If you perform the transplant right and the weather cooperates, chances of survival are good.
But how perfectly does everything have to go?
Why Does Planting Time Matter?
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Once the ground freezes, water won’t be available to the roots.
A pro of fall planting is that your tree most likely won’t become stressed out by hot temperatures.
There’s a greater risk of this with spring planting.
But not all deciduous trees lose their leaves simultaneously in fall.
For example, oak trees (Quercus spp.)
keep their leaves later into autumn than maple trees (Acer spp.).
When leaves of deciduous trees fall in autumn, it indicates that they’re entering a state of dormancy.
Nor do they offer clear-cut indicators that give you a green light to plant them.
But evergreens generally are tougher than deciduous trees.
Container-grown and balled-and-burlapped trees are the priciest, and the compromise option is the bare-root plant.
What Are Bare-Root Plants?
Bare-root plants are less expensive than container-grown and balled-and-burlapped plants because the nursery uses less material and labor.
When you buy a tree grown in a pot, you get a plant with an undisturbed root ball.
When you plant it, you’ll place the whole rootball (dirt and all) in the ground.
In contrast, you must trust the nursery has handled the bare-root plant carefully.
They also need time to establish in soil.
Planting Bare-Root Trees
With bare-root trees, there’s less margin for error.
Just one setback kills them.
Planting Container-Grown and Balled-and-Burlapped Trees
With container-grown or ball-and-burlapped plants, there’s more room for error.
