Aronia Planting Guide Part III - Planting Methods, When to Plant, Plant Spacing and Row Spacing

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Planting ideas

With poor soils it is recommended to prepare planting holes for each plant by adding composted manure, composed leaves, peat moss, pine bark fines or other compost into the planting hole.

When planting gently remove the plant from its container, keeping the root ball intact. Then carefully loosen the roots in the potting soil and around bottom and edges of root ball so the roots are free to grow out into the surrounding soil.

Planting Methods

Shovel
Bulb planter
Auger (a power auger making a 12 to 14 inch hole that can be filled with compost or other material can help where the soil is poor.)
Tree planter (on the right:tree planter in action) Of these methods the tree planter has been shown to be the fastest and easiest in soil with good drainage. Good drainage is essential so the drainage of the soil needs to be checked before planting. Poor drainage is one of the primary problems when growing plants. In soil with poor drainage raised beds should be used.
Raised bed machine. Where you have clay soil with poor drainage it is necessary to use raised beds to obtain needed drainage so the plant roots do not stand in the water. If the roots of the plant are in standing water they will drown and the plant will die. At some farms and nurseries raised beds are used because the soil is clay with poor drainage.

When to Plant

If you have irrigation and mulch you can really plant potted plants any time of year the ground isn't frozen.

However Ideal times to plant are: Early Spring and Early Fall

Irrigation is almost essential in establishing plants. (An exception may sometimes be in the late fall or early spring planting). Late fall is often a good time to plant because it gives the plants time to establish strong roots during the fall, winter and spring before the plants must endure the hot weather in the summer.

Plant Spacing and Row Spacing

Commercial Production Planting

Historically, commercial plantings of aronia were done in a line of closely spaced shrubs, leaving enough room to drive a tractor and equipment in between the rows of mature plants.

Row Spacing 12 to 15 ftPlant Spacing 24 to 36 inches

About 1070 plants per acre can be grown with a spacing of 3 feet between plants and 12 feet between rows. This practice is commonly used in Europe for machine harvesting.

Note: When determining the row width, you should measure the width of the mowing and hay making equipment to be certain it is suited to work in the row of that width when plants are mature.

For more than one acre mechanical harvesting is less costly than hand harvesting.

One should keep in mind that closer spacing of plants within the rows for machine harvesting will double the amount of fruit production for the first few years and more than make up for the higher cost of planting the plants more densely.

Hand Planting

This method can work if you plan to harvest small acreage by hand, or use a self-propelled harvester requiring less row width.

Row Spacing 10 ftPlant Spacing 4-6 ft

You should not plan on hand harvesting if you plant more than 1 acre. For more than one acre mechanical harvesting is more efficient and less costly than hand harvesting.

One form of hand harvesting is to let groups from organizations such as youth groups to harvest berries to raise money. Nonprofit groups can pick aronia berries on the farm to raise money for their worthy causes.

Purchase your pesticide free aronia and blueberries from (Blueberry Croft Farm and Nursery). We understand both the theory and practical applications of growing aronia and blueberries. The farm is a reputable source for quality aronia and blueberry plants. Over 30 varieties of blueberries are grown and sold. Viking aronia plants are available for sale. Purchase your plants and get more information from http://www.blueberrycroft.com/. Get free S/H on orders of $75+. © 2011 May be reproduced in entirety with live link

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Bareroot Season at the Nursery and How to Plant a Hedge

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November at the nursery is a busy time of year. A total contrast to plants that are going dormant and still, resting during the winter months. Bare root season is usually a muddy, cold, wet, windy affair, but the weather has been very mild so far, only having our first real frost this morning and we are almost into December already.

Bare root season for me, clearly shows the difference between nursery and garden centre.

Digging trenches to heel in plants is back braking work. There's no machinery where I work, everything is done by hand.

Bare root plants are sold without soil around the roots and lifted when the leaves drop, the buds produce protective scales and the plants go into a dormant state over winter. Evergreen plants are usually dug up with a root ball because the plants are in active growth throughout the year, so leaving some soil around the roots is less of a shock when they are lifted. Bareroot plants are cheaper than containerized plants.

There's a lot and varieties to choose from, and this time of year is certainly the best time for planting, just as long as the ground is workable. Meaning, not frozen or water logged.

The most popular plants bought at this time of the year seem to be hedging plants. Beech, Hornbeam, and native hedges for wildlife are good choices. Fruit trees are often bought at this time of the year also, with many people planting orchards.

Another big seller are the roses, which is a specialty where I work because we bud our own roses and people often return at this time of the year, every year, just to buy them. Budding is a form of propagation, not really carried out by small retail nurseries anymore. Companies usually buy in from the big growers.

All the best everyone and happy planting.

How to plant a hedge

Mid autumn-late Winter is the perfect time to plant both deciduous and evergreen hedges.

Planting a hedge is very straight forward, a lot of digging is involved, so be prepared to get a little dirty. Preparation is the most important part of planting a hedge.

When buying the plants, it's important to find out the planting distances, as they differ slightly depending on which plants you choose and whether or not you want a single row or staggered double row. As a general rule deciduous plants are planted one foot apart, buxus sempervirens (box) is planted one foot apart, taxus baccata (yew) is planted two feet apart and all other, evergreen plants are spaced at three feet apart.

It's important that the site is well drained and weed free. This will help the plants' roots to establish quicker.

Rabbit and deer problems must also be taken into consideration. Canes and guards may need to be purchased for these issues.

Aftercare involves watering the plants in dry periods, feeding, which can be done in spring and pruning, which is carried out in august.

Step by step

1. Dig a trench the required distance and wide enough for the roots to spread out nicely.

2. Mix the soil taken out of the trench with organic matter, compost or leaf mould, for better structure and drainage.

3. Line the plants out in the trench, roughly where you want them.

4. Fill the trench in with the soil, organic matter mix, and firm the plants in with the foot. Be sure that the soil level covers the roots properly but is not too far up the stem.

5. Place canes and rabbit guards if needed.

6. Water if necessary and mulch.

7. Feed with bone meal in spring.

Well, that's all there is to it. Once the roots establish most plants should put on about a foot of growth in a year.

Leslie Brindley

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