Dig the hole twice the width of the root ball (container) and a little deeper – about half as deep as the root ball. If the soil is very poor, dig twice as deep.
Using the soil that was dug, mix in compost 50/50.
Refill hole to the point that when the tree is placed in the hole, the top of the root ball will be slightly higher than the surrounding ground (about 3-4 inches higher), then foot tamp the soil.
If your plant is in a container, remove the tree from the container. With your fingers, stimulate the roots on the side and bottom of root ball, encouraging them to start spreading. If your tree is in a wire cage: remove the wire cage 1/3 the way down from the top. This way it will hold the root ball together. After placing tree in hole, back fill half way, and then untie rope and burlap. If your tree is balled and burlapped without a wire cage open up the burlap and lay flat, then continue to back fill on top of burlap – the burlap will disintegrate. After placing tree in hole, back fill half way, and then untie rope and burlap. Open up burlap and lay flat, then continue to back fill on top of burlap – the burlap will disintegrate.
Place tree in hole – situate it to your pleasure, making sure that the root ball remains higher than the ground. Take the amended soil and use it to back fill around the root ball. Tamp the back fill lightly with fingers until you reach the existing surrounding ground. Finish off with pure compost, feathering from the higher root ball edge down to the surrounding ground. If you choose to mulch, do not mulch up against the tree trunk itself – that will suffocate the roots. Simply sprinkle a light amount of mulch close to the trunk to camouflage the dirt, and then increase the depth as you come away from the trunk.
Watering is now the most important thing to do. We recommend that you place the hose at the base of the tree, on a slow trickle, and leave it for 45 minutes to an hour. This will ensure that water gets to the bottom of the root ball, encouraging deep root development.
It is best to water on a daily basis as directed for 4 – 6 weeks, especially during the heat of summer. After this, watering can be decreased to every other day, maybe every 2 days, depending on the temperature. When the weather cools down, it can be decreased to 3 times a week until frost.
The above watering practice will establish the plant with deep roots, so that during the following seasons, Mother Nature will take over – unless we have a drought. In that case, you will need to supplement the water.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 845-351-7226.
H A P P Y P L A N T I N G ! ! !
