You can argue this issue either way, but not knowing the kind of soil in
which the trees were planted and the moisture content of the soil makes it
hard to evaluate remotely. The fact that it had rained for several days
might indicate that the soil was nice and damp, so maybe he had the right
approach. Where I live, we have lots of clay about one foot down, so filling
the hole with water would create a retention area and possibly
drown the roots, so I usually layer in the soil, patting it down, and
then adding some water to that layer. Having the hole full of water would make
the patting down process messy. Besides getting the roots nice and wet,
you want to be sure and have good soil contact with all the roots,
making your system difficult and as stated before, messy. Unless your
soil has good drainage, it sounds as if you may be over watering the planting,
and possibly drowning the roots. You are correct about pre-soaking the roots.

Sherwin D.


Glenna Rose wrote:

Yesterday, after many days of no rain, our neighbor was planting three
dogwood trees. I spoke to him briefly as he was planting the first one.
He had just finished filling the hole around the roots and was replacing
the sod around the trunk of the tree. Seeing no garden hose, I asked him
if he had filled the hole with water to which he replied he would water
them after he was done. I mentioned it might be good to fill the hole
with water before putting in the tree and maybe again after the tree
positioned and the hole partly filled so the roots would have plenty of
water to get started. He said that he didn't need to do that, that all he
had to do was water it after it was planted. In the past, their idea of
watering a plant is to have the hose there for 2 or 3 minutes at the most
and move on. When finishing, they spent less than five minutes watering
all three trees. These trees are between the sidewalk and the street
which is extra dry anyway because there is little chance of water
retention in the soil because of the moisture radiating (not the right
word!) into the totally dry soil under the street and sidewalk.

Am I mistaken in the belief that this is not the best way to plant a tree
or anything else? I ask because many years ago, someone told me that
before planting a potted plant or shrub, or transplanting, the roots of
the plant should be thoroughly soaked with water and to wait at least a
half-hour before doing anything with the plant. The purpose of this is to
supercharge the roots with water so the fine feeder roots have minimal
damage with less shock to the plant. I was told that if the roots are dry,
the fine feeder roots will break leaving the plant "crippled" for recovery.

Because this sounded very logical, it's a process I've used throughout my
life. My luck initially has been quite good and I have transplanted many,
many plants, both from pots and from the ground, and have never lost even
one in the first few weeks/months. When I moved here, we even
transplanted some large rhodies (one 12-feet tall) with this method (and a
backhoe) to have them all live. Other plants moved then were many lilac
bushes (fully grown) and an 11-year-old apple tree; all are thriving and
it's been 4-1/2 years. The tree expert who physically moved the apple
tree told me it would never live! If I were to follow the neighbor's
method, then I've really done a lot of extra work when I plant/transplant
plants/bushes. As an added note, I transplant in the dark of the moon
whenever practical.

What is the procedure you use for transplanting? Do you "overuse" the
water like I do or do you transplant "dry" as he did?

Glenna