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University of California Cooperative Extension Ventura County
669 County Square Drive, Suite 100
Ventura, CA 93003
Phone: 805.645.1451
Fax: 805.645.1474
Office Hours:
Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The office will be closed for the following holidays:
November 28-29 - Thanksgiving Holiday
December 24-25 - Christmas Holiday
December 31 - January 1 - New Year Holiday
Planting Trees
Spring time is tree and shrub planting season. This is the time of year when bare root fruit and shade trees are available, when new crop roses are available, and it is also a good time to establish potted trees and shrubs of all kinds. The way you plant a new tree or shrub can strongly influence if the plant will live or die, or more often, if it will thrive or just be another mediocre specimen in the landscape. In my experience, I have found that most persons tend to plant too deep. Or they think they have done a proper planting only to find that the plant settles at the site due to improper planting hole preparation. The rule of thumb is “never plant plants in a hole!” The following are some general do’s and don’ts of tree and shrub planting.
Check out the planting site. Many soils on the Central Coast have layers of compacted soil or dense sandstone from a few to several inches under the surface. If such layers exist within 18” of the surface, efforts should be made to break up or at least penetrate (drainage holes) these layers before planting.
The planting hole should be twice as wide and slightly deeper than the root ball except at the center. The center of the hole should be no deeper than the root ball or root mass (bare roots). By digging the hole in this manner, the root ball is placed on a firm platform which will not settle as the soil settles in the rest of the planting hole.
Do not amend the soil in the planting hole by more than a quarter of the original contents. Highly amended soil makes the transition zone between the hole medium and the surrounding soil too great, and root penetration of the surrounding soil is delayed or at best poor. Some plants will not make the transition and react to the interface as if it were a clay pot, growing round and round the planting hole.
The top of the root ball or the old planting depth mark on the trunk of a bare root plant or rose bush should be one to two inches above the existing soil level at the new site. In other words, put your new plant on a very slight hill. If you need a watering basin around the new plant, construct a doughnut ring at the edge of the planting hole for watering
The top of the root ball or the old planting depth mark on the trunk of a bare root plant or rose bush should be one to two inches above the existing soil level at the new site. In other words, put your new plant on a very slight hill. If you need a watering basin around the new plant, construct a doughnut ring at the edge of the planting hole for watering