What trees do we plant in winter?

What fruit trees can we plant in winter?

Choosing the right planting season is very important to create a strong root system, so that we have healthy trees that will give us rich vegetation and fruiting.

Many growers wait for winter frosts to pass and choose early spring as the best time to plant.

There are, however, quite a few trees that we plant in the winter months and let the rains take root and grow.

Let’s see in detail which fruit trees we plant in the winter and which varieties we choose to enjoy a rich harvest of fresh fruit and delicious nuts.

Fruit trees planted in winter

In the middle of winter, during the months of December, January and February, we can plant bare-root seedlings, that is, young trees that we supply only with their root, without being limited by the soil.

This category includes many species of deciduous trees, which are dormant from mid-November when they have shed their leaves until late February when their buds begin to swell.

In addition to bare root seedlings, in areas with mild climates we can also plant some hardy evergreen fruit trees.

Let’s see in detail which trees are planted in winter in the garden and in the field, together with information on the most popular qualities planted in Greece.

1. Pear cultivation: In the winter we can plant bare-root trees of many pear varieties, either early ones that ripen in the summer, or late ones that ripen in the fall. The most well-known and widespread Greek varieties of pear are Kontoula and Krystalli, while important foreign varieties are Abate Fetel, Passe Crassane, and Williams.
2. Apricot cultivation: There are many remarkable varieties of apricot, local Greek and foreign, that have excellent characteristics to plant in the winter as bare-root seedlings. The most popular apricot varieties that we can choose from are the Bebekou apricot variety, the Diamantopoulos variety, the Tiryntha variety, the Harcot variety and the Aurora variety.
3. Cultivation of plum: In the nurseries we can find for planting as seedlings many European plum qualities that are more resistant to mental and ripen later than the Japanese ones. The best known late varieties of plum are Asvestohoriou, Skopelou, Agioreitiki, Bluefre, Stanley, Valor, while notable early Japanese plum varieties are Black Beaut, Black Diamond, Fortune and Santa Rosa.
4. Chestnut cultivation: Interesting chestnut varieties to plant in the winter as bare root seedlings are Marigoule, Maraval 74, Bournette and Vignols which come into fruit earlier in the 4th year from planting. Of the European chestnut varieties grown in Greece, the Volos variety, suitable for boiling, as well as the Cretan chestnuts (marronia), suitable for roasting, are of interest.
5. Walnut cultivation: Of the walnuts we plant in the winter as bare-root seedlings, the Franquette variety is quite interesting, ripening in early October, and the Hartley variety, which has a large fruit size that ripens in late September. A very common variety of walnut with a high percentage of fruit crumbs is the Chandler variety, as well as the ultra-early Payne variety that has a large fruit size and ripens at the beginning of September.
6. Cherry Cultivation: Excellent Greek cherry varieties to plant in the winter are the Tragana of Edessa, the Tragana of Komotini, the Bakirtzeika, the Petrokeraso, the large-fruited Boden variety, the Volos crisp and the Volos strawberry. Foreign promoted varieties that we can plant with bare root seedlings are the cherry varieties Larian, Bigarreau Stark Hardy Giant, Bigarreau Van, Vogue, Lapin, Ferovia and Germersdorfer.
7. Cultivation of quince: There are many qualities of quince to plant with bare root seedlings in the winter, such as the Vrania giant quince, the Smyrna quince and the fluffy quince which have large fruit. Also of interest is the Orange quince variety which has a large fruit size, golden yellow . color, fluffy flesh and the Champion variety with large fruit size, yellow-green color, and pear-shaped fruit.
8. Apple cultivation: The best known apple varieties that we can plant in the winter in our garden are Red Delicious (Starking), Golden Delicious known as banana apple, Granny Smith known as green apple, Delicious Pilaf as Arcadia or Tripoli and the Fuji variety. Of great interest are the small and medium medium sized, very hardy, thick greenish-yellow rind, red in color with cohesive, sweet and aromatic flesh.
9. My cultivation: There are several types of mulberry that we can plant in the winter months such as the black common mulberry that produces very tasty fruits with a dark red color that ripen in July-August. We can also plant the white mulberry, which has large, thin, glossy leaves with a light green color and white or pink fruits.
10. Peach seedling: There are many table peach varieties that can be planted in winter, including early May Crest and May Crest, mid-early Red Haven and late Flaminia. We can also choose nectarines, a peach variety without fluff, jarmas with an excellent aroma, as well as white varieties such as the broad-fruited Ufo variety with the first ripening.
11. Fig tree: In the nurseries we will find several bare-rooted seedlings of local and foreign qualities that are divided into monocots and bicots depending on the number of harvests and white and colored by the color of the bark. The most important Greek varieties of figs to plant are Kalamon, Kymis, Vasiliki Mavri, Mavra Markopoulou, Politiko, Prasinosylia Lesvos, Frakasana and the white Vasiliki.
12. Hazelnut cultivation: Remarkable hazelnut varieties to plant in winter are the Extra Yagli variety with medium fruit size, brownish-red color and fine taste, as well as the Pallaz variety with large fruit size and deep brownish-red color. The productive hazelnut variety Negreta, the productive American variety Ennis, which ripens late at the end of September, is also quite interesting.
13. Olive cultivation: And finally, among the resistant evergreen trees that we can plant in winter, the olive tree stands out, with its oil-producing properties for the production of olive oil as well as table olives for the production of edible olives. Popular olive varieties for planting are koroneiki, mastoid (tsunati), agyromanakolia, Corfu lianolia, balanolia, megaretiki and kotsourelia. From the table varieties we can choose the variety of Kalamon, Amfissis also known as canning, Halkidiki, Gaidurolia and Karidolia.

How to plant fruit trees in winter

The process of planting the bare-root seedlings that we plant in the winter includes the following stages:

• We immediately plant the bare-rooted plants as soon as we get them, avoiding the roots of the plants to be exposed to sunlight and air.
• We cut the tips from the roots of the bare-root seedlings, so that we activate the root system of the plant and we have better rooting.
• We open a planting pit with dimensions of 50 centimeters in width and length. Fill the base of the pit with loose topsoil and add a small amount of compost and manure.
• We place the saplings at such a depth that the grafting point of the plant is at a distance of about 5 centimeters above the soil surface.

A secret to planting fruit trees in winter

If we don’t plant the bare-root seedlings we get right away, we can keep them in wet sand or sawdust or wrap them in a wet cloth and put them in a bucket.