Trees Bent Out of Shape, Actually the Right Way

Summer and many gardeners are planting trees. But what to do with wobbly trees after they are cut from the stake in the pot or B&B?

If it’s necessary to stake a new skinny-trunked transplant to keep it from flopping, the lower you tie the tree to the stake(s), the more the trunk will be able to flex and strengthen in the wind. To determine the best height for tying (a height which will allow flexing but not flopping), grab the trunk with your right hand near the top and gently bend the top over with your left hand. You’ll notice that the tree is able to return to an upright position. Move your right hand down the trunk and continue bending and releasing the top with your left hand. At a certain point, the top will stay flopped over and not regain its upright position. Tie the tree to the stakes at a point six inches higher than the last position of your right hand. From my book, Roots Demystified, Change Your Gardening Habits to Help Roots Thrive.


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Let me know what you think. Visit my web site to learn about my new book on drip irrigation and other gardening books. Thanks, Robert

Don't let roots circle when planting trees & shrubs

Spring is tree-planting time for many gardeners. It's also the time to make big mistakes when planting. Alas, this tree popped out of it's planting hole due to poorly-trained landscape contractors after being struck by a car. This poor tree needed to get its roots away from the planting hole. (You can see the circling roots just the way they were in the planting container.) Planting on a mound will help "drive" roots away from the tree's base as it drys out faster, making the roots seek moisture further from the trunk. So will fracturing the sides of the hole. (This tree may have been "planted" by auguring a hole in the ground and just plopping the tree into the hole.) The roots responsible for absorbing water and nutrients are the very young and tiny root hairs found near the tips of new roots. Older roots, much like older branches, have a bark-like covering that protects the root but doesn’t produce root hairs. In one study done with radioactive isotopes in England, the roots 4.5 feet away from the trunk of a 10-year-old apple tree absorbed less than 10% of the water and nutrients absorbed by the entire root system. The study showed that proportionately, many more feeding roots are found at, or beyond, the drip line of a tree’s foliage. Because of this, I prefer to place a ring of in-line emitter tubing at or beyond the tree’s drip line. This produces a “doughnut” of moisture, and far more of the root zone is adequately irrigated than with a single line of hose down a row of trees. As the tree grows, extra lengths are added to this circle of moisture to correspond with the new growth in the canopy. By setting the circle of emitters farther out every few years, you’re encouraging the tree’s roots to explore more soil volume and gather more nutrients for superior growth. Such trees would stand a better chance against wayward cars.

Note: I somehow lost the usual section "Post a comment". To leave a comment, simply click on the area/button that says "___ Comments" below. Or, clicking on the title of a Post under "Blog Archive" also gets you to a view that gives the option of leaving a comment. Robert

Visit Robert Kourik's web site to learn about his great gardening books.

Even the pros mess up sometimes.

Planted deep as a coffin. Not really, but very deep. I just got back from a trip to St. Louis. The Missouri Botanic Garden is one of the of the top five public gardens in the country. Yet, the pros don’t always get it right all the time. It appears this poor tree was planted two feet lower than it should have been. (To be fair, it probably was the work of a well-meaning volunteer.) That’s my Dad showing how the tree desperately tried to develop roots closer to the surface. (Clicking on the image presents a lager image.) Too much energy to get feeding roots out near the surface and the death of the deeper roots led to the demise of this tree. Lesson for the gardener? Never plant a plant any deeper than it was grown in a pot or at the of color on the trunk of a bare root tree.