"SMF" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I planted a few trees recently where the rootball mostly made up of
dirt seemed to break away by the time I got it into the hole. I felt
I was almost planting the trees bare root. One was an atlas cedar and
the other a pine, both about 6 feet tall.

A year and a half ago I planted a series of pines. One plant also
lost a significant amount of it's root ball. That one happens to be
growing the fastest.

I'm wondering if it's a benefit to break apart the rootball which
will already put the roots into the native soil or are these latest
planting essentially doomed.

They aren't necessarily doomed. You can buy deciduous trees and shrubs in
bare root form via mail order. It's actually a very good way to go because
the plant will aclimate to it's new soil very rapidly. As far as evergreens
go, it's probably not a good idea to severely break apart the root ball when
planting. If your trees have made it a year and a half with no ill effects,
they probably will be alright.