Installing new vegetation and getting them growing productively seriously isn't difficult, niether is it as problematical as many would like you to think. Is it as easy as digging a hole and putting the plant in.
Balled in burlap (B and B).
Closely look at the ball on the plant that you've bought. Did the diggers wrap cord round the ball to carry the plant secure? If they did, you must at the very least cut the twine and lay it in the floor of the opening, or get rid of it completely. Pay close attention round the stem on the plant where it emerges from the root ball, diggers often wrap the cord around the stem a number of times as they secure the ball. This is tremendously important because if ever the string is nylon, it won’t rot and will choke and kill the plant two or three years along the line.
Once B and B plants are stored at the nursery for extended periods of time it becomes essential to re-burlap them if the bottom starts to deteriorate before the plants are sold. If the plant which you buy has been re-burlaped it will be possible that there can be nylon strings relating to both layers of burlap, check the stem carefully. So long as the nylon string is removed from around the stem of this plant, it it is actually harmless around the remainder of the ball, and you do not have to do away with it.
What sort of soil do you think you're planting in?
In case your soil is heavy clay, I would advise that you raise the planting bed not less than 8” with decent rich topsoil. If you cannot do that for any reason, install the plant to ensure that at least 2” or more of the root ball is above the existing ground and heap the soil over the root ball. Remember the fact that plants put in this way could dry out over the summer season, but planting them flush with your ground in heavy clay can mean the roots will be too moist at other times of the year.
The professionals advise that when planting in clay soil you dig the hole wider and deeper than the root ball and fill around and under the plant with loose organic material. It sounds like a really great idea doesn't it? A few of these experts also suggest that you dig the hole extra deep and put a couple of inches of gravel in the bottom for drainage. Where do they imagine this water is going to drain to? It's going to in point of fact sit in the base of that hole.
When water reaches our recently planted tree covered by loose organic matter, it's will soak in until the planting hole is totally full of water. By using this planting practice we've actually developed what is called a French drain around our poor little plant that can’t tolerate its roots being starved of oxygen for extended periods of time. Because the base of this hole is clay, even though we've added gravel for drainage, there is no where 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 can not lift the planting bed with topsoil, and you're planting in clay, I suggest that you put the root ball no less than 2” above ground and backfill round the ball with your soil that you just dug out when you created the hole. Backfilling with your clay soil that you just removed is essentially like constructing a dam to prevent excess water from permeating the root ball of your newly planted tree. The plant isn’t likely to flourish in this poor soil, but at the least it can have the chance to stay alive.
Container grown plants are much easier.
Follow the principles for depth of planting as described earlier in this article. Before gently removing the plant out of your container check the drain holes at the bottom of your container for roots that might be growing out of the holes. If you find any, cut them off so they do not help it become hard to get the plant from the container.
Inspect the root mass while you hold it within your hand. Sometimes when plants are growing in a container for a good period the roots start growing in a circular pattern round the root mass. This just isn't good, and you must disturb these roots prior to planting in order to break this circular pattern. You should take a knife and essentially 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 can just use your fingers and loosen the roots which are circling the root mass forcing them outward before you start planting them.
Author Resource:
I’ve always had the gardens of my properties that I own maintained by the same gardener london company and through the years they have saved me a lot of money, just by giving me some very useful advise.
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