With any plant, including fruit trees, water must move from the soil through the roots to the tree above the ground and into the air. This continuum is broken when trees are lifted in the nursery.
The shock that trees can get when they lose many of their roots in the nursery during lifting, and then are transplanted into a different soil environment, can lead to poor or no growth at all of new roots. This is called transplant shock and is often exacerbated when roots are not kept wet after lifting or when the trees are not supported and are allowed to rock and sway in the wind. Pear and cherry trees are particularly prone to transplant shock.
When the continuum is not quickly restored after the trees have been planted, the roots shrink due to loss of water by the aboveground part of the tree. As a result, trees cannot make new roots. Lack of active root growth of transplanted nursery trees means lack of cytokinin production. This in turn means that trees have difficulty leafing out, and production and transport of auxins to the roots is impaired.
When you plant your trees carefully and have established the continuum, roots may still not grow. Failure of roots to regenerate might also be caused by lack of oxygen because of waterlogged conditions and/or cold soil. Most fruit trees belong to the Rosaceae family which function best under a high soil oxygen level (higher than 10 percent). Root growth is suppressed within 30 minutes when oxygen levels drop below 5 percent.
When roots do not start to grow as a result of transplant shock or lack of oxygen, newly-planted trees will use their reserves of carbohydrates, nutrients, and hormones, and small leaves will appear. These leaves will then wilt and dry out, which can eventually lead to tree death. If your trees happen to survive this ordeal, you may save them by cutting the tops back in winter and start again. But you have lost the first (crucial) year.
To prevent or minimize transplant shock and give your trees a good start in life:
—Buy high quality trees with good root systems. Do not buy runts.
—Have the topsoil and the subsoil sampled and tested by a reputable laboratory for pH, phosphorus (P), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), sodium (Na), and chloride (Cl), and the need for gypsum.
—Prepare your soil well. Rototill the soil, making it crumbly. Apply lime, gypsum and/or superphosphate if necessary.
—Provide good drainage. Hill up the topsoil.
—Have a well designed irrigation system in place before you plant the trees.
—Have a support system (trellis) in place before you plant the trees.
—Soak the tree roots in water before you plant them.
—Cover your trees with a tarpaulin when you transport them to the block.
—Do not cut roots when you plant the trees. Roots store carbohydrates, nutrients and hormones. The cuts can become entrances for soilborne diseases. There is no gain in cutting roots except for ease of planting.
—When you plant, do not stomp the soil around the tree with your boots, as this compacts the soil and makes it difficult for water (and later fertilizer) to reach the roots.
—Cut feathers back to short stubs, do not head the trees.
—Always water the trees in, even after it has rained and the soil is wet. This will help attach fine root particles to the roots, restoring the continuum.
—Tie the trees to the support system.
—Do not let the soil dry out around the roots, even when the trees have not yet leafed out. Put a few tensiometers next to some trees. Tensiometers will tell you if the soil is too wet.
—Do not mulch the trees. Mulch keeps the soil cold and wet in spring, which slows down root growth. Delay mulching until the trees have grown a little, or when the trees start to crop.
—Spray the trees to control diseases.
—Do not apply any nitrogen fertilizer until the new shoots are at least four inches long.
—by Bas van den Ende
Van den Ende is a tree fruit consultant in Australia’s Goulburn Valley.
“Do not mulch the trees. Mulch keeps the soil cold and wet in spring, which slows down root growth. Delay mulching until the trees have grown a little, or when the trees start to crop.” quoted from article.
Mulch put on during cold spells can cause problems with tree roots. This will keep the soil cold by the process of insulation. The cold soil will stunt the potential tree growth. Newly transplanted trees will not appreciate this mistake.
What about putting on mulch when the soil is warm and not too wet? This answer will require some logic. In temporate climates such as southern Oregon,
newly planted trees prefer to have warm soil caused organic additives that begin composting, right-away once organic material is tilled into the top foot of soil..Occasionally sunny conditions warms the soil and three inches of bark keeps the heat in the soil by the process of insulation. Tree roots will react favorably to this heat. The tilled topsoil rich with organic particles causes heat during biochemical reactions.
