subject: Tips For Spring Planting [print this page] Installing new plants and getting them to grow successfully seriously isn't complicated, neither is it as complicated as many would prefer you to to believe. Is it as simple as digging a hole and setting the plant in.
Balled in burlap (B and B).
Closely look at the ball around the plant that you have bought. Did the diggers wrap twine around the ball to hold the plant safely? As long as they have, you should at least cut the twine and lay it in the base of the hole, or get rid of it totally. Pay close consideration around the stem of the plant where it emerges at the root ball, diggers often wrap the twine around the stem a number of times as they tie the ball. It's tremendously important because if the string is nylon, it will not rot and will choke and kill the plant two or three years down the line.
Once B and B plants are kept at the nursery for extended durations of time it results in being necessary to re-burlap them if the underside begins to deteriorate before the plants are sold. If the plant you purchase is re-burlaped it's always likely that there will be nylon strings between to both layers of burlap, check the stem cautiously. Provided the nylon string is detached from around the stem of the plant, it it is actually harmless around the rest of the ball, and you do not need to remove it.
What kind of soil do you think you're planting in?
If your soil is heavy clay, I would suggest that you lift the planting bed a minimum of 8 with good rich topsoil. If you can't do this for any reason, bed in the plant to ensure that at least 2 or more of the root ball is above the present ground and mound the soil over the root ball. Take into account that plants installed using this method may dry out over the summer time, but planting them flush with your soil in heavy clay can mean that the roots will likely be too damp at other times of the year.
The specialists propose that when planting in clay soil you dig the hole wider and deeper than the root ball and fill up around and under the plant with slack organic substance. This seems like a very great idea doesn't it? A few of these professionals also advocate you ought to dig the hole extra deep and put one or two inches of gravel in the bottom for drainage. Where do they imagine this water is going to drain to? It will actually sit in the base of the hole.
When water reaches our freshly planted tree surrounded by loose organic matter, it's going to seep in until the planting hole is absolutely full of water. Through the use of this planting procedure we've actually developed what is known as a French drain around our poor tiny plant which cannot tolerate its roots being starved of oxygen for extended periods of time. Because the bottom of this hole is clay, despite the fact that we have added gravel for drainage, there is nowhere for that water to travel so it lays in the bottom of the hole, this starves the plant of oxygen which means that it is likely to suffer and porbably die.
If you cant lift the planting bed using topsoil, and you are planting in clay, I suggest that you just install the root ball at least 2 above ground and backfill around the ball with the soil that you just removed whenever you dug the hole. Backfilling with the clay soil that you just removed is actually like building a dam to keep excess water from permeating the root ball of the newly planted tree. The plant isnt likely to flourish in such a poor soil, but at the least it may have the chance to survive.
Container grown plants are much less difficult.
Follow the rules for depth of planting as described previously in this article. Before gently removing the plant from the container check the drainage holes at the bottom of your container for roots that may be growing out of the holes. If there is any, cut them off so they do not allow it to become complicated to get the plant out of the container.
Inspect the root mass whilst you hold it in your hand. Occasionally when plants have been growing within a container for an extended time the roots start growing in a circular pattern round the root mass. This is just not good, and you must agitate these roots prior to planting in order to break this circular pattern. You should take a knife and actually make about three vertical slices at the top of the root mass towards the bottom. This can stimulate new roots which will grow outward into the soil of your garden. Or you may just use your fingers and loosen the roots which are circling the root mass forcing them outward before you start planting them.
