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What to do with my apple tree

last year

last modified: last year

Okay so in the beginning of spring I planted an apple tree in a pot and it has been growing all summer now. I'm in Wisconsin and I'm wondering if I should bring it inside for winter or what? I feel like it's too small to plant

Featured Answer

BillMN-z-2-3-4

last year

It needs to be outside so it can harden off and stop growing.

Has it been inside all along?

If it's been acclimated to the outdoors, wait until the leaves fall, plant it, then put a corrugated tree tube on the trunk, as tall as the tree is, if you like (2-3 ft tube?).

If the tree is not stiff enough to stay upright in the wind, use one of those slim, green garden stakes, driven in alongside the tube, and tie the tube to the stake with a string. That'll protect it from mice and rabbits and for the most part, deer.

should be fine.

Comments (8)

Miah Bennesh
Original Author
last year

Here is a photo
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
last year
Keep it outside and plant it when the leaves drop. Protect it from rabbits over winter.

tj
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Brandon, thanks for the info on planting. This is new to me, and I just couldn't imagine anything young taking root in the dense soil I had to hack through to dig the hole so amending it seemed to make sense at the time. I can see how it would create an artificial tub now. I guess time will tell if the tree fully takes. I'll try to gauge the soil dampness better. With the sun around here, the surface dries out very quickly. It may well be that I'm not watering enough, though I'm not sure how to judge what's happening down at the bottom of the roots. jqpublic, I'm zone 9 by zip code but San Jose can be in the 8s too. In any case, the apple trees in the neighborhood seem to do very well. (and Ken - don't worry, I'm tickled pink that it set fruit so quickly. I just don't want to kill it!) Thanks for the help, everyone.
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John D Zn6a PIT Pa
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I've grafted trees in early March and 3 weeks later put them in the ground. I put a fence around them like Bills and tie it off to the post. Tying it off isn't even needed until it leafs out, but I do; so I'm done with it. Tie it off to the rootstock and not at the graft. I use twine like you get at the big box store exit.

It's got to go into the ground some time.
BillMN-z-2-3-4
last year

'I feel like it's too small to plant'

I've started many types of new seedlings in late winter/early spring and planted them outside the same spring. They just have to be protected. Here's the same tree shown in my first picture as a new seedling, June 2019. I used a homemade tree tube made from milk cartons for protection and one stake to hold it steady. :-)

This view inside shows how small this seedling was. 3"?

Note the mulch covering the ground surrounding the plant. Planting a tree now, it will be important to mulch, this helps insulate the ground over the winter. Snow cover later is a plus.

Fall is a good time to plant because roots will continue to elongate until the ground gets too cold to grow, somewhere around freezing.
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
last year
"I feel like it's too small to plant"

Conditions in the ground are going to be a million times more consistent that those you can provide indoors in a container.

In the ground truly is the safest and best place for it to spend the winter.

just protect it as illustrated above and remember to deep water regularly until your ground freezes. Not air temps, but frozen ground. You can google it by zip code.
BillMN-z-2-3-4
last year
last modified: last year
Yes, trees grew in the ground, way before they were ever put into pots. lol ;^)

I've lost more trees trying to grow them in pots. Maybe just my climate here idk.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
trees are not houseplants. ...

you will kill it with too much love.. if you try to make it one ..

plant it in mother earth ...... and protect it. as has been said numerous times above ...

this tree HAS TO GO DORMANT ... its natures way ...

good primer below ... just do it ...

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

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