Planting a Bare Root European Plum. 3.4.16

This winter I ordered a multigraft European plum, which came today.  So I planted it.

At times I debate the wisdom of ordering trees from mail order nurseries.  There are good things and bad things about this tree and its service.  This was from Raintree nursery.

The good things - it was available.  Multigrafts such as this can be challenging to find locally.  This was billed as "Seneca, Early Laxton, Rosy Gage, Italian, and Stanley" with minus one, wildcard, so sold as a 4-graft.  It's a gamble as to which one is going to be missing.

The tree was very sturdy, and the root system was very good.

The labeled grafts on this tree:  Stanley, Italian, Rosy Gage.  The remaining, large branch, is not labeled so no way to know.  It's difficult to decide, but this tree might have all 5.  I don't need another Stanley, so i will overgraft that with something else.  What I wanted the most were Rosy Gage, Laxton, and Seneca, and I'm only clear on one of those.  Pay your money and take your chances.  I would call this somewhere between good and bad, at least they filled the order correctly.

The bad thing - Below the graft, on the rootstock, the bark is badly damaged, girdling half way around the tree.  It should still grow, and heal the wound, as long as this damage does not become infected.  This kind of damage might be OK for a sale tree, but not for a premium priced tree.  I imagine this is machine damage, although it could be animals.

So I planted.  The wound is above ground.  I need to add a wire guard tomorrow, forgot today in the rain.

Planting Bare Root Trees from Raintree. 1.27.16

 Order arrived from Raintree nursery.  Anticipating tree planting helps keep me going.  In the case of this shipment, I ordered the trees last summer.

Nadia Cherry X Plum hybrid.  One of only 3 such hybrids in existence.  All are untested here in this area as far as I know.

Surefire Pie Cherry - the one in the Vancouver yard is way to big to consider moving.  Great variety.

MaryJane Peach - yet another trial for leaf curl resistance.

All of these fill empty orchard slots left by culls of long-term nonperformers.

I am very impressed by the quality of the trees, their roots, and the packaging.  A+

These may need some pruning or a little shaping,  but they really are excellent.

New Bare Root Fruit Trees.  1.27.16

Nadia Cherry X Plum, planted 1.27.16

They all got the needed vole/rabbit hardware cloth sleeves, and deer fencing.  I don't wait, any more.  Better to do at the start.  They will need some mulch, which does not need to be immediate.

MaryJane Peach.  1.27.16.

Planting Bare Root Trees and Shrubs. Raintree Order. 3.7.15

Whip-and-trongue graft on Pawpaw.   3.7.15

Container grown pawpaw "Mango".  3.7.15

 Thursday night, the order from Raintree Nursery arrived.  I kept it in a cool shaded location until this morning.

I am a big fan of Raintree but this time around it was a mixed bag, to say the least.  In the long run, I imagine the trees and shrubs will all grow.

The Pawpaw "Mango" was nice.  Container grown.  I read that bare root pawpaws don't easily grow, if at all.  Small starts are usually required.  So I expected small.  I was interested to see this one was a whip-and-tongue graft.  I read that pawpaws are usually chip budded.  Nice example of a good whip-and-tongue.

The roots were not wound around and around in the container.  I was gentle, which I read is important for pawpaws.  I planted it, surrounded it with a hardware cloth protector, and watered it in.

Sweet Treat Pluerry was disappointing but I think will be OK in the end.  Most of the branches were broken off near the trunk.  The remaining couple of branches are on the same side  There was evidence of growth cut off or  broken off at the trunk, so I'm not sure there are viable buds there.  So I cut off the broken branches.  Probably will tie up the top branch to vertical, and prune back once there is growth and I can see where the buds break.

The Pluerry did have an excellent root system, which is as important as a good top.  If not more so.

The apple tree was sold as a 4-variety multigraft.  It was nice this was 5 varieties.  I'm going by memory, if I recall correctly the varieties are Akane, Jonagold, Summerred, Chehalis, and Beni Shogun Fuji. Excellent root system.  It has a good chance to take off and grow.  Looks very healthy.

The bonus plants were, 3 red rugosa roses and one highbush cranberry.  The rugosa roses looked OK.  Small, but as a bonus I can't complain.   The highbush cranberry looked more like it was hacked back, than pruned. Still, once I pruned it, it looked pretty good.

I read highbush cranberries are a type of viburnum, and not really cranberries, but taste and look like them.  The rugosas should have some good rose hips for cooking, so they are also an edible plant.  Both are considered deer resistant.

Back to the Sweet Treat Pluerry, this tree is a complex interspecific hybrid, mainly plum with cherry second, and some peach and apricot.  How it turns out here will be anybody's guess.  It is not listed, which plums, which peaches, apricots, or cherries.  I hope the peach contribution does not make it susceptible to peach leaf curl.  Should not, but that is an issue with the Peach-plum hybrid, "Tri-lite".

