PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS AND TIPS FOR PLANTING YOUR NEW TREES

Ensuring your new plants and advanced trees thrive is a must. 

Below we provide the best tips and tricks to healthy, long living and thriving plants.

Advice is general and if you are at all unsure or you are planting very large advanced trees in larger bag sizes it may be best to engage a professional to do the planting for you.


1.  Water your Plants - Make sure your new plants are watered well in their current pots before planting..  You can even soak them in a bucket of water.  This is best done a few hours prior to planting.


2.  Prepare you garden beds -  Add in some organic matter like compost or aged animal manure.  Use a fork to turn into the soil.


3.  Do not step on the soil in your garden beds.  Soil should be light and airy not compacted by someone standing on it.


4.  Have a good depth of soil.  Built up garden beds and retaining walls are a great option.


5.  Dig your holes wide not deep! twice as wide as the diameter of their current pot or bag size.  The depth of the hole will need to be as deep as the root ball.  Digging wider will allow the roots to travel with ease with most tree roots running horizontally rather than vertically.   If you are planting a hedge you can also dig a trench rather than holes.


 6.  Ensure the soil has good drainage - This is important for the future health of the roots of your plants. 

You can test drainage by filling your hole with water and leaving it for about an hour.  If the water has completely gone then the drainage is good.   If after an hour half has subsided you have fair drainage but if it is less than that then you know that your drainage is not good and it should be improved.  You can do this by digging a slip trench on the lower sloping side of the hole and back filling it with blue metal.


7. Remove your plants from the pot or bag.  If your plant has a stake in it, do not remove it as it will need to remain on the plant until the plant has settled in somewhat and is able to support itself.

Check to see if there are any circling roots on the rootball.  If so it is advisable to give your plants a light root-prune before planting.   You can do this by using a sharp spade or old bread knife and taking off approx 1-2 inches off the sides and bottom.  


8.  You are now ready to place your plants in the hole but before doing so cover the bottom of the hole with some compost or animal manure.  Place your plants in the hole at soil level.  You can create a catchment for water by creating a well around the root ball.  This will ensure that water goes in the right place.  You can also create a well with Mulch.

Fill soil 3/4 of the way in the hole, firm the soil then give a good watering, then fill in the rest of the hole with soil and give another good watering.


9. Mulch your garden beds but do not pile mulch against the trunk of a tree as this can cause collar rot, best to keep mulch an inch or two away.  Using an organic mulch is a top option.

If used correctly mulching will act as an insulator, adds organic matter to your soil, reduces weed growth, reduces water loss, retains water.  


10. After planting ensure that you water your plants in well with deep watering practices for the first summer as it is important to look after your new plants well. 

The most effective way of watering is by a drip irrigation system as this will water effectively into and around the roots, alternatively a soaker hose or sprinkler.  Hand watering via a garden hose can be ineffective. 

Watering twice a week with longer watering periods is better than a quick water every day, although this may need to be adjusted if it is particularly hot. 

Also watering at cooler parts of the day is most beneficial with watering in the morning to be the most ideal, making sure you are watering the root zone and not the foliage or flowers.

There can be such a thing as over watering so to ensure that you do not do this you can do the 'poke test' by poking a chopstick into the soil, if it comes out clean with no soil attached it is time to water again.


11.  Now it's time to sit back, relax and watch your new plants thrive!



You can also watch the following video from one of our Melbourne growers on Planting Advanced Trees:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtkqnPIBp0o 


*Please note that the above is general advice and if you are unsure at all or you are purchasing a very large advanced tree, we recommend using a gardener or landscaper to do the job of preparing and planting for you.