Any advice on planting peach trees?

[CHICKENHEAD]

I have a few dwarf peach trees that need to go in the ground very quickly. Any advice on planting them. I have planted some in the past and they didnt make it. I planted a self pollinating peach tree and it is doing awesome. I have just never had any luck with the regular dwarf peach trees.

[Deberosa]

I may not be much help because here you can put a dead stick in the ground and it will sprout, but some key things I always do are:

1. Make the hole quite a bit bigger than the root ball so the tree can easily spread to looser soil at first.
2. Break up the root ball and spread out the roots - so that the tree can spread out faster.
3. Lots of water in the hole along with compost! Then the tree, fill in with dirt and water in thoroughly.
4. Keep the tree well watered for it's first season.

Good luck!

[WileyCoyote]

For some reason, everyone here digs the hole, separates the root ball, and then puts a 'hill' in the bottom of the hole and spreads the roots over it. then they fill the hole with water and compost, and smooth the dirt flat to the base of the tree. They say it helps prevent root rot and helps the roots to spread better. They also keep the ground at the bases of the trees free from all other growing matter and heavily mulched. Reason being is that the roots need access to moisture and too much undergrowth saps their strength. I did it for mine 20 years ago and they are still producing.

[CHICKENHEAD]

wow, thanks for all the advice.

[mtwildflower]

My advice is to make sure you don't plant your peach trees in Montana *:)

When *I do plant a tree though, I dig a hole about twice as big and deep as the root ball. I then fill the hole with water and let it drain twice. The third time I put the tree in the hole and fill it up two more times letting it drain. (we do have good drainage here ;) ) I really try NOT to buy anything root bound, but if it is a bit, then I spread out the roots over a pile of dirt at the bottom of the hole, pinning them in place with rocks or long staple like stakes of heavy wire if need be.

Sometimes, any roots that have grown with the pot in a circular way, have a tendency to go back to that if you can't force them to spread out over your pile of dirt. It will affect how your tree grows in the future. I have pulled up shrubs that have been in the ground several years and still have the shape of the original pot under it.

And I will also trim away about 1/3 of the branches if need be. I really want to encourage the roots to grow at first and triming off a good portion of the branches or taking off many of the new shoots that first summer, helps. Then mulch and water like hell that first year. I add fertilizer too to encourage as much growth as possible, then I can back off in later years.
For fruit trees, any young fruits are picked off as they are forming and pitched. Concentrate on the root growth for the first couple of years.