[JohnGalway]

Hi all,

Bought some apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees yesterday. I'll be planting them on my farm here in Connemara, Ph is probably not a lot above 5.5. I have access to free old crumbly cattle manure out of an old shed, old sheep dung straw mix from another location, and seaweed.

I will also be buying 18.6.12 & 0.7.30 for farm use if that's of any importance. Dad has some ground lime too.

When I dig out holes for the roots, hessian wrapped, are any of the above fertilisers a good idea to mix in with the soil? The cattle dung is the most well rotted and crumbly.

What other fert will I need?

I will give them a drop of water at planting too.

Anything else I should be doing?

I know they won't grow tall, I don't kind as they were an opportunistic buy.

Thanks very much,

John.

[JohnGalway]

Whoops, can this be moved? I seem to have posted in the wrong section.

[dormouse]

Actually I've been told that trees tend to do better if no fertiliser is mixed in when planting. Treat 'em mean type philosophy. It encourages the roots to search out and makes a more stable tree. You should dig out a large area and remove big rocks to help the roots spread easily, maybe a square meter. And go deeper down than the root ball will sit but don;t bring subsoil to the surface.
No doubt there are other theories but this is what I was told by a nursery owner recently and also read online. Ideally the planting hole would be well prepared before you plant. Well dug over and left to settle for a few weeks. You can hold the trees until then by potting them up in large bags (like empty compost bags) in a light damp mixture (top soil and compost). Keep them in a sheltered place out of harsh weather/wind. And try to get them into the ground by paddy's day which is a general cutoff point for planting bareroot.

[kindredspirit]

Yep, agree with Dormouse.

Don't use granular fertilizer. You could mix a small bit of the crumbly cattle stuff into your topsoil but don't overdo it.

[James Kilkelly]

[michael brenock]

apples and pears could be fed with 0 7 30, while cherries and plums could get cow manure well rotted and artificial fertiliser like 10 10 20 or 18 6 12. If the roots are wrapped in hessian remove it before planting, I have often seen trees failing because it was left on.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

[Seedling]

By compact fruit trees, do you mean that these trees are minatures that are grown on miniture root stock? I have been looking for some such fruit trees that I can keep on a patio in pots as I dont have a large enough garden

[JohnGalway]

Thanks all, appreciate the replies.

Seedling, it says on the labels that they're suitable for terraces and balconies. I don't know how I'd find out what root stock they're on for you?