We have come full circle in landscaping about what to add and how much of a mulch or even fertilizers in terms of planting things. Current thinking has us adding a minimum of amendments to the soils now. I add some mulch to get a plant started but I happen to agree that, once situated, plants’ roots will reach the local soil. When they arrive there, they should not suddenly encounter some new task of chemistry in relating to this new environment.
Small plants, such as perennials are an exception, in my experience, although many of these do develop huge root systems. We always overexcavate, of course, for all plants, but that is more for loosening the soils and lessening compaction. Perennials require some nicer stuff and are so easy to plant, being smaller, that augmenting their root environment just speeds up their growth. I can think of few perennials which will not glorify a landscape magnificently in their first year.
Trees and large pants, however, should be allowed to “sink or swim”, so to speak. Overexcavate a nice large hole, add a smidgeon of amendments, usually a mulch of some kind, but not enough to utterly change the character of the soil around the plant, is my advice. We want to get it started, yes, certainly, but with larger plants, one needs to think ‘down the road’. As with any transplant, water is a first priority, without which the entire process is useless. And, yes, I use Vitamin B1 for my transplantings. From large to small. Inasmuch as I buy a gallon of it for about 7 bucks, one can use it liberally. Incidentally, and I will blog about this later, the concept of root hormones is making great inroads with fantastic results now. These never hurt.