Planting flowering dogwood during heat spell? - Ask Extension
A friend just purchased a 5’ flowering dogwood. Should it be planted now just before heat wave or wait until it’s cooler. We’re thinking now sin...
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Planting flowering dogwood during heat spell? #873306
Asked June 16, 2024, 11:48 AM EDT
A friend just purchased a 5’ flowering dogwood. Should it be planted now just before heat wave or wait until it’s cooler. We’re thinking now since it’s getting late to plant trees. And provide sufficient water and shade.
Janet
Howard County Maryland
Expert Response
Hello Janet,
Any plant already purchased which is in a container (or burlapped) should ideally be planted right away. It will potentially be more stressed by spending the summer in a resource-limiting container than it would in the ground, even in hot weather. (Potting soil in containers heats-up and cools-down faster than soil in the ground, and also dries out faster, conditions that can stress roots.) Once planted, the roots can begin to establish, and the longer they have to do this before growth shuts down at the end of the growing season, the better-off the plant is likely to be.
Granted, any potted or burlapped plants stocked at a nursery will potentially be in their containers until sold in autumn anyway, but they will be watered multiple times a day (not only alleviating drought stress, but cooling the root ball a bit as it evaporates), usually have time-release fertilizer pellets in the potting mix to supplement the nutrients being leached out by all that water, and are periodically replenished by new inventory arriving from the wholesale grower as well.
Miri
Any plant already purchased which is in a container (or burlapped) should ideally be planted right away. It will potentially be more stressed by spending the summer in a resource-limiting container than it would in the ground, even in hot weather. (Potting soil in containers heats-up and cools-down faster than soil in the ground, and also dries out faster, conditions that can stress roots.) Once planted, the roots can begin to establish, and the longer they have to do this before growth shuts down at the end of the growing season, the better-off the plant is likely to be.
Granted, any potted or burlapped plants stocked at a nursery will potentially be in their containers until sold in autumn anyway, but they will be watered multiple times a day (not only alleviating drought stress, but cooling the root ball a bit as it evaporates), usually have time-release fertilizer pellets in the potting mix to supplement the nutrients being leached out by all that water, and are periodically replenished by new inventory arriving from the wholesale grower as well.
Miri
