In areas whereby the ground does not freeze for
long periods of time (for a week or longer), we
can go in and plant most standard Fruit & Nut
trees in the ground in the Fall, whether the trees
are in leaf or not with caution for planting right
now here. Preferably not at this time of year just
yet now as we are in a transition stage here in that
the trees are starting to shut down to go dormant
and still have their leaves on them and have not
been allowed to harden off around here. We can
plant now if need be but one thing we do not do
is give these trees at planting or transplanting
any additional Nitrogen as we may trigger the
tree to send out new growth and if this happens
we just hurt the tree as the new growth will be
too tender for the onset of oncoming cold. We
should try to wait to fertilize these newplants
or transplants when then trees have been dormant
for no less than three to four weeks.
For people in British Columbia to plant bare root,
it is probably better to plant in the Spring as opposed
to in the San Joaquin Valley whereby we can generally
plant most anytime of the year. Our ground seldom
freezes here on the Valley floor which makes late Fall/
Winter a better time for most people to plant bare root
than planting in the Spring. Of course availability
of the plants to come in so that they can be planted
is the bigger issue as most trees are more likely to
be available for purchase in the Spring but some
grower/nurseries will outlet plants for planting
most anytime now from trees that have been held
or forced to go dormant in cold storage for planting
during the Winter. I know of a few grower/nurseries
around here that seem to have most of their trees
available for immediate planting during the month
of December.
Yes, the tops of the trees, once they go dormant,
usually stay that way until the Spring but the roots
do have some growth to them, even in the coldest
months here. We may not see much new lateral
root growth but we do see more root mass develop
in the center of the root ball during this dormant
time, giving us more filling in of the root system.
If we can plant these trees in the Fall and Winter we
get better root fill than we would get had we planted
the bare root trees in the Spring. By the time Spring
rolls around we essentially get a few month jump start
on those trees that would be planted in the Spring
with root settling to adapt to the new location, new
root formation afterwards, then a push of new growth
right before the top portion of the tree will want to
break dormancy.
Somehow I think the original question was meant for
Citrus in areas in which the ground does not freeze.
Can the root portion of the tree go into a definite
slow down in its growth rate when cold temps are
at hand, yet still be able to carry out some necessary
chemical functions to help sustain the plant during
cold weather? The answer is yes and we see it when
a cold snap hits a tree as cold resistance in a Citrus
does not come from the top growth, the cold resistance
that permeates throughout much of the top growth
to act as a protectant emanates from the root system.
This is why in most areas the rootstock is so important
for the type of Citrus we want to grow. Trees on their
own roots can show visual signs of cold damage but
if the tree has been grafted or budded onto a cold
tolerant rootstock then the tree can endure cooler
temperatures and longer periods of cold and show less
damage to the tree all things being equal. The hard
part for several years was to have a cold resistant,
dwarfing rootstock that would adequately protect
the tree once in the ground. Then the issue became
a cold resistant, dwarfing rootstock that did not overly
influence the quality of the fruit on the tree. Years
ago, much like some dwarf Fruit Trees still today, the
quality of the fruit coming from a dwarf tree could
not compete with the fruit that came off of a standard
tree. Through years of research work and diligence,
the Citrus people were able to succeed in having a
dwarfing rootstock be able to provide cold resistance
while not overly affecting the quality of the fruit and
thus today we have dwarf forms in which the fruit is
closer in overall quality to a standard tree. When we
can grow a dwarf Lisbon Lemon and have it close to
what a commercial Lisbon Lemon would be for fruit
quality, the Citrus people have come much closer than
we have been able to get so far with most Fruit & Nut
trees in comparison. We have no dwarfing rootstock
that can help a Rio Oso Peach come anywhere close
to the quality of the same standard Peach will be on
Nemaguard or Nemared rootstock as an example. It
can be concluded that years of work done on Citrus
is what led to the Apple growers being able to come
the closest with the EMLA rootstocks for their Apples
but we still lose out some in overall quality of the Apple
compared to a standard tree but the Apple growers are
much closer still than the Peach, Nectarine, Plum
and our opinion Pear as well, trail efforts have been.
For the homeowner that is just happy to be able to
have a tree, the overall quality of the dwarf Stone
Fruits and other Pomes is not a big deal. Unless we
are wanting the tree to yield comparable quality fruit
as good in flavor, sweetness and texture as the fruit
would be otherwise from a standard variety tree instead.
Jim
