Many/most people think that the Spring is the best time to plant. For the reason that we set out below, it is not.
1. Plant availability - Wholesale Nurseries, like ourselves, produce plants through the growing season, April-November.
What is offered in the Spring, are plants grown the previous year.
Through March-May, many stock lines can be sold out, whereas in the Autumn, Nurseries have good stock range.
2. Watering - With plants planted in the Autumn, whilst initial watering in is obviously needed, long term watering is normally not required.
3. Plant growth - Spring planted stock, is not only trying to put on top growth, but also put out roots, at the same time.
Autumn planted stock puts out roots, dependent on weather, right up to December, so come the Spring, plants already have the root structure to support the top growth.
So for choice, range and better plants, plant in the Autumn, just as nature indended.
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Who has ever recommended planting in the spring? I have always been taught that autumn is best, for all the above reasons.
If spring was a recommended planting season then the bare-root stock would be available from March onwards! :-)
Plant sales wise, as a Grower for 32 years, is now, and has been so for the last 20 years, 70% February-July, 30% for the rest of the year. So not many in the Industry or joe public plant in the Autumn.
Bare-root plants are generally viewed within the industry as somewhat iffy, hence why most UK Growers no longer grow them. They are hard to grow, have a very low return, and have a short selling season.
Container grown plants can be sold a year round, bare-root stock are just from November-March. Indeed, many bare-root plants could be lifted in November, put into cold store, then sold in March. With bare-root we say to our customer that they are the 80-20 rule. 80% may live, 20% may die.
Rootballed stock is almost as good as container grown stock, if you follow this general rule of thumb. Plant deciduous rootballed Trees & Shrubs between November and March. Evergreen Trees & Shrubs between February and April.
Autumn planting may return in time, so perhaps our industry should be leading a campaign for it?
I agree with autumn planting, I find we get better success but its such a hard sell to a client compared to spring planting when they can see something for their money.
I'm certainly going to use this approach as a marketing strategy for the next few months. I was just holding off till after the schools are back in September.
Ive always tried to sell the benefits of Autumn planting, but as you say, it can be a hard sell because the plants generally wont be looking there best, and then they pretty much look a lot worse before things regrow in the spring. People want to see value for money, and unless the client is already garden/plant savvy, no matter how you spell it out, they wont always be happy with whats supplied, because it hasnt got that fresh growth, spring look to it. Plus a lot of people wont be using the garden much over the autumn/winter period, so spending, what can be considerable money just as the weather goes 'south' is not generally a priority. As T & S plants says, education is needed for the wider general public, especially as water usage is likely to be restricted by way of more hosepipe bans over the coming years, so autumn planting may become more of a neccessity!
Busy Bee Garden Services Limited said:
The HTA are running an autumn planting campaign which may help to get the message across :
http://www.the-hta.org.uk/page.php?pageid=908