Garden Docs: Tips on bare root planting and pruning

How do I choose a bare-root tree, and what exactly should I look for as far as its form and health? Why should I plant a bare root instead of a potted tree? - Lyle

Planting bare root allows you to get an early start. Buy now while the supplies are plentiful and fresh.

First check the trunk. There should be no wounds or broken limbs/branches and the tree should be fairly straight with a nice taper to the trunk.

The large lateral branches should be evenly spaced around the tree and spaced far enough apart for future growth. Do visualize how the tree will look as it matures.

Then check the root system. Make sure they are firm, well formed and are not dried out. If all the roots are dark in color, slimy and smell bad, rot has started to set in.

If there is only a little section that looks like this, you can cut that section off with no problem. Planting bare root allows you to visually examine the condition of the root system, whereas containerized trees may have a hidden and compromised root system.

Bare-root planted trees adapt better to existing soils and will develop a better root system and a shorter time. You don’t have to worry about girdled roots or being pot bound. Beside, it is also less expensive to buy bare-root plants than container grown ones.

Garden Tip: After completing your pruning chores and deciding to finish the job by spraying for overwintering insects, fungal and bacterial problems, always clean your spraying equipment before you start and prevent any plant injury and cross-contamination of lingering pesticides in the sprayer. Finish by flushing the sprayer with soapy water followed by a clean-water flush. Drain after each use.

It would be best to have two sprayers, one marked for herbicides and the other marked for fungicides and insecticides. It is very difficult to thoroughly rinse all herbicides out of a sprayer and even a little leftover residue can be harmful to valuable plants.

When is the best time to prune my Buddleia davidii? - Jackie

This summer flower shrub blooms on current season’s wood, so it can be pruned hard, down to 12 inches, after flowering or wait until early spring and the threat of frost is over.

For those readers not familiar with buddleia, it is also known as the summer lilac or butterfly bush and is a favorite flowering shrub of gardeners who like to attract butterflies into their gardens. It is available in many different sizes and many colorful, fragrant and showy (spike-like) bloom choices. It can be evergreen or deciduous, and tends to grow upright with multiple stems that have an arching form. Buddleias require full sun, good drainage and moderate to occasional water. The deer tend to leave it alone but the butterflies and bees love it.

I recently discovered a handy, waterproof folded illustrated pamphlet of butterflies, depicting their life cycle, perfect photos of caterpillars matching the adult butterfly, listings of host plants, seasons they can be seen and much more. The title is “Butterflies of Central and Northern California, A guide to Common and Notable Species” by Jim Brock (Quick Reference Publishing, 2013). This has become my favorite butterfly reference.

My friend asked me to collect some scion material from my Pippin apple tree. How big should the scion be for successful grafting? - Darrell

The ideal scion may be about as thick as a pencil. Scions from young branches with no flower buds work best. Flower buds usually appear on one or both sides of a leaf bud. If you find two or more buds clumped together, there is probably one leaf bud and one or more flower buds there.

Newly grafted branches cannot support the development of fruit so the flower buds are removed from such scions. The leaf bud, which should be a lone bud or the center bud where there are multiple buds, must be left undisturbed as it is the source of all new branch growth.

Scions should be short enough to be stored in bags; 6 inches is a good length. Because the final graft should have only two or three buds, it is often possible to make more than one graft with a scion. Thanks to San Francisco Bay Area Chapter for the information on collecting scions.

Dana Lozano and Gwen Kilchherr are garden consultants. Send your gardening questions to them at pdgardendoctor@gmail.com. The Garden Doctors can answer questions only through their column, which appears twice a month in the newspaper and online at pressdemocrat.com.