Complete Guide: Receiving, Storing & Planting
Everything you need to know about your trees and shrubs that arrived.
Your plants have been dropped at your door! We know you can’t wait to get started on your project. Before you begin, here are a few important details:
Our young plants are grown and prepared prior to shipping to ensure they survive the journey. We have no choice but to ship them bare-root or with very little soil to facilitate transport and avoid excess weight in the packages. Plant your trees and shrubs as soon as possible to maximize success.
* If you received citrus plants or palms, choose your pot and potting mix carefully. Palms and citrus do not need a pot much larger than their root mass system; they like to grow in tight container. They will do well in a repotting-type potting mix with organic matter and a bit of sand.
Table of contents
- Before planting
- How to plant a tree or shrub
- Blueberry planting tips
- Raspberry planting and care tips
- Other tips
Forme
Before planting
Place the box or boxes in a cool place away from the sun, such as a basement, garage, shed, or under a balcony. Open the box, inspect the plants, and loosen/remove any ties as needed. Check the root system and make sure the roots are moist. Under these conditions, your trees can wait a few days. If you are unable to plant them right away, check the buds. If the buds are still tightly closed and not overly swollen, the trees can be stored in cool temperatures for a certain period of time, ideally between 0 and 8 °C. If the buds have broken, the trees must be planted as quickly as possible, ideally within 48 hours.
How to plant a tree or shrub
Site selection and planting method are crucial.
The first step to ensure your trees survive is to plant them properly! We describe here the method we recommend for planting bare-root and potted trees, which does not differ much. You can get a head start and prepare your holes before your trees arrive if you have an approximate idea of the hole dimensions to dig, depending on the plant's size.
1. Digging the holes
Start by digging all the holes. A hole slightly larger than the plant’s root system is sufficient, but an even larger hole is better, especially if the soil is compacted. The more you loosen the soil deeply, the faster the roots will be able to spread and establish.
WARNING: If you notice anomalies while digging your hole, such as fill soil made of pure sand or gravel, or a hole that fills with water from the bottom, this is not a good spot to plant your tree! Choose another location if it is too wet, or amend/correct the soil deeply if it is gravel/rocky chunks or sand.
2. Protecting the roots
Take the tree you are ready to plant, but be careful to close the plastic very quickly and tighten it around the remaining trees. This is a determining factor in your trees’ survival. Wind and sun can dry out roots in just a few minutes. Planting in the rain is ideal because you must never let the roots dry out. To increase their drought tolerance, you can soak the roots in a bucket of water or wet mud mixture for a few hours before planting, which will increase their resistance to drying out.
3(a). Planting in sandy or loamy soil
Spread the roots out in the hole and replace the soil, mixing it to aerate and break up clods. Make sure all roots are well covered. Compact the soil around the trunk at the surface with your shoes once finished to ensure good ground anchorage against wind and erosion during heavy rain.
NEVER add fresh manure to the planting hole; it could burn the roots due to excess nitrates (nitrogen).
If your soil is very poor (gravelly) or very sandy, you can add well-mature compost to the planting hole and a slightly richer organic soil mix that will hold moisture better.
3(b). Planting in clay soil or poorly drained soil
WARNING: Never add black soil/topsoil to the planting hole when planting in hard marine clay: it will create a “bathtub” effect that can drown your tree.
Remove the grass at the surface. Loosen the clay over a 1 m diameter using a garden fork or round point shovel, and leave the soil in place. Bring in the equivalent of a wheelbarrow of soil (taken elsewhere on your property or purchased). Spread your tree’s roots on top of the loosened clay and cover them with the new soil, creating a mound about 30 cm high. All roots must be well covered with soil. They will grow and go deeper into the clay when they are ready.
4. Compacting, watering, and adding compost
Water thoroughly if you are planting during hot weather in May or June; the soil should be evenly moist.
