Some planning is required when planting trees
“Society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never stand” is a Greek proverb that dates back thousands of years, but it is as true today as it was then. It affirms a fundamental confidence in the continuity of life beyond one’s own allotment. It could have been written for my best friend, Lester Gass.
Lester lives in Cornwallville, Greene County, in the town of Durham, where the soils are extremely stony. Planting a tree in these soils is perhaps the most difficult gardening task I can imagine. On average, it takes three or four hours to excavate even a modest planting hole because, inevitably, there will be boulders to deal with. The process often involves starting multiple holes, encountering immovable boulders and starting over again and again.
Lester is not quite as old as me, but he is still a senior citizen. Last week, he transplanted a tree into a hole that took him six hours to dig. The major issue was a boulder that weighed at least 400 pounds and was about 3 feet in diameter. When I saw the boulder sitting next to the tree, I was amazed that one person could have possibly have gotten it out of the ground without power equipment. Lester said he tried to pull it out of the hole using his pickup truck, but that failed, so he resorted to an ancient technique.
Remembering Archimedes boast, “give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the earth,” Lester cut some long poles from nearby trees and using them as levers, he managed to pry the boulder out of the hole and now it sits next to the tree he planted, where it will remain forever.
I told him I was astonished that he could perform such a Herculean task, and he replied that if he could quit drinking beer (and he has), he could do anything. I believe him.
If you are planning to plant a tree on your property this spring, I hope it does not require the effort I just described. It does require some planning on your part, however. The first rule is to plant the right tree in the right place. The right tree is one that you have carefully considered for a specific purpose. If it is a flowering tree, such as a crabapple, redbud, Bradford pear, plum or cherry or any other fruit tree, it must be in an area that gets full sun.
Unless it is a willow, or some other species that can tolerate “wet feet,” it also needs to be in site that is well-drained. To test the drainage, dig a hole one foot deep and one foot square. Fill it with water, let it drain out, fill it again and see how long it takes to drain. If the water is gone after 24 hours, the soil is reasonably welldrained.
Next, consider what size the tree will attain in 5, 10 or 20 years. Far too many trees are planted much too close to the house or underneath power lines. Any shade tree needs to be at least 30 feet from the house and nowhere near a septic system or leech field. The tree’s roots will spread far beyond its crown size, and tree roots can break foundations, crack sidewalks, lift paving stones and cause all sorts of havoc.
Dig a $100 hole for a $50 tree, but do not dig it too deeply. In general, you will want to make the hole twice as wide as you think it needs to be, but only half as deep. A tree with a rootball that is 24 inches in diameter and 18 inches tall requires a hole that is 48 inches in diameter, but
only about 16 inches deep. Do not bury the tree trunk at all, just the roots. Tree roots grow horizontally far more then they grow downward and the excavated soil area will allow the roots to quickly spread
out.
Do not amend the excavated soil with compost, peat moss or any sort of fertilizer. The tree needs to adapt to the soil it is planted in and not the artificial soil you amend it with. Replace half the excavated soil, add water to allow the soil to settle and then fill in the rest of the soil and water it again. To
finish the job, apply 3 or 4 inches of woodchip mulch or bark nuggets at the base of the tree, extending at least 3 feet away from the tree trunk in all directions.