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Tree Planting Tips
Trees are not only beautiful; they also provide shade, color, texture, and can improve the monetary value of your home or property. Keep the following in mind when you want to add a tree to your property.
What is the best time of year to plant a tree?
Spring and fall are the best time to plant trees in Minnesota, because temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold and soil moisture is plentiful. Trees planted during the summer need more regular watering.
Spring Planting Season: April to early June
Fall Planting Season: late September through November
Tips for Growing Healthy Trees:
1. Select Quality Plants
What are the different types of plants and trees available at the nursery?
Trees and shrubs, often called stock, are available for purchase in different types. These types vary in terms of root mass, size, relative cost, ease of planting, handling, season of availability, and establishment success. In order to purchase the correct stock for your planting project, you should consider the differences between types of planting stock.
Types:
- Seedlings, saplings, and transplants
- Bare root
- Potted
- Container-grown and field-potted
- Balled and burlapped (B&B)
- Tree spade moved
How do I judge the quality of a tree?
Whether you personally go to pick out the plants at a nursery or they're delivered to you, there are several things you should check before you accept the plants.
Look at the tag
Read the tags on each plant. Is it what you ordered?
Look at the size:
Are the plants the right size?
Does the root ball size match the caliper (diameter of the stem) size? (For each inch of trunk caliper, the ball should be 11-12 inches wide).
Look at the form:
Plants with good form require less maintenance than plants with poor form. Look for the following:
- Trunk: straight; above middle of root ball; branches at regular intervals; free of wounds, cankers (dead areas), and other damage.
- Branches: balanced on the trunk; 2-4 inches of new shoot growth from previous year; flexible, with healthy, living buds; few broken branches.
- Leaves: should be normal size and color for that plant at that time of year and should not show spots, blights, distorted shape or wilting. Reject deciduous bare root material that has leaves on it. Reject evergreens with limp shoots.
- Roots: main roots (usually at least the thickness of a pencil) should not be exposed or covered by more than 4 inches of soil in container or B&B stock (use a piece of wire to measure and ensure they are not buried more than 4 inches); should grow away, not circling, from the trunk in containerized or B&B trees; in bare root stock they should be firm, moist, and white inside, not dry, black, crushed, torn, or mushy.
2. Plant Your Tree the Right Way
Why does it matter?
Experience and good science teach us that a properly planted tree grows faster, stays healthier, and lives longer than a tree hastily planted in a narrow hole with little mulch. Remember, care taken in planting benefits a tree throughout its life!
There are some specific planting techniques for each type of planting stock. See the following weblinks for both general and specific information:
3. Call Before You Dig! - Locate underground utilities
Why is it imperative to know the location of underground utility lines before digging a hole to plant a tree?
You could hit gas or electric lines.
Gopher State One Call is the statewide notification center for excavation for the State of Minnesota. For more information and to submit a locale, visit www.gopherstateonecall.org or call 651-454-0002 or 1-800-252-1166.
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