When planting in spring, you generally need to water twice a week for the first 2 months unless there is heavy rainfall. After that, adjust according to your soil type and rainfall. The soil should be moist at depth, but not soaked. (If you are not sure, dig a little with your hand to check the soil condition.) Spread compost on the soil surface, without letting it touch the trunk.
5. Mulching if needed
To minimize weeding needs during the summer, you can cover the soil with a thick layer of mulch. This will also help retain soil moisture by limiting evaporation. Use whatever organic material you have on hand: dead leaves, compost, wood chips/mulch, etc.
Spread the mulch around the tree to a thickness of about 20 cm, leaving a depression in the center (donut-shaped).
Important: wood chips and chipped branches, which are high in carbon and can create “nitrogen drawdown” (depletion) because soil microorganisms consume available nitrogen to break it down, starving plants. To avoid this, mix in nitrogen-rich materials (fresh grass clippings, finished compost), use finished compost as mulch, add a granular nitrogen fertilizer, or mulch with legumes that fix nitrogen. An ideal mulch combines carbon-rich materials (structure) and nitrogen-rich materials (nutrients)
IMPORTANT:
In the case of grafted apple trees, pear trees, and other grafted fruit trees, it is recommended to leave the graft union 2 to 4 inches above the soil in order to preserve its characteristics. However, for certain fruit trees such as grafted plums, apricots, nectarines, peaches, cherries, and less hardy quince trees, it is preferable to bury the graft union to a depth of ± 1 inch.
Blueberry planting tips
Choose a sunny, well-drained site—i.e., a place where water does not remain standing permanently.
Dig a hole about +/- 20 inches in diameter by +/- 18 inches deep, or dig a trench if planting several in the same row.
The mix used to fill the hole and/or trench will be composed of 2/3 peat moss (sphagnum peat) + 1/3 enriched soil and/or compost.
This mixture must be thoroughly moistened before planting the blueberry plants to prevent the roots from drying out.
Once planted, the blueberry plants should sit 4 to 6 inches higher than ground level in order to create a small mound.
Lightly firm the soil with your feet and water generously at the base of the plant.
- it is strongly recommended to apply an acidifying mulch such as softwood chips (cedar, spruce), except fir chips).
Raspberry planting and care tips
Choose a sunny, well-drained site.
Create a mound (or raised bed) of soil (a light growing medium containing a bit of compost and/or soil enriched) about +/- 18 inches wide by +/- 8 inches high (the length of the mound depends on the number of canes to plant).
Plant the canes in the center of this mound (or raised bed) every 12 to 18 inches, burying the roots completely.
Water the plants generously.
Once planting is finished, using pruning shears, cut the canes back to ground level. Yes, you really do need to cut them all the way back to encourage strong root establishment and avoid fruit production the first year.
Annual pruning of raspberries
It is important to prune your raspberries every year (either late in the fall or early in the spring). Pruning depends on the type of raspberry:
Summer-bearing raspberries:
Since summer-bearing raspberries fruit on 2-year-old canes, you must cut (to ground level) all canes that produced fruit during the last season. You will therefore keep the one-year-old canes that did not bear fruit, as these will be the ones that produce fruit next season.
Fall-bearing raspberries:
Since fall-bearing raspberries fruit on new growth, you should cut all canes completely to ground level in the fall. Yes, you cut everything back every year, and you will always have new shoots that produce fruit
Other tips
In the fall, it is strongly recommended to install a spiral-type rodent guard for fruit trees and other single-trunk trees in open areas such as a lawn. However, it must be removed in the spring and put back on the following fall before the first snowfalls.
-If your fruit trees produce in the 1st year after planting, it is strongly recommended to remove the fruit as soon as it appears. If you leave the fruit on, the plant will put all its energy into producing fruit instead of developing its root system.
-During dry periods, it is important to water young fruit trees during their first years, especially the first.
- If the soil where you are planting is naturally of good texture and fairly rich, it is not necessary to apply fertilizer or compost after two years. The tree will obtain its nutrients naturally.
