Nature Hills Gardening Community

The Hybrid poplars Populus deltoides/ Populus nigra I ordered as well as the sugar maples should be arriving at my mothers place tomorrow, which is over an hour drive from my location.  the current temps here  in zone 4 are in the 80s this week.  I may not be able to get there to plant these trees until next week thursday.  So will I risk their untimely demise?

 1.  What type of packageing does nature hills use for these 3 foot trees?

2.  How long can I keep these trees before planting them in the ground?

3.  If I wait till next thursday, how should my mother prepare and keep them healthy for their week and a half wait to be born again?

 

Thanks for the help

Bismark Jack,

Nature Hills Nursery packs your trees in a heavy duty corrugated box and wraps the roots of the trees in wet sphagnum moss. A bag is placed around the moss and then tied into place.

It is best if the trees are planted as soon as you  receive them but if that is not possible open the boxing and remove the trees. Place the trees out of the sun and sprinkle water on the roots. You can leave the moss in place. You should check the roots daily and sprinkle with water when needed. rotate the roots so the root mass isn't always in the same position.

You can keep the trees if the above conditions are met for 10 days or so. The trees will most likely start to bud out while in the holding area. Hope this helps!

Fyi...I ordered 3 poplars and a willow oak from them.  The poplars looked good but the oak looked flat out dead.  I placed all of them in the shade and kept the roots wet,(bucket) for 4 days until I could get them in the ground.  When I informed Nature Hills that I thought I might have received a dead tree, I was told it could just be in a "dormant" phase and that there was absolutely nothing they could do to give me credit or anything.  With that info, I immediately planted it and I'm just hoping for the best.  If it does come out of it, no harm/no foul.  If not, I've bought my last item from them.

Ironpusher, thank you for your post. Please scrape a little bark about half way up the tree and see if there is any life to the tree. We do have a replacement policy and will be happy to assist you in a claim. Please email us at info@naturehills.com (attention Jeff) with your findings or you can email us your phone number and I will be happy to call you and discuss the problem. I did notice in your post you stated you soaked the roots for 4 days. We only suggest soaking the roots in water no more than 12 hours as posted on the back of all packing slips. We value your business and want to make your experience a pleasant one, so I look forward to hearing from you. How are the poplars doing?