one. Got one a couple years ago. Did not deal with winter well at all. Even a extremely mild winter resulted in significant die back. Then a more typical winter temp wise killed it. Seems to be VERY susceptible to bacterial canker while dormant. Arktrees

I did my red maple in earlier in spring, trying to raise it. Mine was planted about 10-12" too deep, but I planted it myself, with the help of a hired hand in fall of 2015. BTW, I'm in Marlboro NJ, zone 7A. The tree in question was a beautiful October Glory maple. I was just aiming to get the top of the burlap bag an inch or 2 above the surrounding soil, not realizing until next spring, that I had made a mistake. It started out a beautiful 'rubrum' in spring, giving me hours of pleasure, as I just stood around it, sometimes nursing a drink. But as a very wet spring progressed, and the leaves were still not opening out fully, my mind raced to a number of things that could have gone wrong in the planting. I definitely had not cut the cage around it as thoroughly as I should have (damn thick guage wire, so hard to cut with pliers!). So, one very wet day, in a very very wet week, I started investigating, prying the dirt away, in an effort to find the wire cage. In the process I discovered that I could not see the root flare at all, instead the trunk was buried, and was discoloring and fraying from the surrounding soil and water. So I decided to raise it. I leaned on the tree, this way and that until it was moving on it's root ball. I shoveled dirt under the root ball, trying to work it in with my foot. Then I had a brainwave! I soaked the root ball and surrounding with water and waited. As the water drained down, the dirt mixed in the water found it's way to the bottom, while I was still wiggling it. It worked, the tree was slowly raised. And then I made the fatal mistake! I also saw roots that were growing from down on up. Now, with the tree raised, these roots were poking into the air. I started cutting them, some of them were big and juicy. I felt horrible, but could not stop! After I had raised and root pruned the tree to my aesthetic satisfaction, I covered it with dirt just so, and mulched and staked it. It looked really nice, with the frayed trunk, previously suffering the indignity of being buried, now finally breathing and recovering, or so I thought. I kept the tree well watered, even spritzing it a few times a day (deputizing my kids in the job as well). But the leaves started drooping. I increased the watering and spritzing, but to no avail. One by one, the leaves gradually turned brown, and then dropped. After a few weeks, in a frantic effort to save the tree, I cut back the branches a couple of inches from the terminal buds to encourage growth. But to no avail. Right now, it's late August, and a scratch test reveals a dead tree. No cambium, no phloem, no nothing! There are leaves growing from the base, but even those are drying up right now. So, I will definitely be replacing the tree. I have a question from this learned group, but I will first let this greek tragedy soak in first.

If you provide more information (and a picture), you may get more accurate information. Either of the two issues listed above could be your problem, but its hard to tell because some nutrient issue show up in a similar fashion to leaf rust. If you are dealing with a nutrient issue, more information would be ideal in pinpointing which nutrient is giving you problems and, more importantly, what is needed to correct the problem. You mentioned some of the leaves fell first then the remainder fell later. Was there a pattern to the defoliation? The answers asked above will also give insight into your problem.