Indoor-only pine needs acclimation before planting
Question: Last Christmas, a friend bought me a tiny pine tree about 6 inches tall. It is now 2 feet tall, and I need to transplant it. When is the best time of year to do this?
It is getting too late now. I would wait and plant it between mid-September and mid-October as temperatures are cooling. However, if you run the risk of losing it, plant it now. You don’t mention how you were growing it. If you were growing it inside, you will need to gradually bring it into the outside environment, or it could go into shock. This is called plant acclimation and requires about three weeks inside a garage or outside in shade shelter. Then plant it.
Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at
xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com.