Dang it! Got a bad addiction and don't know if I can ever break free of it...fruit trees!
Every year it seems the order get's a little bigger and this year they arrived from
Century Farms Orchards so I started a new orchard adjacent to my centrally located food plot area and got busy digging in this ole SE Iowa clay.
This area is well drained but very poor subsoil clay
I kept the tree roots well protected and wrapped up tight in a bag with some moist soil
and got the holes all dug and top soil opened and at the ready by each hole
The root systems varied in size and this hole could have been a tad bigger
While others were just right
I poured a bag of top soil around each tree
and quickly moved down the line keeping root exposure to drying winds at a minimum
Then I went back down the line straightening each tree and firmly tamping the soil around each one
Then I cut 12" strips of 24" window screen and stapled them around the tree as a rodent and moth protector
Easy to do with a common stapler
then I sealed the top soil and bottom of the screen with clay
and stapled the name tags to the screen
and then took a moment to survey my work and imagine whitetails lapping up apples here some day in the future
I still have to stake and fence these and take it from me...don't put it off! probably lot's of great ways to get an orchard established but this method has worked well for me
Fruit trees tend to be a little pricey so I got some of my crazy addicted (to habitat) friends together and we have about 200 trees already on order with Adams County Nursery for $8-10 a piece for 2012...guess I better sharpen that shovel....