Posted: 3/29/2011 10:34:56 AM EDT
Maybe you guys can help me out. Google is turning up a variety of answers and the "Extension" office appears to be short for "Extension of the DMV."  I have blueberry plants and raspberry plants and an apple 'tree' on the way. This is much earlier than I expected them to ship. It is still in the low 20's and teens at night around here. Is it ok to plant them in this kind of weather? I'm unsure what kind of weather these young plants should/could endure. If they are no longer dormant, will the shock of planting them in 'hard freeze' weather do any damage? Any recommendations? Thanks in advance. |
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The tree is dual variety so hopefully it pollinates itself ok. If not, in a few years I'll have some apple smoked bacon. After inspection, the Raspberries and Apple are dormant. I'm kind of leaning towards getting these into the ground. On the other hand, the Blueberries are showing new growth so I'm fairly certain they are no longer dormant. The coolest place to store them is in the 50's to 60 temp range. I'm guessing it will be about a month until the freeze date is past. Is it ok to continue storing them this way or should I consider temporarily potting them? ETA: Everything is bare root. One of the blueberries is bagged with what looks like peat... |
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Quoted:
The tree is dual variety so hopefully it pollinates itself ok. If not, in a few years I'll have some apple smoked bacon.
After inspection, the Raspberries and Apple are dormant. I'm kind of leaning towards getting these into the ground. On the other hand, the Blueberries are showing new growth so I'm fairly certain they are no longer dormant. The coolest place to store them is in the 50's to 60 temp range. I'm guessing it will be about a month until the freeze date is past. Is it ok to continue storing them this way or should I consider temporarily potting them? ETA: Everything is bare root. One of the blueberries is bagged with what looks like peat... You don't need to store them at that warm a temperature because it will cause them to break dormancy. You can probably hold them for a few days, but not for too long. If there are any swollen buds, I would not take them into that temperature unless you know they came OUT of temps like that. Where is the nursery? (I'm talking about the apple here. The berry bushes can almost certainly take whatever you put them in unless they've already broken dormancy. The trouble is that you can't dig the ground at this point, right?) If they are all dormant, you can plant them any time, as the above poster said. But it's difficult to manipulate the soil to get decent soil-root contact when the ground is frozen, even if you're able to dig it. Pennsylvania Cooperative Extension Service County Offices ETA: I have one apple tree and I get lots of apples. But I got more, and bigger apples once I got honeybees. |
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The soil is workable. The Extension office finally got back to me and basically echoed what you guys have said. I'm going to plant the apple and the raspberries tomorrow. I'm not sure what to do with the blueberries though. One of them has leaves starting to grow and the other has buds. What are the repercussions if I plant the blueberries? Is it just a loss of the soft greens or would it put the plants themselves in jeopardy? Thanks again |
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The soil is workable. The Extension office finally got back to me and basically echoed what you guys have said. I'm going to plant the apple and the raspberries tomorrow. I'm not sure what to do with the blueberries though. One of them has leaves starting to grow and the other has buds. What are the repercussions if I plant the blueberries? Is it just a loss of the soft greens or would it put the plants themselves in jeopardy? Thanks again It will damage the canes if the leaves and buds freeze, although that damage might not be fatal to the plant. Do you have a neighbor with an unheated garage where they could store the blueberry plants for a few days? As a last resort I would pot them up and then plant them in the ground later, but you'll need a large pot. You don't want to disturb those roots twice if you can help it. Are the buds and leaves all on one cane? I'd consider pruning that back, but..... damn. There's no good way out of it. You might be okay. Are these your only two blueberry plants? Edited for clarification. |
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Interesting. I could put them in the shed but the temps are probably only a degree or two warmer in there. Along the same lines, what do you guys think about planting them and erecting a temporary "tent" with some clear plastic? Probably the same temps as the shed with the benefit of being in the ground. Maybe I'll pot them in something temporary (possibly lined with plastic sheeting) and when it warms up, put them in the holes, cut away the plastic and backfill. Just brainstorming, maybe I've watched too much MacGyver ... |
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Quoted:
Interesting. I could put them in the shed but the temps are probably only a degree or two warmer in there. Along the same lines, what do you guys think about planting them and erecting a temporary "tent" with some clear plastic? Probably the same temps as the shed with the benefit of being in the ground. Maybe I'll pot them in something temporary (possibly lined with plastic sheeting) and when it warms up, put them in the holes, cut away the plastic and backfill. Just brainstorming, maybe I've watched too much MacGyver ...
Pot them up and pack the soil nice and firm around the roots. Then when you're ready to plant them, wet the soil so it hangs together to get it out of the pot. Turn the pot upside down and dump the ball of soil out. If it's only a week or three, it still may not hang together. Your plastic is actually not a bad idea. But you have to make sure it all gets cut away when you plant in the ground. OR....Pot them up in plastic pots that you can cut away. Big plastic bags will do, too, if you don't have anything else at hand. Blueberries like an acid soil, so keep any peat that was packed around the roots when they were shipped, and maybe add a little more. A degree or two above 20 degrees won't save them. It has to be above freezing. 38-40 is better. So the tent with clear plastic won't help at those temps. A plastic structure like that will work for a degree or two below freezing. But not 20 degrees. The shed will be too cold as well. Unheated garages are usually 5-10 degrees warmer than the outside (around here) and don't have the wind chill. The point is to keep them cool, but not freezing cold. kitties |