what is the best way to dig a hole for a tree

The Planting Hole: The Key to Establishment of Trees and Shrubs in Landscapes

The species has been selected. You made sure that it s adapted to the site's cultural weather and will non grow larger than the soil volume or in a higher place-ground space. The plant is superior quality with well-spaced branches and a solid root ball.  All that remains is to go it in the ground.

Planting is not equally simple as earthworks a hole and filling it in. Failure to properly install your new tree or shrub can issue in a slow decline and death. The majority of transplant failures are related to water and/or failure of the establish to establish a new root system.

Balled & Burlapped (B&B), Container, Bare Root

Image courtesy Buffalo Green Fund

Trees and shrubs are moved from production nurseries to landscapes in one of three forms; balled and burlapped (B&B), blank root, or as container-grown specimens. The characteristics associated with the planting hole are essential for the reestablishment of these plants.

Water, either as well much or not enough is the near mutual reason plants die in the first one to ii years later on transplanting. It takes a little longer for transplanting errors to result in death. Sometimes h2o does non get into the soilball where roots are. Burlap left on the rootball sheds water preventing the water from moving to where roots can blot it.   Plantable containers too prevent h2o from reaching roots. This results in surrounding soil being moisture while soil effectually the roots remains dry.

Container-grown plants are produced in soil-less mixes that are better tuckered than natural soil.  If these materials are not partially removed so that existing roots are surrounding past real soil, they can remain dry out even if the soil in the backfill is wet.

It is e'er easier to add water than to get rid of information technology in poorly drained soils. This is why a perk examination is of import in determining if the soil will drain sufficiently to grow plants that are not tolerant of wet feet.

Transplanting trees and shrubs is not like pulling a cork out of 1 bottle and inserting information technology into some other. New roots must grow away from the soilball and into the surrounding soil.  When this cannot occur because of hard, compacted soil, roots grow in a circumvolve.  This is peculiarly common in container-grown plants. Roots in container-grown plants must be loosened and directed out into the backfill. Failure to do so results in confinement of the roots and ultimately girdling of the torso.

Roots grow through the path of least resistance. In natural systems (forests) we see new roots growing through worm holes, holes where the roots of a now dead plants in one case grew, and cracks in the soil that develop every bit information technology expands and contracts. This is the type of environs nosotros want to create in establish's new location.

How Big Should a Planting Pigsty Be?

Digging big planting holes is one of the best things that you lot tin exercise for a newly transplanted tree or shrub. Two or three times the diameter of the soilball is commonly large plenty.  Even so, the harder it is to dig the planting hole, the more of import it is to dig it even wider than the minimum of two or three times the bore of the soilball.

Earthworks a large planting hole allows you to suspension up the soil so that there is an affluence of cracks betwixt clods for new roots to grow. This helps oxygen and water infiltrate and move through the soil for uptake by roots. This results in more roots and ultimately more than shoot growth than annihilation else yous tin can exercise.

Digging wide planting holes allows you to not but break up the soil so that roots tin grow away from the trunk, it allows you to find and discard rocks and edifice materials that may have been buried during structure. These materials obstruct root growth in the backfill and reduce the power of roots to ballast the tree in wind.

While the planting hole should be dug much wider than the soilball, it should never be any deeper than the soilball is tall. The plant should be installed and so that the upper most roots in the soilball are 1 to 2-inches below the soil surface. The only mode to know this is to locate them in the soilball. Gently remove the upper layer of soil until you detect the get-go big roots coming out of the torso. These first order roots must be close to the soil surface.

If the hole is dug too deep for the first social club roots to exist near the surface, you must add plenty soil to raise the first lodge roots to the proper course. This soil must be firmed in the bottom of the planting hole to prevent the soilball from settling. Soilballs that settle allow surface h2o to collect resulting in smothering and death of roots.

Planting too shallow results in roots dying out and dying. If the top of the soilball is allowed to dry, it so becomes hard to re-wet.

Calculation amendments similar compost or peat moss to the backfill will not brand much of a difference for plants in very good soils. If organic matter is added to compacted soils or soils that do non bleed well, this organic matter tin decompose anaerobically (without oxygen) and release chemicals that are toxic to young roots. Sandy soils typically drain well just adding sand to soils loftier in clay volition reduce drainage. It is best to have the aforementioned type of soil within and outside the planting pigsty.

It is hard to dig soils high in clay that are extremely dry.  While it may be easier to dig when the soil is moisture, it can effect in glazing. Glazing is the smearing of the dirt into a thin sheet that resembles the glaze on a piece of pottery. When roots reach this glazed sidewall, they are unable to penetrate it and turn, growing back into the loose backfill. This results in the backfill condign filled with roots and the failure of the constitute to get established. The plant becomes stressed, growth slows, the institute declines, and finally dies several years subsequently installation. If you doubtable that the sidewall is glazed, scratch the sidewall until the soil is rough and crumbly.

