hey everybody it's katie here at the howard homestead and today we're planting our bare root
trees now the other day we did an unboxing video and you saw that we had several bare root trees
and potted trees and we'll do another video on the potted trees coming soon but today we're going to
get these bare roots in the ground now before we plant anything we want to make sure that we're
choosing a good location so we had our friend gary from the stark brothers nursery come up the other
day and assess the location for us and he talked about five key factors now we have a more detailed
video that we'll link below but to summarize you want to make sure that you know your soil
have good air flow good sun exposure good accessibility and a good design for your space
so we've located a place that fits all of those key factors and we're excited to get them in the
ground now the first step to planting a bare root fruit tree is to soak the roots for several hours
soaking the roots will help hydrate the tree and greatly reduce the stress associated with
the drying of the soil around the roots shortly after it's planted we've made sure there's no
underground utilities here and now it's time to dig our hole it will need to be large enough to
fit the current root system with some room to grow now a good rule of thumb is typically two
feet wide and two feet deep when we put the tree in the hole we want to spread the roots
out to encourage them to start spreading out a really important thing to remember is to leave
the graft union which is this large bump on the tree about two to three inches above the ground
now we're going to fill in the soil that we removed from the hole back in around the tree
make sure to tamp it down to remove any big air pockets here's a step you don't want to miss
be sure to add a tree guard these will help protect your young tree from critters chewing
on it sun scald and it protects the young tinder bark now it's time to fertilize your tree and
there are several fertilizer options the starks tree pup fertilizer is a water soluble fertilizer
that is made specifically for young trees or you could choose a more organic option like this job's
organic all-purpose fertilizer fertilizers are going to help your tree produce green vegetative
growth which is really important in the first few years of growing you can continue fertilizing your
young tree during the growing season until about july 1st or so which is going to help your tree
wind down for the fall and winter seasons we'll water the tree well and give it a deep soak to
help get it established if you're on a slight slope in sea water running down the hill you can
always build a small berm to keep the water on the tree to help keep the tree nice and straight and
protect it from strong winds we're going to use a tree stake now this specific steak will allow
the tree some movement which will build up the strength of the trunk while still protecting it
now i'm going to add this typhar tree circle it will help suppress the weeds protect the roots
but it's also breathable and will allow water to penetrate through it to get to the roots we're
not going to need to worry about pruning this tree this spring because the stark brothers trees come
professionally pruned be sure to remove the name tag on your tree because as it grows this tag can
cause damage if it gets too tight i like to take mine off and just attach it to the tree stake
let's top that with a few inches of mulch but be sure not to let your mulch touch the trunk of your
tree if you put it too close to the trunk the tree can hold moisture and it actually breeds disease
and decay you can use any organic matter that you have on hand like untreated grass clippings or
chopped leaves or you can use a more traditional mulch like wood chips and that's it we have our
bare root fruit tree planted now through its first growing season we'll want to make sure that it has
water every 7 to 10 days whether that's from the rain or from us watering it and as always
for more detailed growing information go to starkbros.com and visit the growing guide section