How To Choose Bare-Root Fruit Trees For The Home Orchard

The cold months are the right time to purchase and plant bare-root fruit trees. Generally, bare-root plants will become available anywhere from December to February. In order to get the most bang for your buck, you should know what to look for in a fruit tree before purchasing one.

There are some distinct advantages to planting fruit trees in their dormant state. First of all, they’re usually half the price of their leafed-out, container-planted counterparts. Another reason to consider planting bare-root fruit trees is that they end up breaking dormancy in their permanent place in your garden or orchard come spring. So there’s no root shock or other less-than-desirable acclimation issue.

Aside from fruit trees, you can also find other bare-root fruits and vegetables such as nuts, grapes, blueberries, cane berries, asparagus plants, strawberries, rhubarb, and artichokes to plant in the home garden or orchard. There’s also shade trees, roses, wisteria, clematis, lilacs, and other flowering shrubs for the rest of the landscape.

What to Look For In a Bare-Root Fruit Tree

You first priority before choosing a healthy and good-looking tree is to know what size fruit tree that you need.For instance, if you live in an urban suburban neighborhood, you may want to look at the dwarf or semi-dwarf fruit tree varieties. The same applies if you have more land than the typical suburban home but plan on planting a small orchard.

Bare-root fruit trees don’t look like much in their bare-root state, to say the least. The typical soil is replaced with sawdust or newspaper with plastic wrapped around the roots. So, it first glace you may not think there’s much to go on when trying to choose a healthy plant. Take another look; the naked branches will offer some clues. What you’re looking for in a bare-root fruit tree is a tree that has a healthy, well-branched out top with plump buds. The roots should be well-developed, smooth and knot-free. The trunk’s bark should also be blemish-free. If you notice a swollen area just above the tree’s roots, this is normal. That means that a desirable fruit variety has been grafted to a hardy root-stock.

Of course, only at a local nursery will you be choosing a bare-root tree yourself. Purchasing a bare-root tree through a fruit tree catalog will require you having some faith in the nursery where you’re making the purchase. Most online nursery catalogs are only as good as their products, as they only have their reputation to acquire repeat customers.

Word of mouth is king. So, don’t forget to ask other gardeners or home owners in your area where they purchased their fruit trees.

For more on bare-root fruit trees, check out Purchase Bare-Root Trees From Fruit Tree Catalogs.