Planting Bare Root Trees | Growing Pecan Trees in AZ

[@DesertNails]

There's something exciting about planting a tree

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Jennifer, we agree COMPLETELY! We're always exhausted at the end, but when they break bud for the first time the excitement happens all over again. Then they fruit and it happens again...and it goes on and on!!!

[@allanturpin2023]

Nut trees just check so many boxes. Every farm should have some.

[@elliottjames671]

What boxes are those?

[@allanturpin2023]

@@elliottjames671- hey man. I was thinking shade, windbreak, good, long term producers of healthy calories, and potential cash crop that requires minimal care and inputs. And tasty.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Right there with you on that one Allan. We have had success with Almonds, so we're keeping our fingers crossed we can at least get a couple of these to take. If not, we'll try again with different varieties.

[@desertdanblacksmith1394]

My brother had to seperate his cows from the nut and fruit trees. Those cows love apples and fruit and all the trees were trimmed about 8 ft into the air....:)....you ever see a hefer get up on its hind legs to reach an apple? I have! :) After he fenced them out w wire....he had to make it a Pipe Fence cause the cows kept busting it down to get back.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Dan! Yeah, I'm not sure we'll have cattle anywhere near these trees back there. We're keeping them pretty close to the property line, so we can put heavy fencing up if necessary. Cows on their back legs to reach an apple, that's a Kodak moment for sure!

[@SonOfAGun1814]

i love pecans! hope you guys are going to live at that property for a long time, pecans grow relatively slow. it will be several years before you get a good crop, which i'm sure you already know. awesome!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We love them too! Yeah, we're in for the long haul on these, so it's just another good reason to put down permanent roots...sorry, had to on this one!!

[@selinamularz9194]

I just went to plant my new pecan trees and wasn't sure how deep to go, this helped so much. Thank you.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Those pecan trees can be a little tricky. The tap roots are usually much deeper than the fruit trees and almonds we're used to planting. Hopefully we'll both have luck with these!!

[@RichBurris2]

Greening the Desert one tree at a time. Continues to look better every day.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Richard! That's the plan. Hopefully these will be a WHOLE lot of green in a few years!!

[@gardenofthegeeks8277]

MMMMM love Pecan Trees. Love to make pralines out of them.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey guys!!! Ooh, pralines and pecan ice cream...mouth officially watering!!

[@gardenofthegeeks8277]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Yes indeed have Ice cream maker will travel... Heck it makes 6 quarts at a time!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@gardenofthegeeks8277 6 quarts of carb heaven!

[@jimgriffiths9071]

I noticed some 2 year old pecans online that were already 30' tall. It will be really interesting to see how your trees grow!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Jim. Wow, that's a massive amount of growth in a year. I'll take a fraction of that and be very happy!

[@danielfisch655]

Woohoo, pecan trees are amazing. Great video and thank you for sharing.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Daniel! We're excited, because it's the first time we've had the space to dedicate to trees that get so massive. We're hoping these take, but if they don't we're not going to give up trying on these!

[@jaredmccutcheon5496]

Those Pecans should look awesome in 10 years or so. I was excited about bare root season so I went to my favorite nursery today, they had thousands of trees and almost every single one of them was pink tagged denoting it was already sold. I asked the guy about it and he said they sold them all online before they even got them. I managed to find a Spice Z Nectaplum, a variety I was looking for, but it was slim pickings for what was left. I guess it’s Big Box Store trees for me this year which I have not had the best luck with.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Jared. Wow, where the heck did you see all those trees? And what a bummer to see them all accounted for, that's not fair to tease like that! We have the same Nectaplum planted and are hoping for a solid harvest in a year or two. Haven't tried the fruit yet, but it should be a solid hybrid. What other trees are on your list?

[@jaredmccutcheon5496]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm It’s a local Nursery in Atascadero California called Bay Laurel Nursery. It’s one of the only Nurseries left in our county other than big box stores. Last year I went there almost every weekend during bare root season and found plenty of trees available. I thought I hit the jackpot when I walked through their gate yesterday, 😂 All Dave Wilson trees too, so it was an awesome selection, especially for interspecifics.

[@jaredmccutcheon5496]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm So after I responded to your comment, I had the great idea to go on that nursery's website and see if I could order some trees online. They didn't have a lot left on there to choose from but I was able to get 8 varieties I didn't already have as well as another Burgundy Plum for additional pollination on my pluots. So I am totally happy.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@jaredmccutcheon5496 I've seen them online before, so that's great that you could still get a few from them. It's crazy how commerce is changing so drastically with online retailing. Here you're in town and having to order trees from them online. Then again, we all get access to such an amazing assortment of trees that we otherwise would have to go to great lengths to get ahold of!

