Fruit trees due to arrive, and ground is frozen!

They are dormat and if you keep the roots moist they should make it. You could put them in a bucket and wrap the roots with wet paper. Keep them cool. I have never been lucky enough to kill a mulberry. The birds spread the seeds and they come up in our evergreens every year. I can cut them off at the ground, and several will sprout right back up from the roots.

 

If you ordered them online, they may not show up until spring. I ordered potatoes last winter and they didn't arrive until mid March - one month too late. Needless to say, I did not have fresh potatoes this year. :no:

 

You should probably be able to just "heel" them in until you can plant them. Just about any decent gardening book should discuss this.

The general idea is to dig a trench and then place the roots in the trench with the trunk at an angle. Cover the roots with soil, give it a good watering, and then cover with some mulch.

It should keep them happy for quite a while.

-jwulf
jwulf@cinci.rr.com

 

If you cannot dig, build a modest pile of sawdust, shredded leaves, or peatmoss, lay out the trees at an angle, and cover well with a foot or more of the same material. You may have to put up some kind of trellis to hold them near vertical. Light can permanently bend trunks.

 

Get them acclimatized.

If those were outdoors already, you have no problem. If not, slowly adapt them. Possibly keeping in an outdoor shed - unheated - for a week. But don't keep them dark.

Adapt them to outside quickly.

Get some soil ready. If it's frozen, bust the surface with a pick.

If need be, bring some soil in a garage in a wheelbarrow where you can bust it up and crumble the chunks.

But - for me - I'd never store outdoor trees rated for my zone, in a garage for a month or months.

Place mulch to insulate the roots.

Stake bare root, but yank the stakes out next summer. Trees develop stronger trunks when stakes are not used.

 

Almost forgot...

If your location is sunny, consider protecting the trunk from "some" sun the first summer.

I prefer one or two wraps of window screen.

It breaths, but lets some light in so the tissue can adapt.

 

Most nurserymen will hold dormant stock and not ship till proper planting season for your zone. You might try calling them and requesting spring delivery.