Tube now or wait til dormant

[sandridge]

I moved to this forum from QDM. Was asmith over there. Two of five DCO(Dwarf Chinkapin Oak) are not growing as well as the other two. They were bareroot seedlings when I received and planted them a year and half ago. All five are caged. Would it help to tube them now, or wait til they are dormant, or just leave them caged? Thanks.

 

[dogdoc]

How tall are they at this point?

 

[sandridge]

About 2 feet.

 

[Neahawg]

Don't know where you are located but if it were me I'd wait at least til it started to cool off. Not sure if the change in humidity may throw them in to shock.

 

[sandridge]

Neahawg, I'm in middle Georgia. And we do have humidity.

 

[Neahawg]

Yeah but as I understand it tree tubes make like a mini greenhouse for the tree and with it already being hot and humid not sure if a sudden increase of both may not shock them.

 

[dogdoc]

Don't know about the humidity thing. May very well be correct. I located a few small persimmon seedlings and tubed them a couple weeks ago. I am huge fan of tubes. Just easy and quick to get a tree planted and protected. However, in your case I don't really know if you will see any improvement with the tube.

 

[Neahawg]

If dogdoc does it now with good success you should be fine.

 

[cutman]

I would have no problem tubing now. In my experience, the best time to tube a tree is yesterday.

 

[sandridge]

I'll give it a try and see what happens. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Needmorebrush82]

I have tubed young persimmons this time of year and some died. However I started some off in tubes in early spring and they have done fine.

 

[Claybank Creek]

As long as you can get a tube over it I would tube now. I've never lost any that I tubed thru out the summer.