Planting Your Trees (Step by Step)

This is how Ryan plants his trees. If you already have a method that works, keep using it — but this is a proven approach for wildlife trees.

When to plant (bare-root = plant dormant)

Everything we sell is bare root, so trees must be planted while trees in your area are still dormant.

North: early spring — plant as soon as you can work the soil just before spring green-up (often the last week of March into early April in PA).
South: fall planting is common, but you achieve the same goal when planting before trees break dormancy in your area. Trees do not grow roots when dormant during the winter. We can accommodate winter shipping or really early spring by contacting us at ryan@bluehillwildlifenursery.com
The rule everywhere: plant while trees in your area are dormant. Bare-root trees are out of the ground for only a minimal time and are stored in wet sawdust until planting.

About 2′ wide × 2′ deep (24″ × 24″). If your topsoil is shallow over clay/shale, dig a little deeper to mix some good soil down.

If your pH is low (Ryan’s ground runs ~5.5–5.7), add a little pelletized lime — about two pounds for that hole (or “two handfuls” mixed through the pile). Don’t overdo it.
Add a pre-starter fertilizer that is 0-20-20 (no nitrogen), about 2–3 ounces — “like seasoning a steak.” This supplies phosphorus and potassium, two critical, immobile nutrients that must be mixed into the soil at planting. There are many ways to get these nutrients mixed into your soil, something like osmocote, Bone meal, Blood Meal, Simple compost, Manure in moderation (1 gallon mixed in a 2’x2′ hole brodived these nutrients and many micros.
NEVER apply nitrogen directly to the roots at planting — it will kill the tree. Nitrogen is mobile and can be added lightly the next year if needed.
Alternative amendments Ryan uses (especially for persimmons): a spade-shovel-full of chicken manure for micronutrients; wood chips to help break up clay. Mix amendments thoroughly through the pile of removed soil, then backfill.
Best practice: do a soil test (many university extensions/labs are economical) and amend to their recommendations. See Soil, Fertilizer & pH.

Plant so the tree sits at (or slightly below) its original soil line, because soil settles. Setting the original line about 1″ below grade compensates for summer settling.
Persimmons: their roots are black, making the root-to-trunk transition easy to see — plant ~1″ up under that transition.
Graft union: in general, keep the graft union at/above the soil line unless you have a specific reason to bury it. (Ryan covers depth and whether to bury the graft in his “fruit tree planting depths” video; when in doubt, don’t bury the graft.)

Full-size fruit trees: ~20′ apart; chestnuts ~35′; oaks ~30′; persimmon seedlings ~8–10′.
Sun: at least 6 hours of direct sun for growth and fruit.

Lots of critters want to eat a newly planted tree. Right after planting:

Weed control at the base — a 2′×2′ weed mat (preferably breathable or plastic if you are extremely high and dry) or even newspaper. Plastic helps pull/hold moisture in high-and-dry sites. Use stone for mulch: 2 gallons under the weed mat and 10 gallons on top of the mat.
Rodent guard — wrap the trunk base with 24″ aluminum window screen (voles/mice chew through plastic; use aluminum). Flare the bottom out and hold it down with stone/gravel — stone deters voles and is often “the only reason the tree is still here.”
Browse/rub cage — a 5′ welded-wire cage (2″×4″ mesh; ~7′8″ of a 100′ roll makes one cage) woven onto stakes, so deer eat your fruit in a few years — not your tree this year.

(See Protecting Young Trees for the full system, including tree tubes.)