English Woodlands Announce Winter Storage Tips for New Purchases

With the sudden cold snap, a usually appropriate planting season has been postponed. In light of this, English Woodlands have announced their winter storage tips for owners hoping to keep their purchases safe until planting becomes safe.

East-Sussex (I-Newswire) January 28, 2013 - Winter is an excellent time to invest in a tree and get planting. The plant should be dormant, so there is minimal shock to the system when being transplanted from a container or nursery to a domestic garden. Yet in turn with this, Winter can be a difficult time to plant if temperatures drop low enough. It’s only advisable to plant when the ground isn’t frozen, since otherwise it’s easy to damage the roots or kill the plant altogether.

Currently, the United Kingdom is undergoing a nationwide freeze, and soil is both difficult and dangerous to dig and plant it. English Woodlands advise customers to hold off on planting at least until the ground has definitively thawed, but recognise this sometimes poses a risk to the plant. Considering this fact the company has released their advice for customers on storing plants until they can be planted.

Trees with a root ball are provided with hessian or wire holding the soil in, which serves to keep moisture in the root system. Left in a sheltered cool location the plant can simply be propped up against a wall until it’s ready to plant. Consider laying some straw over the root ball for added insulation, however, as handling frozen roots can quickly snap them.

Trees delivered in containers are fine to be kept in their storage pot until the ground is thawed and malleable. Similar to the root balled plants, they need to be stay in a cool space protected from the elements and pests, ideally. They mustn’t be kept indoors, as this may result in the plant exiting dormancy prematurely.

Bare Root plants are the most difficult to store, coming bagged but without soil. Ideally they should be planted within 48 hours of delivery, but this isn’t always possible. They can be kept in a cool sheltered place for up to a week before becoming endangered. At this point either dig a V shaped trench in the ground to place them in, still bagged, ready to be easily removed for permanent planting at a later date. Alternatively, place them in a well-composted container for up to another fortnight.

A customer service representative commented on their new advice series. “We regularly have customers buy from us mid-way through winter, hoping to capitalise on the many benefits of late winter planting. Unfortunately, many of them then come to us with questions on how to plant during a freeze, and we worry some attempt to plant their new purchases when it’s the wrong time to do so. This is why we’re trying to make our expertise publically available.”

English Woodlands are an East-Sussex based supplier of trees, plants, shrubs and planting accessories. They have been offering excellent specimens and advice to the UK public since 1919, and plan to expand this service in the upcoming season,