[@orangewatchie]

Great stuff guys. Enjoyed the video as always. Found Queensland Fruit Fly magggots in 6 of my apricots yesterday. Luckily, it was my last picking from the tree. Will be canning them soon. Spent the rest of the day making traps and hanging them in my plums, peaches apples and pears. Fingers crossed that fruit fly don't get the upper hand. They are a real problem in Australia.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Daz! We had fruit flies where I grew up in California. The peaches were pretty much a lost cause as they were loaded with larvae by the time they were ripe. Do they pretty much attack anything with a pit?

[@orangewatchie]

G'day guys. They'll go for bananas, apples, oranges, pears, all the stone fruits, passionfruit and even vegies like capsicum (I think you say peppers) and tomatoes. The next town over from us actually has a road side stop where you MUST dispose of fruit in your vehicle as one of Australia's biggest orange growing regions is further up the road.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@orangewatchie wow, even citrus? That's one heck of a pest. Sounds like your insects are just as ferocious as your snakes!

[@ryandoylespotteryfarm7316]

my grandpa planted a Pecan orchard after world war 2 in Gilbert on Elliot and Lindsey. The trees are still there after home development!!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Ryan, that is just amazing. It's great to hear they did well and are still thriving. It's funny to watch people walk by pecans on the ground and have absolutely no idea what they are!

[@DOC_AZ]

You need to build a small country store. A small outbuilding maybe and sell canned goods and seasonal fruit and meat from the farm.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Great suggestion on that. We've kicked around the idea of something just inside the Western entrance near the chicken coop and run. As the city moves this way we're getting closer and closer into town, so it won't be much of a hike for folks in Phoenix!

[@DesertNails]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I'll drive over

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@DesertNails we'll bring the home made wine!

[@DesertNails]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm lol if it's a party, I'm in. I'll bring some food and crocheted blankets! If you're selling, I'll bring money to buy wine and whatever else you're selling.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@DesertNails well, we can't legally sell wine, but we can sure share it!

[@angelfly1067]

Fun fact my area was a pecan Orchard that went on for quite a few miles

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Angel! Sounds to me like your destined for a Pecan tree!!

[@jessebrown1497]

I have a big pecan tree in my front yard that I trimmed way back. They are soooooo messy but the pecans are worth the hassle. Should get buts in 5-10 years.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Jesse, I'm so glad to hear that. So we understand there is some extra care they need with fertilizing (Zinc to be specific). Are you guys doing anything special in that regard? Any other tips??

[@hiddenvalleyfarmstead]

Love it!! Great info!! Thank you!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Yeah, these have been a challenge. We've had 4 of the 6 trees we've planted never come out of dormancy and the 2 that are alive really struggle during the summers. We're finding they need a LOT more water than our other trees!

[@samialsahhar9621]

Good job. What type of white paint you have on the trunk.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Sami, that's a great question and I should have been more specific. That is the tree trunk paint you'll find for sale in the gardening section at Lowes or Home Depot. It's a mixture of white latex paint and water in about a 50/50 ratio. We prefer to just buy the premixed cans as they're pretty inexpensive.

[@richardmang2558]

If you plan to mix your own, this is what I did. I bought some Glidden (since it was the least expensive) Interior Latex White paint, one quart will last you forever. Mix it 50/50 with water in a little 8-12 oz used bean can only filled half way total volume. You will not need much for a tree. Paint it on with the cheapest 1"-2" wide utility paint brush that is sold in the paint store. Only use Interior paint since the Exterior paint has harsher chemicals. This is a great chore for kids(dressed in clothes and shoes Mom won't care about) if you have many trees to do. My kids had fun painting the trees. This worked fine on all of my varieties of fruit and nut trees.

[@nathanz6827]

Enjoy your videos, great job! Have you planted any peach trees, any experience to share?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Nathan. Yes, we have planted several varieties and multiple quantities of peach trees. We actually have a peach tree playlist that I'll link for you here that will show you some of what we've done with peaches; kzbin.info/aero/PLnT_wyDSIC9jX8JjfVIuTkSkqAp0UHA23

[@SAlvitre29]

Hey Duane - I have some questions re pecan trees. 1) I went to Willis Orchard site - how did you know which were type 1 or 2? I didn't see that designated in the descriptions. 2) Is it ok for Willis to ship pecan trees into AZ?? 3) If I order smaller trees will the bare roots be shorter and allow me not to have to dig a 24" deep hole? I'm considering 3-4' trees. Thanks for this video - you encouraged me to make a big decision re pecan trees. 😊

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Shirley!! The website has them separated by type 1 and type 2. It's a little confusing, but the first list of trees (there are 7 of them) have a header that says Type 2 Pecan Trees. The next set of 3 has a header that says Type 1 Pecan Trees. The trees we ordered were 4-5' trees, so the smaller trees should, in theory, have a smaller tap root. Hope this helps. By the way, the pigs are doing AMAZING. We post updates on Instgram pretty regularly so you can see them grow.

