It’s time to plant bare root trees in Sonoma County

Bare root season is here, and there’s no better place in the United States to take advantage of it than right here in Sonoma County.

At this time of year, the soil is moist and easy to work. The bare root stock is still deep in its winter sleep, and there’s a simple way to plant it.

Bare root trees and shrubs are pulled from the ground in the late fall, when they’ve gone dormant. The soil is shaken off the roots, and the roots are wrapped in a moist packing material and stored in a cold room between 32 and 40 degrees F until this time of year, when they’re shipped out to nurseries and mail order customers.

They may be fruit trees, nut trees, fruiting vines like grapes, ornamental trees or woody shrubs.

There’s one big advantage of bare root stock: they’re typically a third to half the cost of plants rooted in pots of soil or balled in burlap.

Since they’re still dormant when you plant them, they have time to wake up slowly as the soil warms, without the sudden shock of having their roots disturbed by pulling them from the pot and planting them in unfamiliar soil.

Bare root planting also is easier on you. In fact, using the method outlined below, you don’t even need to dig a deep hole.

Here are some tips you need to know before you begin. Plant the bare root stock as soon as possible after it arrives. Open the package, trim off any dead, diseased or broken roots, and set the roots in a bucket of water for a few hours or overnight, but no longer. Never let the roots dry out. If you must wait for a few days before planting, either re-wrap the roots in their moist packing material and re-moisten it, or wrap the roots in wet compost, leaves or even soggy newspapers - anything to keep them moist.

For fruit trees, pick a spot in full sun. If your weather can be windy, you will want to tie the young tree to a sturdy stake, so have a stake on hand. Standing water can kill a young tree by preventing oxygen from reaching the roots, so make sure the site is well drained, not at the bottom of a slope where water pools.

Tree planting used to involve digging out wide, deep holes. But no more. Here’s how easy it can be.

Clear grass and weeds in a circle two to three times the diameter of your bare roots. You can just skim the surface with a shovel. You don’t have to dig deeply.

Drive the stake into the very center of the circle, deeply enough that it won’t wobble in the wind.

Take your bare root fruit tree from the bucket of water and place it about six inches from the stake, on the side of the stake opposite the direction of the prevailing wind. Arrange the roots outward and as evenly as possible in a circle.

You’ll want the tree to sit in the soil slightly higher than it did in the nursery where it was grown, so look for the previous soil line and plant it so that line is a half-inch to an inch above the soil when you’re finished planting. If the fruit tree is grafted, make sure you don’t cover the graft union with soil, or you’ll end up growing whatever rootstock is below the graft instead of the fruiting scion (the upper part of the graft) that will produce the fruit you want.

With your spade, start taking slices of moist earth from the circumference of the circle you made by clearing away grass and weeds, and place it over the roots. Make sure soil fully occupies the empty space directly under the roots. Work your way around the circle’s circumference, shoveling soil over the roots or toward the center of the circle once the roots are covered to the proper depth.

When you’ve worked around the entire circumference, smooth out the soil’s surface. Don’t think that mulching or improving the soil with rich compost will help. It won’t. That will only encourage the tree’s roots to stay where the rich compost is. Ordinary, unimproved soil will encourage the tree to make lots of feeder roots near the surface and water-seeking roots that plunge deep into the soil.

Tie a strip of cloth around the stake and tree’s trunk so they remain six inches apart. Water the tree well, and make sure it has plenty of water during the first summer.

You’re done.