How to Plant a Tree, Part 4: Getting Your Hands Dirty
How Do You Plant a Tree by Hand?
Digging a hole to plant a tree doesn’t seem very complicated, but it also isn’t as easy as you might think. The size and shape of a hole in the ground can affect how well a tree can extend its roots and establish itself, and if the planting is done wrong, the tree might not survive. To be sure that your sapling’s new home in the ground is prepared correctly, we’ll go over how to dig a hole for a tree that will result in the best long-term health and growth.
What You Will Need
To plant a tree in the ground, you’ll need:
A sapling
A shovel
A trowel or wooden stake to mark the spot to dig
A bucket or wheelbarrow
Water
Compost (optional)
A tarp (optional)
Choosing the Location
The first step in planting a tree is to decide where to put it. The expected size of the mature tree will help you know how far to plant it from your home and from power lines. A good rule of thumb is to plant a tree at a distance from buildings and power equipment at least equal to its mature height. This gives it space to extend its branches and canopy, and in the case that it falls, the tree won’t land on any of the utilities or buildings on your property.
A tree’s location should also avoid any in-ground infrastructure, like water lines, sewer lines, septic tanks, and your home’s foundation. Tree roots will grow as wide as its canopy, and they will work their way into any proximate pipes and building foundations. This can result in significant damage to your home and its infrastructure, requiring costly and invasive repairs that can be avoided if trees are kept at a distance.
Preparing to Dig
Once a location is decided on, it’s time to dig. The sapling’s root ball or pot will provide a reference for how deep and wide the hole should be, which is about two to three times as wide as the pot or roots. For example, a root ball of one foot in width should have a two- to three-foot hole.
To dig the best-sized hole, use the shovel to outline the shape of the hole to be dug, marking the center of the hole with a stake or trowel.
Digging the Hole
The beginning or middle of fall is the best time to plant a tree in Tennessee, when the ground is warm and moist but air temperatures are cooling off and mature trees are losing their leaves. Soft, moist ground is easier to dig into than dry and hard turf, and a sturdy shovel is necessary to break through dense or clay-heavy soil that might be in your yard.
Following your outline, the hole should be dug in the form of a bowl, deeper in the center than the outer rim. A wide, shallow hole (rather than deep and narrow) is best for a sapling to reach its roots out and anchor itself in place. The hole should only be as deep as the roots of the sapling to be sure the root flare remains at the surface level of the ground.
Digging at an angle, rather than straight down, will help you keep the bowl shape of the hole. Shovel the soil into a bucket or wheelbarrow or onto a tarp to keep your grass intact and avoid losing any dirt in the transfer. This will also make it easier to mix in any compost and backfill the hole once the sapling is in place.
Settling the Sapling
Before putting the sapling into the hole, make sure the bottom of the hole is level to keep the tree from standing lopsided. The tree should stand straight up since this will be its position for the rest of its life. The root flare should be even with the surrounding ground; it’s better for it to be a little higher than the ground level than too deep.
Be sure to remove the sapling from its container, whether that’s a pot or burlap and string. Any binding will constrain the roots and may result in constriction as the tree grows. Once the tree is set up straight in place, it’s time to fill the hole back in with the soil that was dug out.
Backfilling the Hole
The best soil for planting trees is the native soil that’s already in your ground, rather than fresh gardening soil, because the roots will better acclimate to the yard and reach outwards. If the hole’s soil is significantly more nutrient-rich than its surroundings, the tree’s roots may grow in that small area rather than reaching outwards.
Mixing some compost into the native soil, however, is fine to do since it is a slow-release fertilizer that won’t be overwhelmingly more nutritious than the surrounding ground. Putting mulch over the newly filled hole is also a good idea since it will keep moisture in the ground and, like compost, slowly release nutrients over the following several months. Using new garden soil to plant trees, or adding quick-release fertilizer amendments, should be avoided with new trees because fall and winter are times of dormancy, and plants shouldn’t receive fresh fertilizer until the spring.
Once the hole is filled in, lightly tamp it down with your foot to make sure the tree is sturdy in its new position. Don’t tamp it too much, however, because compaction can result in the roots suffocating. Too-low ground around the roots can also cause water to pool, which can damage or drown the roots. Any mulch that’s added should be kept a couple of inches from the root flare, not touching the trunk (to avoid creating a mulch volcano), because this can provide a bridge for insects, keep too much moisture against the sapling’s young stem, or suffocate the tree’s roots.
Caring for a Newly Planted Sapling
Once the tree is planted, the freshly filled hole should be watered thoroughly. A sapling that has been planted sturdily shouldn’t need to be staked, as it will be able to hold itself up by its roots. Sometimes staking is necessary if the tree is planted in a location where it might get knocked over, like along sidewalks or in areas of heavy foot traffic, in which case the stakes should be removed after a year at most. The first year of a sapling’s establishment will be spent reaching its roots out and anchoring itself in place.
It might be necessary to wrap a sapling’s trunk over the fall and winter as well, since the young bark can attract animals in search of food, like mice, rabbits, and deer during the winter when other food sources are scarce.
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