Planting a tree is an investment in your yard’s future—and doing it the right way is key to its vitality and longevity. So, follow along in this episode of Backyard Smart to learn how to plant a tree: from picking the perfect spot to determining the correct planting depth, and everything else you need to know to ensure your tree takes to its new home. So you can enjoy a healthy, long-lasting addition to your backyard life for decades to come.
Finding the Right Spot
Before you can even think about grabbing a shovel and digging in, you have to consider the location first! Trees need space to grow, so research the size your tree will reach once it fully matures to ensure it has enough room, both above and below ground. Make sure there are no power lines, structures, or other trees that’ll hamper any upward growth. And, buried utility lines can cause problems both now and later, so call 811 before you dig.
Digging the Perfect Home
Once you’ve established the perfect spot, now’s the time to break out the shovel! But timing matters: head out on a cool, cloudy fall day, or an early spring day if necessary. Regardless, planting during the cool, dormant season helps your tree’s roots establish well before the extreme summer or winter temperatures take hold.
But here comes the most important, and the trickiest, part—determining the right size hole. The key to digging is to go wide, not deep. Make sure the hole is three times wider than the root system, but no deeper. This encourages roots to spread outward rather than straight down, helping it establish a strong foundation for years to come.
Tree Positioning
After the hole is prepped, it’s time to settle your tree into its new home! Remove it from its container or burlap wrap and take a look at the roots. If they’re tightly packed, gently break them apart to encourage healthy, outward growth.
Then, set the tree in the hole, ensuring that the trunk flare—or the area of the trunk that widens at the base—is above ground level. Burying it can lead to a whole slew of issues—disrupted gas exchange, poor nutrient absorption, root rot, and structural instability being chief among them.
Settling the Tree In
Using the original soil, backfill the hole around the tree, breaking up any large clumps as you do so. Avoid adding any fertilizer, as your tree is already bound to experience some transplant shock in its new home, and fertilizer only exasperates the problem. And, young trees need to focus on root growth before top growth—which nitrogen-rich fertilizers can target at the expense of root development.
Then, lightly tamp down the soil to eliminate any potential air pockets. Careful! Don’t compact it too much, as the roots still need some oxygen access to thrive.
Once the soil is set, it’s time to grab your tree’s best friend (but only when applied correctly): mulch. A layer two inches thick, two inches away from the trunk does the trick. This helps retain vital moisture and protects the soil surrounding your tree from extreme temperatures. And, it adds some great visual appeal, to boot!
Water Wisely
Knowing how to plant a tree is only half the battle—the weeks after planting are critical to a tree’s survival in its new home. And great watering makes all the difference. For the first two weeks, make sure to water daily. Give your tree at most two gallons of water per inch of trunk (also known as stem caliper).
Then, gradually taper off, watering only every two to three days for weeks three to twelve after planting. After twelve weeks, simply water on a weekly basis until the roots are fully established. However, if you are in a hardiness zone in the upper two-thirds of the United States, you might have to plan on watering for a little while longer to ensure your tree is fully established.
That’s it! Now that you have all you need to know on how to plant a tree, all there’s left to do is get outside, locate your backyard cornerstone to its new home, and enjoy the generations of fun and beauty it has to offer.
