'and a mor-on in a pear tree!'

14 years ago

Warning - do not read this unless you want to help comfort a fool.

So today I got my first free Sunday afternoon in weeks. Says I to myself, "Now would be a great time to plant those plum and pear trees I bought at the Oakhurst sale." So I bundled up, and, ignoring the fact that the ground crunched beneath my feet and that there was ice on the underside of the mulch, I carried my three trees down the hill to their new homes. After a few shovelfuls of dirt, hands starting to go numb, I decided to unpot the first tree. The dirt was frozen solid and the tree was so root bound I couldn't coax it out of the pot, but I soldiered on. With a sharp knife, I cut away the plastic pot and tried to slice away some of the overgrown roots. Frozen solid. May as well have been trying to carve a frozen turkey. Aha, I thought- I'll run water over it til it's thawed enough to cut the roots and spread them out nicely in the hole as described in my Backyard Orchardist book. Hmmm- hose felt crunchy too. Only a trickle made it out through the ice. By this time my ears hurt and I couldn't feel my feet. But the plant was out and the pot was cut to shreds, so I had to continue. I let the hose run until more water was coming out. With soaked gloves and clawed stiff hands, I got the roots wet enough to pretend they were thawed, hacked them apart randomly with a steak knife, stuck the tree in the ground and shoved dirt around it. Then I watered it with buckets of icy water and mulched it with wood chips posing as permafrost. It took nearly two hours to plant one frozen tree and an hour to warm myself up over tea.

So here's the question(s), Gardenwebbers: Should I bet on this tree living after my frozen butchering? Can I let the remaining two trees wait til a warmer day or will they die in their icy rootbound pots? (The roots on the pear I planted looked live and healthy and there are little buds on all the branches.) Will the frostbite on my fingertips ever recover?

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Comments (8)

liliumskygazer
14 years ago
Ha, ha. Thanks, I no longer feel ashamed of sitting inside and not doing yard work.

I'm guessing the potted trees should live, probably even your planted one, although they may have some damage. I hope they live because I also have potted trees sitting outside.
girlgroupgirl
14 years ago
Your trees will be just fine. We grew plums and pears in the frozen tundra of Canada. Frozen solid for months at a time...

All my stuff is still in pots because of this danged weather, too wet for me to plant. They are all frozen solid I guess. Hopefully in a week or two we'll thaw enough for me to plant them. And here I told Westender that I thought it wouldn't get too cold NOT to plant them this year :)
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esthermgr
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, GGG, that's reassuring. I just hope I didn't kill the one I just hacked apart with a steak knife. Cabin fever, I guess- I was determined to get out there and PLANT THAT TREE! Oh well.
pam_3
14 years ago
Ha! I was out there, too. I planted some acorus on Jan. 1. Then decided it was too wet and needed to ammend the soil. So, I dug them up, ammended and the soil on Jan. 2. It wasn't wet that day, but frozen! I've kind of wondered if I should have waited. We'll see. They look ok so far.
brandon7 TN_zone7
14 years ago
Esthermgr, I hope your tree does well and that you don't get sick yourself. It's hard to say what the results will be with the info given, but it did make for a funny story. I almost had to wipe the tears from my eyes by the end.

Pam3, why are you amending soil you planted your acorns in? Probably not the best idea. It doesn't matter when you amend your soil as much as it does that you did it at all.

Here is a link that might be useful: Planting a Tree or Shrub
vicki7
14 years ago
Sounds a little like something I did a couple of days before Christmas. I had 15 daffodil bulbs sitting in my garage I hadn't planted, so I decided to get out there and plant them even though the ground was soggy and the wind was icy. I've never planted anything so quickly and haphazardly as those bulbs. Brrrr!
pam_3
14 years ago
Acorus, not acorns. They're little grassy plants related I think to Iris. The area has poor drainage, so I just added a little organic matter.
brandon7 TN_zone7
14 years ago
(adjusting glasses) Now I can see better....Maybe raising the area a little will help the drainage. Sometimes amending the soil (adding organic matter) actually makes the situation worse, but it depends on the situation.