How do you plant trees????

[Richard]

Just look for the "made in China" stamp... they always put it on the bottom......

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[Glenn9643]

Paul,

I'm a little late in seeing this post, and you've probably planted your trees but here's my thoughts. Our land is flat and the soil is heavy with a lot of clay. We bought some fruit trees during the winter and then had misgivings about how to plant them because generally apples and peaches prefer well drained sandy soils. I found a suggestion somewhere (gardenweb I think) to create "raised beds" to elevate the tree planting depth above the natural soil level. I had several piles of soil on the place from digging a 600' drainage ditch so I decided to use some of it to raise the planting elevation of each tree. I figured on approximately a yard of soil per tree and moved the appropriate amount of soil into a pile. Added some peat and manure as I built the pile and stirred it thoroughly with my FEL bucket. After the dirt was ready I used the FEL to dig up the soil about 6-8" deep where I wanted to plant each tree. I didn't remove this soil, but just broke it up good about 6' x 6' x 6-8". After site preparation I moved my yard of new soil to each place where a tree was to be planted and dumped it over where I'd broken up the ground. My trees didn't have nearly the root ball that you have so I just finished my mound of soil with a shovel and rake to suit the wife and planted the tree in the center with a shovel. After planting I mulched the entire mound with pinestraw. This year 3 apples, 3 peaches, 3 japanese plums, 4 american beech, 1 pawpaw, and 1 cowcumber tree planted using this method. We'll just have to see how they survive the summer!

Another method I tried this winter for transplanting some trees seemed to work mighty well. I put my pallet forks on the FEL and moved both forks together on one side. Then I used the forks as a power spade to dig up the tree to be transplanted. Set the forks at an angle and drove them in underneath the tree from all directions around it. Then "popped it out" with dirt/rootball and transported it via strap/FEL to its new home. Used the same method to dig the hole for it, dropped it in, watered, tamped with down pressure on the forks. All in about 20 minutes for a 10' oak. It's leafed out this spring, but again summer will tell the tale on success.

 

[sassafraspete]

We have a neighbor that has been working in the xmas tree business since the 60's. They also do a lot of transplanting work in the fall and spring. I remember one day talking to him about transplanting trees, and he gave me a tip. He said that they always use dishwashing detergent...in water when they transplant trees. I have no idea what this does for the process. I know as a gardener, I have sometimes added dishwashing soap to my sprays....especially for crops that have waxy leaves...to help 'stick" the spray. But, as for the trees...I don't know what this adds to the process. We do have a lot of clay ground here. Maybe others have heard of this?

sassafraspete

 

[Richard]

never heard of it, but doesn't diswashing soap break the surface tension of the water? Maybe that has something to do with it?

 

[Bird]

I don't guess I've heard of using dishwashing soap for that purpose, and I'm not sure of all the ingredients, but I have heard that Tide laundry detergent is an excellent fertilizer for your lawn. If that's true (never tried it myself) maybe there's a connection there.

 

[OkeeDon]

I've been giving some thought to the elevated mounds, and I was reminded of the process when I got my commercial property. I bought a house in a conversion area (that's where the city decided we could convert residential properties to commercial; it was along side the Turnpike, so not very desirable for residential). I gutted it and turned it into a store.

Part of the process required adding landscaping to beautify the project. Another part of the process required adding raised berms at the edge of the new concrete parking lot, so it wouldn't be as visible from the street. I planted 6 live oaks, 3 on flat areas, and 3 on the raised berms. What happened was, the water leached from the sides of the berms before it really had a chance to do any good for the roots. Those trees didn't survive. The other 3 are huge and beautiful, 16 years later. I did add some other trees to make up for the ones I lost (city requirement), but never planted anything on the berms. Today, even the grass on them is not as healthy as the rest of it.

Now, this is in the extremely sandy and well-drained "soil" of Florida, so your mileage may vary. If you have the kind of soil where water "sticks", it may not be as bad.

 

[BigEddy]

Green end points up, brown end down

 

[Junkman]

After taking in all the suggestion and doing some reading on the web, I decided to dig the hole 2 1/2 times the size of the root ball and double the depth. I then filled the hole with loam and tamped it down with the backhoe bucket. Put in the tree and backfilled till the top of the root ball was even with the ground. Put a small ring of loam around the outer circumference and made a dam so it will hold water and allow it to slowly seep into the ground. I have been backfilling any voids as they appear. All of the trees are just budding and will be flowering shortly. I intend to mulch then in a couple of weeks once I know that there is no more settling of the loam. Thanks to everyone for the advise.

 

[Gatorboy]

Good luck with the trees.

The two items I would have done differently were -- dig hole same depth instead of double so that the undistrubed ground would support the root ball and prevent settling; and I would have waited until late Fall early Winter to transplant them.

Let us know how they fair.

 

[Junkman]

I didn't transplant them, because they were in ball form and were dug last fall. All of the nursery men around here suggest early spring and fall planting. I did compact the loam under the tree and I figured that the better soil would be a benefit to the roots getting a good start over the summer. Time will tell all..... thanks