Planting trees

[bdog]

I am going to be planting some trees. Probably trees in the 15 gallon range.

We have no rocks here but our ground is hard. Really hard. A three point PHD will barely dig a hole it just spins and spins without down pressure.

Anyway I have a hydraulic loader / skid steer auger and in the past used that to plant trees and have done ok but I wonder about how well the roots penetrate that hard ground.

I now have a backhoe and I am wondering if it would be beneficial to dig a much larger hole maybe five foot in diameter and five foot deep and maybe mix some fertilizer / manure / etc with the dirt and then place the dirt back in the hole and plant the tree? Seems like it would really help the tree get established but I have never seen anyone do this before. I watched a professional landscaper plant some trees with a backhoe and they just dug the holes barely big enough for the tree. I don't know if it was because that is all that is necessary or if they were just trying to do it as fast as possible.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I have heard of a saying that you are better off planting a ¢50 tree in a $5 hole than the other way around.

 

[whis]

do it the way you said, landscaper was in a hurry

 

[Tompet]

A schoolmate of mine owns a large successful nursery and when I told him I was plating trees with a BH his concern was to not let the bucket "polish" the sides of the hole and to either use the teeth or a shovel to break up the sides.

The only thing I would suggest is don't go so deep (width is ok), just excavate slightly deeper than crown planting depth and you can amend that a little before you set the tree.

 

[Streetcar]

Everything I have read said it is better to dig a wider hole. Break up the large clumps of soil , but do not amend it.

 

[4570Man]

I would dig a wide hole. Just don't dig a deep hole. The dirt needs to just cover the root ball.

 

[Billrog]

I have dug a lot of holes with a backhoe for customers to plant trees. In hard clay soil dig it a min. of 12" deeper than necessary and put some loose soil back in to the right depth. Doing this and plenty of water and you'll have 100% success rate.

 

[Sysop]

I agree with everyone above, wide, not deep. Most of the root system of a tree spreads out wide to give the tree a good base and cover as much ground as it can to suck in fresh rains and such. A tree that needs to shoot roots deep to find water won't do good over the long term and is easier for wind to bend to the point of breaking.

 

[bdog]

I would dig a wide hole. Just don't dig a deep hole. The dirt needs to just cover the root ball.

I know that as far as setting the depth of the tree. My concern was the hard compacted ground beneath the root ball inhibiting root growth. I was thinking of digging the hole much deeper then filling it with loose soil then planting the tree so the roots can get through easier.

 

[byronlj]

We planted a bunch of pine trees using my front end loader to dig the holes. In our case I think it was a mistake. The large soft holes attracted pocket gophers which ate and undermined the tree roots.
Dave