[spandit]

Ordered 150 hawthorn plants a week ago, hoping to get them planted before I go away tomorrow. Still not delivered, despite being out for delivery all day. Going to have to heel them in somewhere by torchlight at this rate and hope they survive until I get home next week

[Rosemary]

Rant away. They should be fine - we had apple trees heeling in for months last year and they were none the worse for it 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I now have a very mixed and crowded hedge of trees I heeled in and didn't get round to unheeling....within 30 feet there are oak ash hawthorn beech lime spruce willow birch alder......mmmmm think I should do something!

[Fleecewife]

Dig the trench before it gets dark so it's easy to heel them in by torchlight.  Even if they don't arrive until after you have gone they should be ok - they will be packed in damp straw or similar and are dormant anyway.

[spandit]

Well, it's nearly 6pm and no sign. Haven't dug a trench but will have to hope they will be OK until I get back on Monday. Due out this evening so will probably miss the delivery. It's with Yodel so they'll probably put it in the bin or sling it over what hedge we do have!

[spandit]

Got a text at 8:30pm saying they were delivered to a "safe place". Got home at 10:30 to find them stood by the back door...

Opened the box and the bundles of 25 were just put in a bin bag so I ventured out into the rain and dug a trench to heel them in for when I get back. Hope I've done it right - they shouldn't need any watering (although the soil here is sandy so it was pretty crumbly, even after all this rain)

Will post pictures next week when I get them in the ground for proper

[HesterF]

They'll be fine. Looking forward to photos. Apparently I'm about to plant 500 alders. Let me know how long 150 take. At the rate I plant fruit trees, it'll take me a long time!

[spandit]

They'll be fine. Looking forward to photos. Apparently I'm about to plant 500 alders. Let me know how long 150 take. At the rate I plant fruit trees, it'll take me a long time!

I'm ordering 1500 mixed trees next month, including 350 alders, although might up that a bit

[HesterF]

Wowee! Are you going to plant them all yourself? How big will they be?

[spandit]

Wowee! Are you going to plant them all yourself? How big will they be?

About 60cm... Hopefully getting some help!

[SallyintNorth]

Yes, please let us know how you get on planting them - we've 4000 to do in the next month or so!  Himself reckons we could do 500 a day each, and we do think we'll love to see the trees we've planted ourselves growing - but I am a bit dubious about being able to do 500 in one day, let alone every day for 4 days!

[lachlanandmarcus]

Yes, please let us know how you get on planting them - we've 4000 to do in the next month or so!  Himself reckons we could do 500 a day each, and we do think we'll love to see the trees we've planted ourselves growing - but I am a bit dubious about being able to do 500 in one day, let alone every day for 4 days!

Methinks the lady is right to be dubious! Maybe he could demonstrate planting 250 by himself on day 1 to prove the figures :-DDD

[SallyintNorth]

He thinks we'll do 500 a day each!

[Rosemary]

Dan used to work on the forestry and they used to plant trees at a phenomenal rate but they weren't planted with the care he put into our fruit trees.

I think they cut a slit, opened it, dropped the tree in and heeled it in and on to the next one. I'm sure losses would be quite high compared to our fruit trees but it was a numbers game.

[Dan]

What Rosemary said. 

For most native trees you don't need to dig a hole, just make a slit with a planting spade, open it up a little, drop in the tree and close it up with either your heel or by inserting the spade again behind the tree and closing it up. Obviously these were saplings, no more than 12 inches long with minimal root spread.

Losses from mis-planting should be minimal, most losses are caused by rabbits, deer etc.

Wouldn't want to do it again, but we planted 1,000 each a day on a good, long day.