Comments on: Tree Planting Techniques – A Subtle Art

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:06:12 +0000

Lol, I’ve never found bed springs but I’ve pulled out just about every type of tool used in construction. Picking up their trash seems like such a small thing to do when building a $400,000 house. Then these builders claim to be “green builders” even though they turn the buyers yard into a landfill.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:43:48 +0000

LOL, on the builder refuse. I have also done work on sites which – unbeknownst to me and certainly to buyer – were once city dump sites. There’s really no sensation like digging for a tree and bringing up bedsprings.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:52:02 +0000

Nice post, I like your style. I own a landscaping company in Austin TX. I’ve seen all kinds of interesting things under ground that the builders left behind. The best was a nail gun but usually we find coke cans or snack wrappers when we are out digging to plant trees or plants. As for what Frances had to say about planting the smallest tree possible, I’ve planted just about every size for 1 gal to 400 gal. Last time I checked the 400 gal Live Oak was planted almost 3 years and it doesn’t look like it has really rooted in yet. The 1 and 5 gal tree will root much faster and establish a more solid root system. Some of us just don’t want to wait so I go out and get them a tree that has over 12″ to the trunk.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:21:37 +0000

Actually, Susan, the term Zonal Tolerance is yet another ‘Snedekerism’, I guess, straight from my very own active imaginings and relates to Planting Zones and the adaptation of plants to their various climatic conditions. On the soil issue, lol, the only thing I have ever put into straight sand was grass, which I put on top. We had some soccer fields we turfed in Vancouver which were laid on 3 feet of sand, owing to drainage issues and the semi-constant rain there. If a soil is particularly tough, then, naturally, we make huge changes. If it uncommonly clayish, I generally recommend amending the soil in massive doses. We’re talking sand, some compost and large excavtors. Hideously bad soil won’t work for any plant. Having said that, there are plants which like their soil a bit clayish and some which prefer a fast-draining soil. My one advantage which may throw you a bit is that I have historically used drip irrigation in problematic spots out West. What this allows us to do is to water often – at times, 6 times a day, for a light watering to bathe the roots, as opposed to some massive dump of juice. We can also expand that outwards as a plant develops. For soils where there is a tight clay content, yes, we might over excavate more, for real. But, as I have said, water cures all ills, in my experience. Water breaks up clayish soils and lets the roots penetrate. It’s not like clay soils are devoid of nutrients, because they are typically mineral-rich as heck.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:54:25 +0000

Hi Steve,
What a great article. That’s an interesting term…”zonal tolerances”. I am assuming it means how well plant material adapts to the native soil, although I am not sure.

Other than the soil testing which is always a good idea (and I’ll admit I don’t typically do it), I’m not sure about the native soils theory. It makes sense if the plant material was grown in the same type of soil that exists on the property which will be its’ new home. But why would you put a plant in, for example, clay soil when it drains so poorly, or in a sandy soil that drains to quickly?

I would assume by the time the roots are well established in either native soil (if it’s a good soil for growing) or an amended soil (very poor soil), the plant would be established enough to do well in whatever soil is beyond the soil in the hole that was dug. But why not give it a better chance and make it happy?

Susan
blog.www.landscape-design-advice.com
Susan´s last blog ..Feb 10, Careers in Landscape Architecture | Landscape Architecture Jobs

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:18:46 +0000

I have to say, I wish everyone were that patient, Frances.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:16:39 +0000

Yes, Tzipporah, I am more than familiar with the Willamette Valley rain. But we essentially follow all these standard techniques, just the same. Watering also seals the soil close to the new root system. After all, a void of air down there can kill a plant.

By: Frances

Frances — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:23:01 +0000

Hi Steve, interesting about the oil and fluids in the soils of the pine tree. I have been reading various articles about planting into native soils now over the jazzed up soil in the hole. We always use the soil that is there for everything, but also always plant the smallest size tree, one gallon if possible. It works for us.
Frances
Frances´s last blog ..Winter Plant Portrait-Wallflowers, Erysimum

By: Tzipporah

Tzipporah — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:46:08 +0000

Here in the Willamette Valley, we don’t have a lot of choice about watering, at least in the winter – everything gets waterlogged! But it does make fall a good planting season for trees.

Out in front of my house, the city will plant trees for free in the strip between the sidewalk and the street. But at our house, they kept dying, no matter what was done to them – turns out all the rubble from construction of our house was about 3 feet down there, blocking the roots. They had thrown all sorts of random stuff down there to fill in the swamp that used to be here.
Tzipporah´s last blog ..The Prodigal Cat

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:55:40 +0000

That was Bill’s place, Annette, my ex partner. He looked at that pile of dirt and said, “I paid so-and-so dollars for these sticks?” Hey, he is an motorcycle Ice Racer, lol. What’s he know? His wife liked it, anyway, so I was golden.

I guess you noticed I put your neighborhood irrigation project up! Gotta love them Romans.