By By Linda Stewart

 

As we ease into our San Diego winter, it is time to plan our emerging spring garden and as we enter the holiday season, it is time to head to the nurseries to check out the selection of new fruit trees, roses and vegetables. Every year, new hybrids are developed that give us the chance to expand our orchards, replace poorly producing trees, and find more space for newly created fruits and vegetables, and new colors of roses.  Think pink squash and striped tomatoes and roses with vividly different colored petals. Think Peacotum™ -Peach x apricot x Plum hybrid- and Pluerry ™ -Plum x Cherry hybrid.  Yummy.

This article will put the vegetable purchases on the back burner and focus on deciduous fruit trees, specifically bare root trees.  A bare root tree is just a stick with roots and branches.  When it is planted properly, the roots grow first, followed by branches and leaves, and  you reap, or rather eat, the rewards.

Bare root is the simplest and cheapest way to plant these new garden additions. There are endless opportunities to shop at good nurseries for the best new products. They are usually available to buy December through February so do your research now.  And plant during these months allowing their dormancy to break in spring with newly established roots, shoots and fruits.

 

PREPARE:

Before you buy, know your microclimates: the temperature range in your neighborhood and your garden; your exposure (N-S-E-W), morning or afternoon or all day sun; reflected heat from walls or fences; and wind direction. There is a lot to consider.  While the USDA places most of San Diego County in Zone 10, this is not particularly helpful when choosing fruit trees. https://mg.ucanr.edu/Gardening/ClimateZones/

The Sunset Garden zones are much more helpful as they break up our county into five different zones. https://www.sunsetwesterngardencollection.com/climate-zones/zone/san-diego-region/.

Fruit trees require a minimum of “chill hours”,  defined as the number of hours between 32’F and 45’F required to set fruit. Therefore, a fruit tree chosen for the Clairemont area must require fewer chill hours than one to be planted in El Cajon. Below is a great chill-hours chart. Be aware that new varieties of trees are hybridized each year and what you see at the nursery in January 2025 may not be on this list. Please read the tags, talk to your nursery’s specialists, and plant appropriately for your location. 

https://www.mastergardenerssandiego.org/downloads/FavoriteFruitTrees.pdf

https://homeorchard.ucanr.edu/8261.pdf

As you shop, look for fruit trees with a trunk diameter of at least ½”.  Look for plenty of thick, rigid, white roots not floppy black strings. Look for a strong graft union, the area where the best root stock is fused with the fruit tree trunk, and look for many branches coming out of the trunk.

It is important not to let the tree roots dry out after you arrive home with your new tree.  You can cover the roots with mulch, damp soil, or shavings. Place the tree in a bucket of water if you are planning to plant it within a day or two.

 

PLANT:

Dig a hole large enough to spread out the roots over your mound of soil. Do not dig the hole deeper than necessary, just loosen up the soil, removing rocks and old plant parts so the roots can penetrate. Use mostly your native soil, not all bagged products. The soil should be damp but not saturated. You want your tree to grow in your garden and not hit a wall when the roots grow to the edge of the mounded area. Make a cone-shaped mound of soil. Tamp well to shape.

Place the tree on the mound and check the hole for size and depth. The soil line may be up to 3" above the ground. Spread roots evenly around trunk. Make sure that the graft is a few inches above the soil.

Hold the tree straight and start covering with more damp soil as soon as possible so that the roots never dry out. The backfill soil should contain no more than 25% amendments (such as compost). Tamp down the soil several times while filling the hole to remove air pockets. It is likely to settle a bit more over time.

Taper the soil from the line on the trunk out to ground level. Tapering the soil allows better drainage around the trunk. Make a tree “well” so the water settles around the roots, not the tree trunk To decrease the chances of diseases and insects destroying your tree.

 

THERE’S MORE TO LEARN:

This is just the beginning.  Please click on all the links below to become more educated on this process.  And then stand back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

https://www.treesaregood.org/treeowner

https://homeorchard.ucanr.edu/links/#preparation

https://www.walterandersen.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2025-Fruit-Trees-Final.pdf

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Linda Stewart has been a Master Gardener since 2010