You can buy seedlings of fruit trees at any time of the year, the main thing is to be able to choose the right plants. Our consultant Aleksey Rybin, an agronomist and a candidate of agricultural sciences, shares useful advice.
25 May 2016
In the summer they buy seedlings with a closed root system – in a pot. Be careful, some traders sell ordinary trees by simply replanting them in a pot. It’s easy to check: take the tree by the trunk. If it has risen with the container, and the roots have sprouted through its bottom, then the seedling is of high quality. The transplanted plant will easily separate from the pot along with the roots.
Good healthy seedlings at two years of age should have three long, branched branches that extend from the trunk at an obtuse angle. The thickness of the stem (trunk) from the root collar to the first branch of the crown is at least 2 cm. Dry, wrinkled bark, decaying root collar indicate that the plant will not take root. The leaves of a healthy potted tree will be bright, juicy and firm, without spots or damage. If the leaves are few, it’s okay, they can be treated with substances that cause dropping. This is to ensure that the plant does not evaporate moisture through the leaves before planting. The vaccination site must be completely healed and not bandaged.
For planting in the Moscow region, it is best to take unsightly and crooked seedlings – this is a sign that the tree is grafted onto a seed stock, that is, acclimatized and will not freeze in the very first winter. Guests from southern countries and regions are usually grafted onto a beautiful dwarf rootstock, they have an even, beautiful trunk. When planting, you will be able to find out exactly on which rootstock the seedlings are grafted. The pome rootstock has a distinct main root, there are smaller lateral roots, but no fibrous roots. Vegetative rootstocks do not have a clearly defined main root, the root system is fibrous. Try to protect such a tree well in the winter from frost in the future.
Ask the seller to talk about the varieties he sells, about leaving after planting, about the timing of fruiting. If he is at a loss, it is better to look for another place to buy. You can buy from private traders in the market, some gardeners have excellent varietal collections, sell good quality seedlings and will gladly supply you with their business card or give you a phone number.
What the fruits will be can be determined by the color of the bark. If the stem of a two-year-old seedling is greenish or gray with yellowness, the fruits will be green or yellow.
When the bark is dark red, brown with a reddish tint, the fruit will grow red or blush. The light brown-red bark of a plum portends red or yellow fruits with a blush, gray with yellowness – yellow, but if the bark is gray and the tips of the branches are gray-blue, the plums will be dark.