Planting and first-year care

Plant bare-root trees between November and March when the soil is workable and not frozen. Soak the roots in a bucket of water for two hours before planting; this rehydrates them after the trauma of lifting. Dig a hole wider than the root spread but no deeper — the graft union (the knobbly bulge where variety meets rootstock) must sit 10 cm above soil level. If you bury the graft, the variety will root into the ground and ignore the rootstock, defeating the point of dwarfing.

Backfill with the soil you dug out. Do not add compost or manure to the planting hole — this creates a sump that holds water and rots roots. Instead, mulch the surface with 5 cm of garden compost or well-rotted manure in a ring 60 cm wide, keeping it 10 cm clear of the trunk. This feeds the tree as it establishes and suppresses grass, which is the enemy of young fruit trees.

Stake immediately. Drive a stout wooden stake into the ground at a 45-degree angle, pointing into the prevailing wind, so the top of the stake sits just below the first branch. Tie the trunk to the stake with a flexible tree tie, checking it every three months and loosening as the trunk thickens. Trees on M27, M9 and Quince C need permanent staking; those on M26 or MM106 can have the stake removed after three years.

Water every seven days through the first summer if rainfall is under 2 cm per week. A newly planted tree has a root system the size of a dinner plate; it cannot hunt for water until it has grown into the surrounding soil. By year two, watering is rarely needed except in serious drought.