Tree Information
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TREES
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Maple Grove Nursery grow and sell high quality trees for your home garden or business.
Our trees are sold bare rooted and can be posted within Australia (excluding Western Australia) while they are dormant. This is a very economical way to purchase ornamental and fruiting trees.
We also offer young trees for sale, which are at the prime age to establish in your garden and are the perfect size to prune or shape to your needs – especially if you are planning to espalier your trees.
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How do I care for my tree?
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Planting: Keep your tree roots cool and damp – don’t let them dry out at all. You can store your tree in its plastic packaging for a short time, as long as it is kept out of direct sunlight and is kept cool. You may wish to temporarily ‘heel’ your tree into the ground until you are ready to plant, by burying the roots in damp, friable soil, moist aged sawdust, or potting mix.
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When planting your tree in its final position in your garden, check if your soil is free draining. Do this by digging a hole about 70 cm deep and filling the hole with water. If any water remains in the hole after one hour, you soil has some drainage issues.
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If your soil is free draining, dig a hole twice the size of the root ball, plant the tree so the top of the root ball is level with the soil line and back fill with a soil and compost mixture.
If the soil is not free draining, plant the tree in a raised mound of soil and compost mix, to prevent water logging.
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Water in well at planting, and water regularly, especially in dry spells. Young trees will really benefit from being mulched. Apply mulch in a ring around the tree base, keeping clear of the trunk.
Fertilise your tree in Spring when new growth starts.
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Prune: For packaging and postage, your tree will be cut to 1 meter in length (including the roots). Pruning your bare rooted tree will help to reduce the top growth and allow the roots to establish. It will also encourage branching at the height of the cut. If you want your tree to start branching a little lower, or would like to espalier your tree, we advise pruning to shape your tree.
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Stake your tree: Dwarfing trees will require staking for the life of the tree, as they have limited anchorage and can be damaged in strong winds. We also recommend staking all trees in their first year, to allow the roots to establish.
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Watering: It is imperative trees are watered regularly, especially in warm weather. Water your grafted tree in well when planting, and every week for the first Spring and Summer. If growing in a container, you may need to water everyday while the temperature is warm/hot.
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1 year old tree or 2 year old tree?
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We sell our trees as both one-year-old and two-year-old trees. What is the difference?
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One-year-old trees, also known as maiden whips, are a very economical way to buy bare rooted trees, they are much cheaper! They will be smaller and have little or no side branching. Most orchardists and professionals will prefer to plant out a one-year old tree. Their roots will establish quickly, and your tree will grow rapidly, often catching up to, or growing more than more advanced trees.
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Your tree will be a minimum of 70 cm in height (measured from the ground to the tip of the tree) when harvested.
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One-year-old trees are the perfect age to prune to your desired shape. Your tree will start branching at the height you cut it to and is therefore the perfect age to start pruning for espalier.
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Two-year-old trees are grown in the ground for an extra year before being harvested, and are therefore more expensive than one-year-old trees. They will have thicker trunks (greater calliper) and will be more advanced. This can be an advantage if you want flowers and fruit a little sooner.
Two-year-old trees will have more root disturbance when they are dug from the ground, and the root to shoot ratio will be smaller than a one-year-old tree. When planted, these trees will need to re-establish their roots before significant top growth can occur.
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Depending on the variety, two-year old trees will tend to have more side branches than one year old trees.
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A one-year-old (Left) and a two-year-old (Right) Napoleon Cherry Tree
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One Year Old Tree: Grown to a single leader, also known as a maiden tree, or whip.
The straight single leader is perfect for pruning to your desired shape, especially for espalier.
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Two Year Old Tree: Two year old trees will be larger and have more side branching than a younger tree. The natural branching patterns of each variety is unique. If you have a specific shape you require, please contact us to discuss your needs.
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Shipping Trees
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Trees are harvested during the Winter dormant months, and shipped bare rooted. We only ship rootstock and trees while they are dormant, which is from 1st of July to 1st of September, unless sold out earlier. We cannot post rootstock or trees outside of this timeframe.
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Australia Post limits the size of all parcels to 1 meter. ALL our trees will have their tops cut so the total height is under 1 metre (including the root zone). This will not harm your tree and will encourage good growth.
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Pruning for Shipping
Trees will be cut to under 1 meter in height for postage. The red lines in the picture above show an example of where a Napoleon cherry tree would be cut for postage.
The tree on the left is a one-year-old tree (single leader with little or no side branching) and the tree on the right is a two-year-old tree (trained to a single leader, with some side branching).
No pruning will be done for trees collected from our nursery (local pick up), unless requested.
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Shipping costs are calculated based on average the cubic volume
(measured as height x width x length) of a bare rooted tree.
One year-old trees will be much smaller and have little or no side branching, and shipping costs will be much lower. The minimum shipping fee is $19.50, and includes packing costs and express postage.
We are unable to post ‘standard’ trees, which have been grafted above 1 meter in height due to postage restrictions.
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Any tree can be grafted low and trained to a standard height, and we are happy to custom graft any weeping tree for this purpose. For custom grafts please email sales@maplegrovenursery.com.au
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Order Cancellations
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If you wish to cancel your order, please let us know promptly so that we can make stock available for other customers.
Order cancellations may incur an administration fee. Orders paid by credit card will have incurred a transaction fee and this fee is non-refundable.
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