|
Gardening InformationSteps to Planting a Tree Correctly.
by:
Hege Crowton
In planting trees, their mature height and spread must be considered before a selection is made.
Tempting as are the nursery catalogues, it is necessary to choose carefully, especially on the average lot, because situation spoils the growth and appearance of trees, particularly specimen trees.
In general, it is wisest and most economical to plant young trees. Planting a mature tree is difficult and, if done professionally, costly.
If, however, a mature tree is badly needful for a terrace or for screening, it may well justify the expense. What you are purchasing is the time it takes a smaller tree to mature.
Today you can plant trees once
in full leaf with the aid of new wilt-proof sprays that seal the leaves against wet loss until the roots are established.
This, however, price money and entails greater risks than purchasing your tree and planting it in early spring (the better time) or late fall or winter. If you are planting a tree over 6 feet tall, it wish suffer less reverse if affected with a bur-lapped root ball.
The soil preparation delineated in the previous chapter is helpful for most tree and bush planting. But since the root system must have fertile soil once
it is planted, special steps must be taken.
Dig a hole 2 feet deep and at least 1 foot wider each way than the full spread of the roots. The bottom of the hole should be broken up with a pitchfork and thoroughly mixed with peat, leaf mould, loam, etc.
Manure should be used meagerly and only on the top of the hole as it burns the roots. The deeper you can cultivate your hole, the better for your tree. Once it is planted, you can cultivate about it but not under the roots.
If you strike a undersoil of building debris or clay, which you are really apt to find anyplace
near a home and in which a tree cannot grow, this undersoil must be removed and nice soil, or better still, garden humus, substituted for it.
If you are planting a spermatophyte that is not balled and bur lapped, you wish want to protect it by "heeling in" a vacant flower bed wherever
it may be unbroken
before planting as long as dormant. This means egg laying it on its side and covering the roots with nice soil.
When you take it from the soil, give it a mud bath or "puddle" it. Puddling protects the roots from exposure to air before planting and besides from any air pockets which may exist after planting.
Having filled the hole to the depth required by the roots of the plant, flood it with water to settle the soil at the bottom; once
this has drained away, place the tree in the position in which it is to grow and settle the soil just about it.
Use a stick or shovel handle to activity the soil about the roots, and do certain there are no air pockets. Spread the roots out naturally, planting the tree at just about the same depth as in the nursery or its former location.
When the hole is two-thirds full, trample it down and once again fill with water. Don't firm down the remaining soil, so that the water wish drain towards the trunk.
A balled-and-bur lapped tree is one dug with a solid ball of rich, heavy soil in which it has been growing in the nursery for years, its root system thus amply covered and protected.
The ball is firmed and control in place by a secure covering of twine and burlap. To plant it, set the tree in a hole that is a trifle lower than it stood in the nursery. Activity the soil below this depth, as directed above. Dig the hole just about doubly the size of your ball and plant at once.
If the ground is dry at planting time, fill the hole with water and let it soak away before planting. Cut the gunny at the top once
you put the ball in place, rolling it back 3 or 4 inches. Plant ball, gunny and all—the gunny wish shortly rot away.
If you are planting a big tree, it is transported in a truck, down
to the ground by winches, rolled on
a plank track on rollers and manoeuvred into the exact centre of the hole on a single board. A holding rope from the truck to the base of the tree trunk helps to position the tree.
After the tree is planted, cutting back is proper. Cut back sharply at least one-third, pruning the branches. It is necessary to brace the tree with wire ropes so that the roots wish not be broken by the wind. Use a single wire about the trunk and three guy wires.
For the 1st year after planting, the much cultivation you can do the better. Support weeds away, too, with straw or mulch, and straw manure mulch in the spring and fall wish help support the wet in the ground.
Just just about the author:
Hege Crowton is an expert copywriter.
She is acknowledged for doing in-depth research before writing her articles.
Many of her articles are announce on www.ezinecrow.com
and she besides makes a lot of writing for www.CrowSites.com
Copyright 2005 Gardeningcrow.com
Circulated by Article Emporium
| |