Hi george mcnair ,
You have shared the excellent informative post on this page about the saving of tree roots from the attack of insects by providing the proper watering according to the period of a time with the proper spay of insect killer daily otherwise the roots of trees become week and at the last stage the pruning of trees will be start ,so you must be take care of your trees located in your garden with the getting of details daily from a trees care company staff .
Thanks.
How much lime do I use when Transplanting this time of year?
I plantrd 2 year old peach and apple tree with fruit already on the trees.Will I loss the fruit?
Mulch put on during cold spells can cause problems with tree roots. This will keep the soil cold by the process of insulation. The cold soil will stunt the potential tree growth. Newly transplanted trees will not appreciate this mistake.
This is called transplant shock and is often exacerbated when roots are not kept wet after lifting or when the trees are not supported and are allowed to rock and sway in the wind. Pear and cherry trees are particularly prone to transplant shock.
I just dug up a three year old apple tree. I transplanted in a new site, where I amended the soil. My question is should I prune this tree? It is my understanding that it has never been pruned and is 10 ft. Plus. It is April 1st.
When you plant your trees carefully and have established the continuum, roots may still not grow. Failure of roots to regenerate might also be caused by lack of oxygen because of waterlogged conditions and/or cold soil. Most fruit trees belong to the Rosaceae family which function best under a high soil oxygen level (higher than 10 percent). Root growth is suppressed within 30 minutes when oxygen levels drop below 5 percent
I have panted a fruit tree ( plum tree) over a week ago, I have been watering it every 3 days but I could see today that a tree is dying as the leaves are going dry not sure what I can do to save it. We had very hot weather recently is possible that the tree needs more water than usual. Any advice would really appreciated, I would like to mention I have planted the tree in the sunny location like my other fruits trees which are doing fine after being planted 2 months ago.
how long till tree show live after transplant ?
will hydrogen peroxide and water help when transplanting of a finger-lime tree?
Hi can u help please .I transplanted my pear tree to my garden from another. It’s been 6 days now and wilted bad . Hope it’s not drying. What can I do please
Losing leaves after transplant is normal if you are doing this April/May. The fewer leaves, the lower risk. If the roots didn’t recover, it will grow fewer leaves in 1st year. Transplant just before spring gives lower risk.
If you transplant in mid summer then trim the leafy branches to reduce water requirement and you will still lose many of the remaining leaves and higher risk it will die.
Leave as much soil around the root ball and chase all the long roots rather than just keeping the central ball.
e.g. I did a 9 foot Plum tree in April – lots of long roots up to 5 foot – it lost half its leaves but is VERY healthy after 2 years. Transplanted a 3 foot plum tree in June . I lost the long roots as it was intermingled with shrub roots. a 10″ root ball remained and it died straight away despite 3 weeks of watering daily.
We reported a soursop tree in a bigger container after 2 days almost all leaves fell off, I’ve been watering it well, I think I followed directions on how to plant it, covered at night to keep from being cold. What can I do to prevent it from dying? Please advice. Thank you
I transplanted a well-established medler tree into the same good soil that it came from and added some compost to it. It’s well-drained . Before transplanting, it was about 9 feet in diameter and height, and trimmed down to about 6 feet in the late autumn after harvesting it’s plentiful crop of fruit. I had planned to transplant it during the winter but didn’t get a chance to. I ended up transplanting in late April after it had sprouted lots of leaves. I knew it was chancy to do it then but had to. I excavated the roots till about 5 feet radius in all directions, saving most of them. When I lifted it I wetted the roots and sprinkled lots of mycorrhyzal fungi powder on them and was finished transplanting in a couple of hours. Then watered it well and then watered it a bit each day for the next few days. This is in temperate climate in England. In july, the leaves started getting yellow mottling on them. Now, it’s early August and the mottling is increasing. Is there anything I can do now to help it along?
When you plant your trees carefully and have established the continuum, roots may still not grow. Failure of roots to regenerate might also be caused by lack of oxygen because of waterlogged conditions and/or cold soil.
Thank you for the tips.