When is the Proper Time to Plant a Tree?

One of our most commonly asked questions is when is the appropriate time to plant a tree.  Many people mistakenly believe that you should only plant a tree in a month that ends with an “R”. Others claim that trees can only be planted in the spring or the fall.  Once the temperature hits freezing, many people believe that a newly planted tree will be unable to survive the harsh northern Indiana winter.

I believe that in order to fully understand the answer to this frequently asked question, one must first understand how a tree responds when it is dug from the nursery.  More importantly, we should be asking “When is the best time to dig a tree?”  Dogwood Hills dig trees from its nursery in the spring before the buds break and again in the fall as the trees begin to go dormant.  This minimizes the amount of shock a tree experiences.  After a tree has been dug, it can go up to a year without being planted so long as it is heeled into some dirt and receives adequate moisture.  However, if you dig a tree after it is leafed out and before it begins going dormant, its chances of dying from transplant stress increase exponentially.

By digging all of our sold trees in March and April, our crews are able to stay busy planting trees well into the summer months. On the other end of the spectrum, we routinely plant trees into December and throughout the winter months as long as the ground isn’t frozen!  However, there are four exceptions to the aforementioned rule.  Dogwood Hills recommends transplanting Birch, Oaks, Redbuds, and Tulips in the springtime only. Trees that are dug in the proper season and installed by Dogwood Hills successfully take to their new location in excess of 96% of the time!

Now that you understand how a tree responds when it is dug out of a nursery, you know that there isn’t necessarily a wrong time to plant a tree.  Rather, there is an appropriate time to dig a tree!