Proper way to plant a tree ?

[Cowboy Billy]

Good post glad you started it.

I got six apple trees a little while ago. And I am going to plant them in the UP Michigan. It says right on the tag not to remove the plastic burlap bag. It had me scratching my head. Well I am going to remove the bag. I am planting it on a 5% slope but its really wet in the spring and fall. I am thinking of planting the ball 1/2 in the ground and building up the rest with 1.5 to 2 yards of 15 year old cow manure per tree.

As for the wire cadge rusting it will not rust unless air gets to it. Same with paper or even grass clippings. Five years ago I was working in a landfill digging up the old dump area and moving it to a lined cell. It was just a general waste dump. It was just a hole dug with a dragline from 40 to 70 feet deep. It was filled in the 60's and 70's I rember at about 30 feet deep coming up with a news paper from 1975 that was still readable. You could tell what time of the year different parts were filled. One area you would dig up grass clippings still green in the bag. over farther you would come up with christmas trees and wrapping paper. And you would not believe how many pop cans were dumped in there!

Billy

 

[arbor pro]

Good post glad you started it.

Five years ago I was working in a landfill digging up the old dump area and moving it to a lined cell...you would not believe how many pop cans were dumped in there!

Billy

Just think about the reaction 50 years from now when they're digging up all of the plastic bottles...

 

[osb_mail]

Oh one more the string tags piece of plastic or cardboard used to protect the trunk dont throw this stuff in the plating hole that drive me crazy . I dont if it hurts the tree or not but it just drives me nuts.

 

[capetrees]

Take off the metal cage as much as possible. I don't know if it really has an effect on the tree and the roots but every tree I've ever pulled to replace still has the cage on it. The rust might be doing something to the roots. Better to not have it on than to take a chance.

Take off ALL of the plastic burlap from the root ball, regardless of its ball. Plastic does not degrade so it will not allow roots to grow beyond the ball inside. Better to plant bare root than with the plastic burlap.

Natural burlap can stay to a point but remove as much as possible. Again, better to not have it in the soil and roots than take a chance and leave it.

Also, if you can find it, root stimulator, a liquid additive, helps big time for new tree plantings. Compared it to a couple of trees that went in bare roots and the difference was amazing.

 

[treemandan]

Well there you go MDS. Now to give something back; go over to thet poor guy who posted thread about how nice it would be to have a list of industry terms you can refer to and give him a few.
I was just reading up on 'tree planting a few minutes ago, I was looking through a few books actually because that is what it takes.
If I only could get a tree spade at a good price that would work for me. The one I got is nothing more than a big shovel you hit into the ground.

 

[Toddppm]

Five years ago I was working in a landfill digging up the old dump area and moving it to a lined cell. It was filled in the 60's and 70's . And you would not believe how many pop cans were dumped in there!

Billy

Man if the cans were in good shape you probably could have made a fortune with beer cans of that age, very collectible!

 

[tree MDS]

Yes I do! trial and error is what you/I do. When you think about what you need to do at each given instance you have a better idea of what you might need to compensate for and figure out how to do it. Some projects are done differently than others but you have to account for everything someway or another.

Like toilet scrubbing dan?, lol.

 

[treemandan]

Like toilet scrubbing dan?, lol.

Exactly! But the way: who do you get to do yours?
I hope you learn something other than trying to make a quick buck for yourself pretending you are a tree guy and I hope you can come up with some good trade terms as well.
I can hear your brain working overtime right now.

 

[tree MDS]

Exactly! But the way: who do you get to do yours?
I hope you learn something other than trying to make a quick buck for yourself pretending you are a tree guy and I hope you can come up with some good trade terms as well.
I can hear your brain working overtime right now.

Yeah, "overtime", lol. No, seriously, I was just busting yer a$$ dan! I think you seem cool (or something anyway) fer the record, or I would'nt bother bustin a$$ with ya! Latter, MDS.

 

[treeseer]

It says right on the tag not to remove the plastic burlap bag.

Which grower made this statement?

:jawdrop:

 

[Lloyd H]

what now

should I dig up the tree I planted 8 years ago now that I know I should have removed the wire? LOL

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Which grower made this statement?

:jawdrop:

Makes one wonder if that is all it said, or if more of the sentence was on the bag regarding "while moving".

