How do I plant a bare-root fruit tree?

Bare-root trees are lifted from the field in winter, sold with no soil on the roots, and cost a fraction of a container-grown tree of the same size. They also establish better, because the roots go straight into your soil rather than sitting in a pot-shaped block of compost. The trade-off is that they are only available while dormant and must not be allowed to dry out for a moment.

What you'll need

• Bare-root tree
• Spade and garden fork
• Tree stake, about a third of the tree's height
• Adjustable tree tie with a spacer
• Bucket of water
• Mycorrhizal root granules (optional)
• Mulch — bark, compost or well-rotted manure (optional)
• Rabbit spiral guard (optional)

Step by step

1. Unpack and inspect the tree the day it arrives.Roots should be moist and flexible. If you cannot plant within a day or two, heel it in: dig a shallow trench somewhere sheltered, lay the tree in at an angle and cover the roots with soil. It will keep like that for weeks.
2. Soak the roots for an hour or two before planting.Not overnight and not for days — a bucket of water for an hour is enough to rehydrate them. Roots that have dried in the wind on the way from the car are already damaged.
3. Choose the position: full sun, shelter from the prevailing wind, not a frost pocket.Fruit needs sun to make sugar. Avoid the bottom of a slope and anywhere hedged in at the base, where cold air pools on a spring night and kills the blossom.
4. Dig a square hole, wider than the root spread but no deeper.Square corners give roots somewhere to escape rather than circling. Fork the sides and base of the hole so they are not glazed, especially on clay. Do not dig a deep hole and backfill — the tree sinks.
5. Do not fill the hole with compost or manure.Backfill with the soil you dug out. A rich pocket keeps roots inside it instead of ranging out into the garden, and on clay it makes a sump that fills with water. A mulch on top is where organic matter belongs.
6. Set the depth by the old soil mark, not by eye.There is a visible change in bark colour where the tree sat in the nursery soil. Lay a cane across the hole and set that mark level with it. On a grafted tree this leaves the graft union — the kink or swelling low on the stem — around 10cm clear above ground.
7. Drive the stake in before backfilling, clear of the roots.A short stake, reaching about a third of the way up the stem, on the side the wind comes from. Drive it in while you can see where the roots are. Tall stakes tied high produce a tree that cannot stand alone.
8. Spread the roots out, backfill in stages and firm as you go.Work the soil between the roots with your fingers, add soil in layers, and firm each layer with your heel — firm, not stamped. Air pockets around bare roots are what kills a bare-root tree.
9. Fit one adjustable tie at the top of the stake, with a spacer.The spacer keeps the bark off the stake. One tie only, and it gets loosened every year — a tie left tight strangles the trunk within three or four years and is a common cause of a young tree snapping.
10. Water in thoroughly, then mulch.A full watering can settles the soil around the roots. Then spread mulch over a metre-wide circle, 5–8cm deep, and pull it back to leave 10cm of clear soil around the trunk. Mulch against bark holds damp and rots the collar.
11. Keep a clear circle of bare or mulched soil for the first four years.No grass, no bedding, no bulbs within a metre. Grass competing at the surface is the single biggest reason a young fruit tree sits and does nothing.
12. Fit a spiral guard if there are rabbits, and water through two summers.Rabbits ring-bark young fruit trees in winter and the tree dies above the damage. Water a full can or two weekly in dry spells from April to September for the first two years.

Tips

• Bare-root season is roughly November to March. November and early December planting is best: the soil is still warm and the roots make growth before the top wakes up.
• Do not plant into frozen or waterlogged ground. Heel the tree in and wait — a fortnight's delay costs nothing.
• If the tree came with a long single stem and no side branches, it is a maiden and you will need to decide the form and make the first cut in its first winter.
• Take a photo of the label before it fades. In five years you will want to know the variety and the rootstock and the plastic tag will be illegible.

Common mistakes

• Planting too deep, or heaping soil against the stem — Bark below the original soil mark is not adapted to being buried. The tree sulks for years or rots at the collar, and a buried graft union lets the variety root directly so the rootstock stops controlling size.
• Digging a deep hole and filling the bottom with compost — The soft fill compresses and the tree sinks, ending up planted deep. It also creates a water-holding sump in clay. Dig wide, not deep, and keep organic matter on the surface.
• Leaving the tie tight as the trunk grows — It cuts into the bark and girdles the tree. Check and loosen every autumn, and remove the stake entirely once the tree stands on its own, except on M27 and M9 which stay staked for life.
• Letting the roots dry out while you dig — Fine roots die in minutes in wind or sun. Keep the tree in a bag or a bucket of water until the hole is finished.

Alternatives

• Container-grown tree: Plantable all year, more expensive, and often pot-bound. If the roots circle the pot, tease them out firmly before planting or they will keep circling. Establishment is usually slower than bare-root.
• Root-balled tree: Field-grown, lifted with soil and wrapped in hessian. Used for larger specimens. Plant with the hessian left in place but the ties cut, at the same depth as it grew.
• Pot-grown for a permanent container: If the tree is going into a large pot rather than the ground, buy bare-root anyway in winter and pot it up — it is cheaper and roots establish better in fresh compost.

Questions people ask