All our potted trees are set to the proper depth in their current pots.

This means, when your plant our trees, the soil level of the pot, should be exactly level with the surrounding soil where you plant it.

Tree roots NEED TO BREATHE. Planting too deep is the number one cause of tree health problems and untimely death!

Recommended Planting Method

Location

#1) Plant in a well-draining spot. If the spot holds water, your tree is likely to get root rot and die.

• Apple trees like slightly acidic soil.
• Semi-dwarfs should be planted about 15′-20′ apart.
• Full size trees should be planted 30′-40′ apart.

Planting Hole

#2) You want WIDE AND SHALLOW. Not narrow and deep.

• I prefer to make a five-foot diameter hole.
  The center of this hole is where the tree goes and should be exactly the depth of the soil in the pot. So for example, from the bottom of the pot, to the top of the soil = eight inches, then the middle of the 5′ hole is going to be 8″ deep. 
• Do NOT loosen up the soil UNDER the center hole. You want the tree roots to sit on firm ground. In our example, the soil 9″ at the center is completely untouched.
• For the remaining area of the five-foot hole, you want the soil as loose as possible. It doesn’t really matter how deep you go, loosening up the soil in your five foot area hole. The more you loosen the soil, the deeper you go, the easier you’re making it for the tree roots to establish themselves.
  An easy method is to dig out the entire five-foot hole about one shovel head length. (Remember, you’re not touching the center of the hole). Throw the dirt into a wheel barrow or pile nearby on the ground.
• You can mix in 25% of good compost / quality soil if your soil is not so great. We have mostly red clay here.
• Back fill the five-foot hole with the material you dug out, plus any compost mixed in and your hole will be nice and loose! (do not tamp it down!)
• DO NOT FERTILIZE THE TREE AT ALL WHEN PLANTING.

Creatures

• Protect your tree from the creatures that frequent your area.
• Unless you’re going to use poisons, which I don’t recommend, the only real Vole solution is a metal, hardware cloth barrier around the roots of the tree. This keeps the voles off long enough for the roots to establish themselves and become too hard for voles’ liking. If you know you have a vole problem, this is the way to go. If you don’t think you have voles on your property, you can try planting the trees without any vole protection.
• A hardware cloth barrier extending up around the base of the tree about 12,” about 8-9 inches in diameter, will deter rabbits. There are also a number of different commercial guards you can buy.  I like hardware cloth because it does not hinder airflow or the elements at all.
• Deer are the real tricky ones. You basically have to erect Fort Knox around your tree if you have deer pressure. It sucks, but if deer enter your area do it. The last thing you want is to nurture your apple trees for 3 years only to walk out one morning and find them literally gone… eaten down to the rootstock, never to return again.

Girdling a Tree

• Be sure to remove any tags or wrappings from your tree after planting.
• Keep a physical map of your planted trees somewhere in your house. Tags and markers at the tree get erased by the weather over time.