Here are a few tips for Hot Weather Planting to give your plants the best chance to thrive in the summer or during those hot spring and fall days.
1) When they arrive, soak bare roots in a bucket of water in a shady outdoor area. Let them soak for at least an hour, or overnight, to recover from shipment stress.
2) If possible, wait for an overcast day to plant. (However, better to get them in the ground than wait for a week. You can cover their roots with a moist potting soil if you are anticipating a cloudy day soon).
3) For the first two weeks: give a deep watering every morning. Then you can scale back to watering every other day, then eventually every three days. Be sure to give a deep watering, i.e. one gallon per tree. Morning and evening watering is ideal, as more water is lost to evapotranspiration in the afternoons.
4) If you have shade cloth or some other way to minimize the exposure of the tree for the first few weeks after planting, this is an added bonus.
5) Lastly, do not over-amend your soil. Mixing in a small amount of compost is beneficial, but adding too much organic matter can cause water drainage issues and can cause additional heat to build up around the roots. The most important factors when digging your hole are to break up the surrounding soil, and don’t plant the tree too deep.
All said, most trees are able to get established as long as they get watered!