The #1 Mistake Planting Trees & Shrubs

Having planted many trees and shrubs of my own, as well as experience observing planting at a farm level - I can tell you this is the #1 thing that inexperienced gardeners do wrong when it comes to planting trees and shrubs!

The planting hole should be dug just as deep and twice as wide as the root ball of the plant being placed there.

Why? Well essentially you can suffocate a plant by planting it too deeply. When it comes to trees, people tend to thing deeper and more stable is better but this is not the case!

The top of the soil line in the pot is where you'll see the base of the trunk and some surface level roots - those roots exist for a reason! The base of the trunk where the roots begin is called the 'crown' of the root system and that crown needs oxygen.

When you bury a plant too deeply you suffocate the crown and this can cause moisture to built where it shouldn't - making way for rot and disease to enter the trunk.

So what's the right way? Here's what the pro's always recommend: Dog your planting hole just as deep as the root ball and twice as wide. Mix the soil you dug up with amendments based on your soil needs and the needs of the plant going in. Then plant so that the crown of the root ball is exposed and backfill the rest of the hole with the amended soil. This allows the roots to easily spread through the surrounding soil without sinking downward as the soil settles.

If you have heavy clay soil, like most of us do in this area, the soil amendments might look like a pile of compost or aged manure plus a bag of Kellogg's GroMulch.

Another important thing to remember at the time of planting is slow release fertilizer tablets or granules! Don't be naive - the nursery's run fertilizer on plants all the time so give the plant what its used to! This will help it through the transitional period better! Be sure to research the best kind of fertilizer for the plant's needs, some plants need higher nitrogen while others need certain acid levels.

Have you ever made this gardening mistake? What other gardening mistakes do you see?? Comment below!