It is about 60 centimeters deep. The spade was less useful than the small pickaxe-thingy, which I used to loosen the ground. I intend to plant a tree in the hole. That is all.
It is about 60 centimeters deep. The spade was less useful than the small pickaxe-thingy, which I used to loosen the ground. I intend to plant a tree in the hole. That is all.
You check that hole for drainage and size? I planted a tree in super hard soil into a hole that wasn’t much bigger than the pot, and it turned into a little pool every time it rained because the compacted soil around it wouldn’t allow water (or roots) out of the ‘in ground pot’ I accidentally made for the tree, and it drowned.
Drainage and size have indeed been cause for some concern, if not a slight headache. (Thinking ahead, I worry that “I drowned a tree” might not be acceptably dull content for this community.)
However, the last hole I dug for another tree not too far away from this present hole turned out fine, so I hope the ground is okay. As suggested elsewhere, I’m also filling the hole with new, extra dirt.
First off most of the guides you find online or even from nurseries show the wrong way to transplant shrubs and trees.
Filling the hole with new dirt is pretty much the worst thing you can do. Water and roots follow the path of least resistance.
When you have soil with higher porosity surrounded by soil with lower porosity, water collects the higher porosity soil. It has more room for water and collects it from the surrounding area. This often leads to drowning the plant or root rots forming.
The roots also are not going to push through the harder more compact soil when nice soft porous soil is available. So they circle around the hole you dug. You end up with rootbound plants long term.
You functionally create a pot in the dirt when you add in the “better” soil that you purchased.
The best way to transplant into the ground.
Bare root or minimal soil is recommended for the plant. You really don’t want to be adding too much around it.
Refill the hole with the dirt that came out of it. Pack the dirt as you fill it to match the surrounding soils compaction level. Don’t be shy, make it good and firm.
If you want to fertilize at transplanting add a very small amount around the top of the hole when filling it up, not at the bottom of the hole. You want the nutrients to leach down to the roots with water. If you want to add in more fertilizer/compost. Dig some small shallow holes 5-10cm from the outside edge of you hole and add in fertilizer. This will reward roots that break through the edge of the hole encouraging them to grow further.
For same season i’ve heard that square hole is better than round, so that the roots don’t keep growing around in cricles but get stuck in a corner and might be able to escape. No idea if the this actually true but seems reasonable
Another myth. It sounds reasonable unless you know how roots grow.
It’s not the shape of the hole that matters. It’s how much effort it takes for the root to grow and the reward it gets for doing so.
So if you add in softer, easier to grow soil, high in nutrients the roots will stay in it until the nutrients are depleted. Only when the nutrients are depleted will the plant even attempt to grow out of the soft new soil into the harder surrounding soil. This can often be several months or even years later.
To add, dont plant the tree with the root base below ground level otherwise water rolls towards the tree and its get drowned. Im not a tree expert but the nursery told me this when i bought some and i googled images/diagrams of how high to plant the root ball relative to the surrounding ground.
And mulch afterwards.
Thanks!
Thank you!