First time fruit tree grower…
Last spring I got 4 bare root trees (2 apricot 2 cherry) and naively thought they were big enough that the deer would let them be. I also got two potted native plums that May, but I think I let them sit too long before planting (I thought waiting til fall was best but the roots probably got bound).
The deer ripped all the bare roots clean in half that fall from tugging on the leaves. Holding out hope, I managed to get some fencing in this spring before they could do anything else. Some of the trees are leafing out just now, but none are leafing at the tips of the canopy branches - the plums are leafing all around the base and the apricots are around the trunk but above the graft point. The cherries show no signs of life 😭
My question is: if the trees do manage to seemingly recover from all this over the course of summer, will there be permanent issues with the health/production? Is it worth it to get new bare roots this fall/next spring and replace them or should I just let it ride? (and May is probably too late to grab any trees this year right? It’s already pushing 80F some days...)
Zone 6 Pennsylvania by the way,
- Ollie