Fortunately, the synthetic burlap material has virtually vanished from the nurseries in this area here. And if the burlap is treated, it must not be too heavy duty, because it is deteriorating in about 24 months and allowing new roots to grow through.

The synthetic burlap was one of the main methods here in the mid-80s.

 

[treemandan]

should I dig up the tree I planted 8 years ago now that I know I should have removed the wire? LOL

Hell no.

 

[treemandan]

Makes one wonder if that is all it said, or if more of the sentence was on the bag regarding "while moving".

Fortunately, the synthetic burlap material has virtually vanished from the nurseries in this area here. And if the burlap is treated, it must not be too heavy duty, because it is deteriorating in about 24 months and allowing new roots to grow through.

The synthetic burlap was one of the main methods here in the mid-80s.

I don't know what to make of these growers but I just saw some bradfords about 12 to 14' in containers. Not only was the container a little small but the trees were skinned up way past my head and only a pom pom on top.
Ahhh! A bradford. Want to watch me take 1/3 off the top to one of those? I will! Where is my saw?
But still these trees resembled a orange being supported by a toothpick. Cheap I guess for 250.00. I would think the winter winds would snap off the tops pretty quick.
In all planting books there are pictures( so you don't have to read to much) showing the different techniques of planting, digging, tranporting and caring for trees. Not one of them coincides with anything a grower says for some reason, I don't know. Maybe they are to stoned from growwing something else. Or he wants you to think planting is real easy.

 

[Adkpk]

By the way, the cage does NOT go away in this century (at least in our area). We have ground lots of wire cages in our stump grinding career that looked perfectly fine. No rust.

Sylvia

The welds are not very strong. I break them all the time pulling on the basket with my hay hooks.

 

[Adkpk]

I've seen enough roots grown around wire to believe in at least cutting in back. Picture how trees grow around wire fence and you will get a good picture.

The burlap is bad too, it is either synthetic, as mentioned above, or treated to resist decay. I've seen root growing into it and being deflected and beginning to encircle.

This is a good point but in 30 years of planting and maintaining trees I have yet to see it. I have examined plenty of root balls (we have to remove the wire baskets in order to dump them) and have never seen evidence that has proved to me the baskets are creating a problem. But that said, if you remove the wire basket take your time and DO be careful of the firmness between the trunk and the root ball. My point way back in the beginning was this. More damage can be done removing them then using them to get the plant in the ground.
As far as burlap that is just ridiculous to think the root can't grow through it.

What do tree roots do when they encounter ROCKS! Die?

 

[treemandan]

This is a good point but in 30 years of planting and maintaining trees I have yet to see it. I have examined plenty of root balls (we have to remove the wire baskets in order to dump them) and have never seen evidence that has proved to me the baskets are creating a problem. But that said, if you remove the wire basket take your time and DO be careful of the firmness between the trunk and the root ball. My point way back in the beginning was this. More damage can be done removing them then using them to get the plant in the ground.
As far as burlap that is just ridiculous to think the root can't grow through it.

What do tree roots do when they encounter ROCKS! Die?

What do you mean you have to remove the wire baskets in order to dump them?
AND I find myself in the odd position of saying"Arborist Study Guide pages 70 and 71".
I can't just leave that basket alone no matter how hard i try.

 

[Adkpk]

What do you mean you have to remove the wire baskets in order to dump them?
AND I find myself in the odd position of saying"Arborist Study Guide pages 70 and 71".
I can't just leave that basket alone no matter how hard i try.

I am not seeing that in my guide but the only place to dump garden debris where I work is at the recycling depot. They don't take any other debris than organic matter. Imagine what I look like pulling the tinsel off the Xmas trees.

 

[treemandan]

I am not seeing that in my guide but the only place to dump garden debris where I work is at the recycling depot. They don't take any other debris than organic matter. Imagine what I look like pulling the tinsel off the Xmas trees.

I don't know what to tell you about the guide BUT I was wondering why you keep having to pull the wire basket off a tree root ball and toss it in the dump. What happened , it die?

 

[Adkpk]

I don't know what to tell you about the guide BUT I was wondering why you keep having to pull the wire basket off a tree root ball and toss it in the dump. What happened , it die?

I tell ya Dan, I clean up after a lot of people on my job.