We have been busy this week receiving our new liner crop in from the partner nurseries who grow for us. Fresh new trees have arrived in from Oregon and are healed into our mulch beds awaiting planting day in the coming weeks. The liner trees we receive to plant are grown at some of the best nurseries in the country. Our liner grower partners actually began harvesting our trees last fall. They harvest throughout the winter and sort & grade the trees before storing them in temperature controlled coolers and outdoor mulch or sawdust beds until spring shipping. The liner growing process on their end is fascinating, and the growers we partner with are the best at what they do! So far we have received loads from our friends at J. Frank Schmidt Nursery, Bailey Nurseries, Robinson Nursery, Sester Farms, and Kuenzi Turf and Nursery. Thanks to all for growing us some beautiful trees!

Mid-March refrigerated trucks are loaded with trees and shipped across the country to nurseries like ours. There is nothing better then the smell of opening the truck and taking in the aroma of roots, trees, and dirt! We quickly unload and sort our baby trees by species. After unloading, we carefully mulch in our new crop and hydrate the roots well. We prefer to keep our liners outdoors until planting so they can naturally acclimate to our IL spring while they await planting day. We firmly believe in early planting at our nursery. As soon as the ground is fit, we will take to the field and plant our new crop. Generally the liners are only in the mulch for a few days to a few weeks, depending on weather. By planting early, we allow the trees to naturally come out of dormancy in the field and take advantage of the early spring rains to help settle them in.

After planting, we do our initial structure pruning after they are in the field. By minimally handling our trees before planting, we can insure they have plenty of buds intact with fewer opportunities to damage the delicate new growth. Planting day is right around the corner and we can’t wait to plant for the future!