I just bought white oak and shumard oak seedlings (10+ inches) which has small root balls, NOT BARE ROOT i also bought tree protectors from bio logic, basiclly PVC pipe so deer dont eat them and to maximize growth. I dont have too much time to plant anymore and was wondering if anybody knew about planting seedlings before winter. I live in north eastern PA, so we get cold winters with lots of snow. What if i planted them now? thanks guys.
Probably a low survival rate. They should be harvested and bought dormant and planted in the spring or bought active and planted in late spring/early summer. But you don't have any choice now, go ahead and plant them and hope for a mild winter, they have some time to get acclimated and set roots yet. Good luck with them.
could i plant them in pots and put them in my garage or somthing? i dont know what to do with them right now
You can do anything that suits you, lol. That may work but I know if it were me that I'd likely neglect them and I would have been better off taking a chance and getting them out now. Not sure which grow zone you are in, guessing 6 or maybe 5, very similar to mine...average first frost around OCT 15th ish. so they have a month + to establish. I've never tried planting this late so I don't know from experience exactly what will happen, if it were me I'd go ahead and plant but others will probably know more about it than me.
If the nursery shipped them to you whatever damage that could be done is done....put them in the ground
put it this way - the nursery has means to cool the soil temps the seedlings are in so they will go dormant. Then they should likely be kept dormant with no sunlight in the shipping boxes. If they have the biodegradable baggy then there is little chance that you have root damage issues to worry about and the only thing you can do to harm them is keep them out of the ground too long, let them get a bunch of sun and then roots start to grow again when not in soil, and possibly let them dry out. Best to plant them soon as possible now.
hay around the base can help to reduce grass or other shoots competing with the seedlings but not really needed and some trees do better with a little grass around to reduce sunburn(the shelters take care of this though as well). This is a little early for transplanting but just make sure they have adequate moisture(but don't continuously drown them). Make sure you don't plant them too deep either...the top of the root collar needs to be right at surface - if you have dirt/soil up too high you can damage the bark that is supposed to be exposed(basically leave a bit of the top of the root ball exposed where the stem goes in). You should be alright I'd think.
