Click below to listen below to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Best planting practices for trees and shrubs
We used to tell you to plant trees and shrubs at the same level they came in in their container. The great part about horticulture is that we are continually learning!! NOW, the best advice is to take a look at those plants. Turns out that some of those plants come with too much soil on top of their graft of trunk flare.
So, what does that mean? It means you need to remove that soil and plant the tree or shrub level with where the root flare starts. The most important roots, those that take up the water, oxygen and nutrients, are in the top 6 inches of soil.
Instead of just twice as wide, the hole you dig will give your tree an even better shot at a long life by digging a hole about 3 to even 4 times as wide at the top of the hole tapering down to twice as wide further down. Another tip – using a mallet take a pole and tap holes into the sides of your hole about 4 inches down and about 6 inches apart, especially if you have compacted soil. The roots will find the easier way to stretch out into the soil.
Now I’ve also recently heard, that you should dig a SQUARE hole to prevent circling roots…. well, why not. It’s worth a shot! It still has to be much bigger than the pot the plant came in!
The hole above was dug just over twice as big and I did “rough up” the soil on the sides, loosening it up for the roots to have an easier time growing out!
This segment was from my tv show ‘DigIn Minnesota’ in 2013.