[@richardmang2558]

They cannot ship pecan trees to California :(

[@slamboy66]

How well do they BUD BACK ? Or do you need to score the trunk ?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That is a great question and I really wouldn't be able to say for sure, but from what I understand the biggest issue is the need for these trees to be well watered and fertilized with additional Zinc during the first year. Even then we're hearing stories of a 50/50 success rate when getting them started. I'm just hopeful they can deal with that caliche layer and still establish with horizontal rooting like the rest of the fruit and nut trees do.

[@DOC_AZ]

Just from our Pakistan, Shangri La and dwarf everbearing mulberry trees we got 120 jars of jam last year. No way we can eat that much jam. So next option was to sell it. Country Store sounds great. Organic Canned fruit and veg arent cheap so there's potential for a small income.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Wow, that's an amazing harvest from those trees. We've seen some amazing production from the mulberry trees also and boy do they make for some great preserves!

[@billmelot4227]

I live in a desert area too and have sandy soil. I planted pecan trees this past winter. I have been putting water on them everyday. Is that too much water? Can too much water kill the trees?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Bill. You can definitely overwater trees, but with Sandy soil you may find you'll need to water more often than we do. Pecan trees do need a lot of water to thrive. The tell tale sign of too much water is yellowing and droopy leaves.

[@thomasa5619]

Is there an advantage with the bare roots? Easier to transport? Less worried with quarantined areas? Could you have potted the trees while you waited or was the taproot just too long?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Thomas! Haven't heard from you in a while, so it was good to see your comment. We've had very good luck with bare root trees from Dave Wilson nursery in California. They have a lot of distributors throughout the states and bare root is how they sell a lot of their trees. They ship well and they seem to take off strong as long as they're viable when you get them in. That long tap root would have made potting this a bit of a challenge, but you could use a large pot to put a few of them in if it was deep enough. Heeling them in seemed to work well as the branching was in good shape when I pruned them back.

[@thomasa5619]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm ahh sweet and yeah your live stream ended about a minute after I refreshed my subscriptions. I’ve been watching just have had the usual odd questions I know here we have many quarantine areas (within my state there banana tree and sugar cane quarantines for example) and a couple other states (the island Tasmania being one more obvious example) have their own rules regarding importing plants and the soil attached

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@thomasa5619 I wonder if that import ban would include bare root trees if the soil is the issue? Hmm...

[@thomasa5619]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm the issue is from both aspects I’ve been looking into growing (edible) mushrooms and the first result on google SAYS that they can only send certain species to TAS and WA

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@thomasa5619 hmm, that's a bummer. Sounds like your government likes to makes things as difficult as ours from time to time.

[@edelgonzo]

how are the pecan trees doing?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Great question Edel and we need to give an update. The 2 trees that survived last year have broken dormancy and are going well. The 2 new plantings have not broken dormancy yet, but a scratch test shows there is green underneath, so we're keeping our fingers crossed!

[@edelgonzo]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm which varieties survived?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

​@@edelgonzo the Mahan and Elliot both survived, but I don't think it was an issue of variety. Pecans are notorious for being hard to take and the nursery we bought them from (Willis Orchard) has not had good success in our experience. So the replacements we're waiting to break dormancy are from another online nursery.

[@spurofthemoment232]

Duh, the tractor has an inverter. Or did it fail already?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I'll be honest, we haven't tried using it yet!!

[@johanconradie2120]

for the first 100 years space the trees 5 meters apart, then cut out every second one and sell wood!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Natural selection helped along by the farmer!

[@MrChuntaro]

Good morning, Thank you for your videos. We are starting up our 20 acre farm in the Mojave desert and enjoy your videos as we both have very similar weather and torain. We currently have pigs, ducks and chickens and are planning on growing our farm to include fruit trees. Do you have an email address. I would like to reach out to you as a fellow farmer.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Wow, 20 acres in the Mojave is a heck of a challenge, but the rewards will be so much sweeter! I would love to connect and see some pics of your property. Our email is in the About tab here on KZbin.

[@MrChuntaro]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I was unable to find your email so I sent you some photos of our current projects to your Facebook.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@MrChuntaro yes, I was able to get those. Looks like you guys are well underway!

[@sleepersix]

Are they still alive?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We've been able to keep 3 of the 6 we planted alive, but just barely. Hindsight, I probably would skip this one unless you have flood irrigation as they need a LOT of water to survive our summers when they're young.

[@rwk_8876]

How does something grow in a place that doesn’t even have grass?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

It's easier than you might think!

[@Gee1954]

I hate Arizona! It's already hard enough growing plants here. And the plants that can grow here, they will not allow shipping. Food has gotten very expensive, but the government favors businesses over people. To protect corporate profits, they won't ship trees to us to grow and feed ourselves.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hmm, we have not had any issues getting plants either shipped to us (or find them at local nurseries). We have over 180 fruiting trees, vines and shrubs that produce an abundance of food for us each year now. Have you tried some of the local nurseries, like RSI Growers, Summer Winds, Richard's Garden Center, Elgin Nursery, Green Life or Whitfill Nursery? Lost of options all over town and it saves that shipping fee!!