How we plant a tree!

A shovel should penetrate readily, and the soil should crumble (or at least break up into smaller clods readily). Water dry soil thoroughly 2 - 3 days before planting, and allow wet soil to dry out for 2 - 3 days (if it is staying too wet to plant we should talk about your watering or your drainage problems before you plant).

Dig a hole about twice as wide as the container, and the same depth as the container.

So, for a #5 container you dig a hole 24" wide and 12" deep, and for a #15 container you dig a hole 3' wide and 16" deep. Break up and crumble the soil as you remove it from the hole. Loosen the soil in the bottom of the hole.

Add fertilizers:
• 2 - 3 handfuls (1/4 - 1/2 cup) of a starter fertilizer such as GreenAll Sure Start.
• Trees that prefer a low pH should have 1/2 cup GreenAll pH Adjustor added.
• If the tree is going to need additional iron, add about 1/2 - 1 cup GreenAll F.S.T. It isn't harmful to anything, so if in doubt--add iron!

  Mix these fertilizers in with the loose soil in the bottom of the hole.

• Remove the tree from the pot. Spread out any circling roots and run your hands up and down on the root ball to loosen the roots.
• Set the tree in the hole and make sure it is about an inch above the soil grade. Add some of the backfill if necessary to make sure the tree isn't planted too deep.
• Pull the loose backfill dirt into the hole and firm it down with your hands, making sure the tree is straight upright. Gently press the soil with your foot so it is firm.

  Pull the excess dirt towards the tree in a circle all around it to make a water basin.

• Water thoroughly, making sure the soil settles all around. If the tree drops in grade, gently tug it up until it is back above grade.
• Remove the tight nursery stake. Stake the tree only if necessary. Install two lodgepole stakes by pounding them into the soil 6 - 12" away from the trunk on the east and west sides of the tree. Tie the tree to the stakes with a figure-8 tie at a point which supports the top. Tie it tight enough that it is held upright, but loose enough that the tree still moves in the wind.

  Fruit trees and others with dark bark should have their trunks painted with an interior white latex paint, up to the first branches.

  Followup watering is crucial!

  Check the tree daily for water in hot weather.

  Remember that for the first 2 - 3 weeks the roots are still just in the nursery soil that the tree came in.

  Water that soil every 2 - 3 days, making sure you water long enough to moisten the surrounding soil so the roots will grow out. This takes a few minutes with a hose, or an hour or so with a drip system (make sure the emitters are directly on the nursery soil).

  An automatic watering system with spray heads probably won't water deeply enough to wet the whole root ball, so you need to water by hand.

  After about 3 weeks you can water longer and cut back to twice a week.

  After 5 - 6 weeks you can water even longer, about every 5 - 7 days. By the second year a good soaking once a week should be sufficient.
  
  

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  © 2004 Don Shor, Redwood Barn Nursery, Inc., 1607 Fifth Street, Davis, Ca 95616
  www.redwoodbarn.com
  Feel free to copy and distribute this article with attribution to this author. Click here for Don's other Davis Enterprise articles