Placing the Plant in the Planting Hole

Balled and burlapped plants can exist heavy. Crude handling of the plant while getting it out of a vehicle, moving information technology to the site, or dropping it into the hole can result in root damage if the soilball cracks or falls apart.  If the institute is also heavy to move by yourself, get assistance.

Afterward the soilball has been placed in the planting hole and you are certain that it is at the correct level, information technology is time to remove any remaining materials that protected the soilball in transit. This includes all twine, burlap, wire baskets, and any other materials effectually the soilball or trunk.

Constructed burlap does not decay while natural jute burlap volition. It is very difficult to tell the difference betwixt these two materials. Fifty-fifty though jute burlap will decay, this tin can take a couple of months. Until it is thoroughly rust-covered, it will shed h2o allowing the soilball to dry out out even though the surround soil is moist. As a result, it is recommended that all burlap always be removed. Cut slits in the burlap does non allow roots to escape or water to enter the soilball. At a minimum, all burlap should be completely removed from the top and sides of the soilball. Like synthetic burlap, plastic twine does not disuse. Cutting the twine and allowing information technology to remain in the hole is likewise a bad exercise and can still issue in girdling of roots.

Wire baskets are beneficial in keeping big soilballs from breaking while in transit. Even though the baskets accept large holes for root growth, the wire still needs to exist removed. The burlap cannot be removed without too removing these wire baskets. In the decades that it takes the wire to rust, the metal frequently becomes embedded in large scaffolding roots limiting the transport of water and essential elements.

Ane advantage of digging an extra large planning pigsty is that it is easier to go bolt cutters into the planting hole to cutting and remove the wire basket. If the baskets are not removed the wire on the top of the baskets will protrude to a higher place the soil surface. If mowing equipment hits these metal loops, in that location is the potential for these metal shards to become a lethal missile.

Backfilling the Hole

The all-time soil to fill the hole with is the same soil that came out of the planting hole; less any rock or foreign materials that you lot discover. This cloth is the same as the surrounding soil and will allow roots and water to movement easily through these similar materials.

While oxygen is essential for root growth, roots do not grow through air pockets. Air pockets tin also prevent the natural movement of water through soil. Stomping on the soil removes these air pockets but it also compacts the soil.  This makes information technology more difficult for roots to abound into the surrounding soil. The best way to settle the soil and remove air pockets is to use h2o to gently settle the soil. Afterward the planting pigsty has been partially filled with soil, water information technology thoroughly. Fill the pigsty with soil and h2o again to settle the soil. Repeat this until the soil in the planting hole is level with the surrounding soil.

Mulching

Mulching is one of the all-time things that nosotros tin can do for a plant or 1 of the worst things nosotros can do to a plant. Mulch should be 2 to three-inches deep. It should exist coarse and organic.  Mulch should be about three or 4-inches away from the body and extend out at to the lowest degree by the border of the planting pigsty. You can notice more information on the practise of mulching in Mulch Myths.

Staking

Almost blank root copse will need to exist staked after planting. Most balled and burlapped and container grown trees and shrubs do NOT need to be staked. Plants should be staked just if there is a existent potential for the plant to blow over.

Trees that are staked grow taller, faster; increase in caliper (torso bore) more slowly; and regenerate new roots more slowly than trees that are allowed to sway gently in the wind. Stakes that remain on the constitute for longer than one growing flavour can girdle the torso. This disfigures the trunk and reduces the power of the trunk to conduct water and mineral elements.

If there is a real possibility plants will not remain upright, use three stakes to stabilize the institute. These stakes should be located outside the planting hole and be driven deep enough into the soil and then that they are stable. Wire with a piece of water hose is not flexible and will rub and damage the body. The ties from the stake to the trunk should protect the tree from extreme winds just let it to move in normal winds. This will assist the establish to grow properly and regenerate roots.

Inspect and Monitor

Regenerating roots and producing new shoots and leaves after transplanting requires plants to utilize a lot of their stored energy reserves. Extremes in temperature and moisture can further exhaust these reserves making recently transplanted copse and shrubs more likely to be attacked by opportunistic diseases and insects. It is substantially that your new plantings be provided with every opportunity to thrive. Proper watering is much more important than fertilizing in the first year.

During the commencement twelvemonth you should audit to ensure that:

• the establish is watered once a week during the growing flavour when the found does not receive at least ane-inch of rain
• depending on the species, protective sprays should be applied at the proper time to prevent opportunistic diseases and insect pests
• all staking and ties are removed at the terminate of the first growing flavour later transplanting
• mulch is replenished and then 2 to 3 inches cover where the roots are growing
• all mowers and string trimmers are kept away from the base of the found
• the torso is protected from sunscald the first wintertime afterward transplanting.

Photography

1.  Bare root, container and balled and burlapped tree (Buffalo Green Fund)

About the Author

Dr. William M. Fountain is an Extension Professor in the Academy of Kentucky Department of Horticulture and an ISA Lath Certified Chief Arborist.  E-mail @ Bill.Fountain@uky.edu

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Source: https://ufi.ca.uky.edu/treetalk/tree-planting-hole

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