This time around, Raintree's order was not packaged well, the newspaper wrappings were dry, so the roots were dry.  They reported they would send the shipment a few days after my first  query, then a few days after my 2nd query 2 weeks later, then it was shipped another week later; the shipping company did not give an expected date until the day it arrived.  So there was good, bad, and ugly.  Now they are planted and ready for Spring.

Pawpaw roots.  3.7.15

Planted pawpaw.  3.7.15

Sweet treet pluerry - on delivery.  3.7.15

Planted Sweet Treet.  3.7.15

Sweet Treet roots.  3.7.15

Apple tree roots.  3.7.15

Highbush cranberry on delivery.  3.7.15

Pruned Highbush Cranberry.  3.7.15

Fruit Tree Shipment. Raintree Nursery. Apples, Jujube, Peach. 1.30.14

 The order from Raintree Nursery came today.  I've ordered from them many times.  As always, very well packaged.  The packing is shredded used paper, so environmentally friendly.  Compostable.  Based on this and other experiences, Raintree is AAA in my book.

The trees are very nice size.  I'm very impressed.  A little taller than the box, so bent over a little.  Not injured, straighten up nicely out of the box.

The miltigraft apple is Rubinette, Queen Cox, and Pristine.  Each branch is labeled.  All are listed as disease resistant.  In this climate, disease resistant is important.

When I get them to Battleground, I'll plant them and addend this post.

The Jujube looks many-times larger than the ones I bough 18 months ago at One Green World.  Those barely grew last year, so are still only about a foot.  This will need a pollenizer, but it's a start.

Now anxious to get out and plant.  Later today.  Good day for planting, overcast, cool, not pouring rain.  Yet.

The peach is Q-1-8.  Again, bought for reported disease resistance.  So frustrating to lose peaches to leaf curl.

Packaged Fruit Trees.

I take photos of the roots and newly planted trees, so there is reference I can look back too.  It helps me remember what I've done.

Q-1-8 is listed as peach-leaf-curl resistant, tested at the Washington State testing station at Mount Vernon "A sweet and flavorful semi-freestone, white fleshed peach. Great for fresh eating. Ripens early August. Showy blossoms. Self fertile".  Most peaches are self fertile.  Not that they would say one is not sweet or flavorful  :-)

Of the Apples, all 3 sound interesting.

Apple Roots

3-way Multigraft Apple

Q-1-8 Peach Roots

Q-1-8 Peach

Fruit Tree Order for Spring 2014

From Raintree Nursery.  I've made a habit of ordering way ahead.  Not wanting many additions this time.  Each has a specific reason -


Jujube Sugar Cane.  According to the web page very sweet but very thorny.  Raintree states they send 3 to 5 foot trees.  The trees I One Green World sent last year were 1 foot trees - pretty lame.  They survived and grew, and are now whopping 18 inch to 2 foot trees.  Look out Sequoias, your record is about to be broken!  So I want to jump start a little and add a taller one.  Different variety for novelty sake.  It's not clear if they need pollenizers.  According to CFRG, jujubes don't require cross pollenation, but according to Raintree they do.  CFRG states:  "Small to medium fruit which can be round to elongated. Extremely sweet fruit but on a very spiny plant. The fruit is worth the spines!".  Maybe the spines will frustrate marauding deer, or at least annoy them.  Pic is from Raintree site at link above


Q-1-8 Peach.  I researched many websites for a late blooming, peach leaf curl resistant variety.  I'm not sure about the late-blooming aspect, but Q-1-8 is described by most as quite leaf curl resistant.  Since I have 2 yellow-flesh varieties, this white-flesh variety will be a novelty.  It takes a few years to start bearing,  and I want to see if I can get enough peaches for a pie, from any variety.  Pic is from Raintree site at link above.  Kind of a cute name for a peach.  Rolls off the tongue....  but if it bears OK, resists peach leaf curl, and tastes good, that's all I need.

PrairieFire Crabapple.  To feed honeybees and provide pollen for other apple varieties.  DEscribed by Raintree as "A disease resistant, upright crabapple to 20' with reddish bronze leaves, pink flowers, and bright red 1/2' fruit loved by birds.".   WSU Extension states "Very resistant to apple scab, cedar-apple rust, fireblight and mildew."  Pics are from WSU Extension.  This might be the one I saw at Home Depot on sale, but that was similar size and I like the idea of buying from Raintree.  Raintree states they sell 4 to 6 foot trees.  If it was 6 foot it would be awesome.    Many of my spring blooming trees have white flowers, so one with pink or red would be a nice addition.