[Jim T]

:oops: Should we be watering trees now :?:

[penance]

No.

[muntjac]

are they newly planted ? yes to settle the soil around the roots and to break up any trapped air pockets and to settle the new roots .never plant bare rooted trees without soaking the roots in a bucket for 48 hours  

[penance]

never plant bare rooted trees without soaking the roots in a bucket for 48 hours  

Er, why?

[WG.]

Er, why?

Greatly improves survival rate

[muntjac]

cos it brings them back to life and they take in so much water and start to think about sending out new rootlets and it helps them when they start to get blowed about in the wind as the wind will dry them out .and probably cos my teacher always said to and he was never wrong  

[penance]

Sorry guys, but i really dont agree. 6 hour max is by far enough, much more and you stand the chance of damaging the roots. Woody tissue roots that are completely submerged in standing water start to create an alcohol type chemical that is damaging to the roots.

Starnge by my arboricultural lecturer said the oposite to your teacher.

[muntjac]

my teacher was 60 when i ws 16   things have probably moved on since then,but it didnt do the trees an harm and we planted 4000 plus on a new landscapeing progaramme on humberstone road in lincolnshire  

[penance]

Funny how things seem to change.
What i was told before I went to college was nearly always contradicted by our lecturers.
We studied the books of Dr Shigo, he was ground breaking in tree care philosophy and theory of c.o.d.i.t. it actually makes interesting reading, in particular if combined with books from a French arbo called Mattock.

If you fancy a read, this page and links put across Shigo's ideals quite well:
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/shigo/

[Jim T]

are they newly planted ? yes to settle the soil around the roots and to break up any trapped air pockets and to settle the new roots .never plant bare rooted trees without soaking the roots in a bucket for 48 hours  

Thanks MJ but what a debate! I'm inclined to go with your points but when I planted 50 bare rooted hedge trees (all edible ) I followed the directions from the suppliers (Ashridge). This was not to soak the roots but simply to dip them in water and slide them into a slit trench.
(I dusted them with bonemeal first).
I dont know how worried I should be now but I'll give them a good soaking tomorrow morning  :roll:

[shaun]

what trees are they jim ?

[Jim T]

what trees are they jim ?

Hi Shaun, Common pear, crab apple, hazel, cherry plum and a few blackberry.       What do you think :?:

[shaun]

i think thats ace mate have you a lot of spare ground then
so how big are they now just little knee high ones or waist high ?

[muntjac]

talking back again about watewring em ...... if you plant whips .20 mins is more than enough to soak em .these are always put in a slit made by the spade .... trees are not you dig a hole for them and they need the water to setttle soil around the roots as i sugggesed fellas and the pre soaking helps  

[Jim T]

i think thats ace mate have you a lot of spare ground then
so how big are they now just little knee high ones or waist high ?

 :evil: I just typed a reply and the page dropped out. Do you know if I can save a copy against this happening?
Anyway The trees vary from 2 ft to about 5ft tall and its not taking a lot of ground, just along a fence to form a hedge. They said 4/5 to the yard but I spaced them a bit wider so the total lenght is about 15 yards.
As they said: we can eat what the birdies leave for us.
So what do you think about the watering?