- 1). Examine the health of your nursery tree. The state's cooperative extension office recommends making a cut in the areas just below and immediately above the graft union. If the wood under the bark is brown, the sapling sustained a cold injury and isn't worth your money. Once you take a tree home, keep the roots moist--not wet--until planting day, whether it's container-grown or a bare-root plant.
- 2). Dig a hole twice the diameter of the root ball and with a depth equal to the roots' length. In Alabama, the best time to plant a fruit tree is fall to early winter.
- 3). Plant your fruit tree in the center of the hole and back fill it with soil.
- 4). Irrigate the tree deeply immediately after planting. From then on, water the tree twice a week. In normal conditions, 5 gallons of water a week is sufficient. If it becomes unusually dry, increase the amount of moisture. Winter is Alabama's rain season. As soon as it starts, stop watering the fruit tree until the following growing season.
- 5). Mulch around the base of the tree to reduce water evaporation and to stunt weed development.
- 6). Prune the top one-third of your fruit tree at planting to encourage wood growth in the spring.
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