Hello to everyone! I am new to this form, and can't believe all that I have learned already! I do have a question though. Or at least I could use some direction. I am sure that somewhere on here, this has already been posted, but I couldn't find it. I just purchased an October Glory (Acer Rubrum) yesterday. It is in it's big pot, and it is also in the burlap sack, I guess is the right term......anyway, just wanted to share with you what I was told to do to plant it properly, and see if I am just aiding in it's death, or if I am on the right track. 1. Dig my hole.....genius, I know..... 2. Put some new soil mixed with some bone meal into the bottom 3. Pour some water into the hole to make it wet in the bottom 4. Put in the tree. - My question at this point is, what is the proper procedure? Do you try to take the sack off the roots? Or do you just put the whole thing in the way it came out of the pot? 5. Fill the holes with new soil. 6. Sprinkle more bone meal on the top 7. Give it a healthy watering to ensure proper assimilation Am I close? Any help I can get to keep this lady alive is much appreciated! Thank you! -T
Hope this does not sound too simple ... but, I just dig the hole about twice the width of the ball, and backfill the same soil after breaking it up some. I never dig the hole deeper than the ball, and for that reason never add anything first. Too avoid the soil beneath settling and dropping the rootball below grade. Better an inch or two too high, than an inch or two too low. Trees need to be watered to keep moist for the more part the first year or two, but not kept "wet" for a lack of better choice of words. In other words, letting the rootball dry out between waterings is not as good as keeping it continually moist. Consider protecting the trunk from sun for a while, especially if it came from shaded nursery rows. My personal choice is window screen double wrapped and stapled to itself, around the trunk. It shades the bark, but lets some light through so the trunk can acclimate to some sunlight. I remove the screen in autumn. If there is burlap, I often leave it on, but cut the top away after planting. Sort of depends, but some rootballs shatter if the burlap is removed. If it's these new root bags - that I despise - those I remove. Those have caused headache for me with having fight them off, since some roots penetrate, and I avoid nurseries which use those. They look sort of like felt.
This was recommended previously by a forum member, sorry I don't remember who but thank you to them. I found it highly instructional. http://www.tlcfortrees.info/transplanting_landscape_trees.htm Be sure to click around in the site; there is a lot to see. My favorite page is the summary planting diagram at http://www.tlcfortrees.info/summary_planting_diagram.htm. I've been known to print it out and give to people.
Wide shallow hole, no deeper than existing rootball but the wider the better. Backfill with same soil that came out of hole, without modification. No bone meal. Fertilize if indicated by soil test. Stake for one year if needed. Wash roots before planting, to look for and correct deformities caused by container culture. Leave nothing on/in the roots - no burlap, no twine, no nails. Mulch after planting, keeping mulch well away from stems. Keep well watered. Enclose in wire fencing where deer etc. present.
Something similar except that I would always use some bonemeal. it helps with root development, and a good root system equals a good plant
• Bone meal supplies high levels of phosphorus and calcium, elements that are rarely limiting in non-agricultural soils. • Phosphorus, from bone meal or other sources, does not “stimulate” plant growth; it is only a mineral, not a plant growth regulator. • High levels of phosphorus, from bone meal or other sources, will inhibit growth of mycorrhizal fungi. • Without mycorrhizal partners, plants must put additional resources into root growth at the expense of other tissues and functions. • Before you add any supplementary nutrients to your landscape, have a complete soil test performed first http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda chalker-scott/Horticultural Myths_files/Myths/Bonemeal.pdf
Thank you everyone for your help! I am soaking in all the information. Just to clarify, it's ok to leaf the burlap on, just cut off the top of it? There a couple different suggestions there. I was just gonna put er in the ground and cover the burlap with dirt. Thanks again, everyone!
No control group = no way to tell if the material used did anything. Maybe the plants have been thriving for other reasons. Operative term: untested assumptions.
Certainly nobody could be against that since the soil test results will be most useful to efficiently target the supplements. The problem is that in this part of the world (and do not forget this is an international forum) those tests are either impossible to obtain or outrageously expensive. We do not have the equivalent of your local agricultural extensions. Therefore one has to be indulgent with gardeners who, faced with this impossibility, want to play it in the safe side. Gomero
Actually I don't necessarily agree with that, because in the past I have found that a soil test of an area of ground has differed wildly from a similar test just a few yards away I believe that we all have to base our opinions on our own experiences which always (of course) will relate to our own local environmental circumstances To try to generalise must always have those qualifications in mind In Northern Ireland (and I believe everywhere in the world) where gardeners open their hearts to all that is good in the horticulture of their own little acre, they will be gardening in land which has at one time been used for agricultural purposes For that reason I find Linda Chalkers 'depth of knowledge' on that single aspect of the matter to be 'singularised and lacking' in her advice to all and sundry. It really has to be just general advice that changes with situations as they are on the ground. As I said before, opinions differ. That does not mean that I am right and someone else is wrong. Or that I am wrong and someone else is right. I base my own opinions on some 50 years of experience. I acknowledge that those opinions may be subject to question :)
Control groups are the comparative in scientific study. If you plant seeds in soil with added bone meal and think that it improved the growth, the only way to be sure would be to test the theory. Scientists do this by growing plants in controlled situations, where all factors are the same except the condition being studied (the addition of bone meal for example). A scientist might for example grow a few hundred plants--all in the same soil, same amount of light, temp. etc. with 50 plants given no addition, 50 plants given a particular amount of bone meal, 50 given twice that and 50 given three times the amount. That way they can determine the effect of the bone meal. This is a simplification--research is often much more detailed in terms of what is being studied, but if you do not isolate your conditions, it is not really possible to be sure what is actually causing the effects. This is the difference between scientific theory and anecdotal (ordinary reported observation without testing) evidence. Not to say that anecdotal evidence is not important. It is generally the basis for research questions.
Thanks for the explanation, Eric. I build custom cars and sell race and performance car parts, so there may be a couple more times were I will get the dear in the headights look and need some stuff explained in english, hehe. So thanks! Now if I could post pictures on here, I would show you folks the new addition....not that you havn't seen a newly planted tree, but it's my first! Haha!
In my young maple "career", I have found this type of experimentation very difficult - ie, I have planted two trees from the same grower , at the same time of the year, in same soil types, in very similar planting locations only to have very different outcomes. Just goes to show, it can be very difficult to isolate your conditions. Bottom line, I have no idea yet whether any of adjustments I have made are having a true effect. I still tinker all the time though - that's part of the fun! IMHO, although threads on this topic exist, it is always worth revisiting, as proper planting is probably the most crucial aspect to good maple growth. A well draining site is the key!
Yes, it is difficult for you can't scientifically experiment with two trees as the trees might have totally different health situations that are unobservable by our human senses. Like Eric said, you'd need a few hundred trees to ensure there are not genetic deformities, or were grafted poorly or somethign similar, which could cause one plant to perform under standard with its species. Hundreds of trees would get REALLY expensive if they were mature, though you could grow yourself from seed. Another example, some humans are less resistant to specific diseases like cancer or diabetes. Creating an experiment that asks one person to take a drug, and having the drug work magnificently on them, does not mean the drug works on every human being. That's why the more people a company experiments with, the better their drug is accepted.
The condition of a specimen before planting is critical to how well it responds to the new planting site. That is why bargain plants often are not.
