Need advice for planting Red Oak

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Gus

ArboristSite Lurker
Joined
Apr 16, 2002
Messages
26
Reaction score
0
Location
Kentucky
I will be planting a red oak soon, and would like advice on the proper way to plant it. Tree is about 7 feet tall, caliper is about 1.5", in a container. I know the basics, i.e. make sure there are no girdling roots, do not plant it too deep, dig hole 3 times diameter of root ball, etc., but I have a specific question too. The owner of the nursery recommended that I backfill with some good topsoil because the soil in my area has a lot of clay in it. He said that the red oaks have a problem with the roots rotting in the heavy clay soil, and that the better top soil will give them a chance to mature and establish before they try to grow into the heavier clay. However, I have seen specific recommendations against this because it creates a "clay pot effect" and promotes circular root growth.

Would anyone care to comment on this - is it a good idea or not? Am I going to have problems with this tree in this type of soil? I have seen a lot of posts about oak wilt in red oaks when I did a search this morning, but I have already bought this one so I will have to make the best of it.

Any help is appreciated,

Tom
 
See the Overfertilization thread below; till in your organic material well with the native soil and the container soil that falls off while you are making SURE all the roots are straightened and you and the tree should be fine.
 
You do know where and how to find the root flare? That's the main thing on the not planting too deep.
 
Originally posted by Gus
The owner of the nursery recommended that I backfill with some good topsoil because the soil in my area has a lot of clay in it. He said that the red oaks have a problem with the roots rotting in the heavy clay soil, and that the better top soil will give them a chance to mature and establish before they try to grow into the heavier clay.
Tom

The nurseryman want the tree to survive the warrenty period. His adivce will asure that, but for the long run you're just looking for trouble because the roots won't want to leave. Just till the native soil in an area as wide as practical around the tree and add soil amendments (compost and woodchips) to the surface.
The rhysosphere in clay soil is very shallow. By tilling the soil and adding amendments to the top, the tree will send out roots radially for support through the freshly tilled soil, and then send up small roots to dine on the goodies at the surface, just like in the forest. These small "feeder roots" will often grow up, do their thing, and die, all in one day or even less.
In time the tilled soil will settle and the roots will continue to grow outwards because all the surrounding soil will be similar.
If you amend an area around the tree at the time of planting by "tilling in organic matter" the roots will grow to the outer boundries of where the amendments are and then circle back. We don't want that.
 
Thanks for the replies!

Yes, from reading other threads on this site, I think I know how to find the root flair.

Mike Maas, how deeply should I till the soil around the tree? It is in a 3 gallon bucket - can I just turn the ground over with a spade and till it in by hand in a 3 or 4 foot diameter circle? I have an area back in the woods where I compost my leaves - would this do OK for compost?

Thanks!
 
Remove the turf from a six to eight foot diameter area. Roto-till to the max depth of the machine, 10-12 inches would be ideal. Dig out the center portion to the depth of the root collar to the bottom of the root ball. Mulch and water. You will have the fastest growing tree in the neighborhod.
 
Gus,
The leaf compost will do very well. The idea is to add organic matter that is already decomposed so the benifits are immediately available to the tree. Then add wood chips for cosmetic appeal and future tree food. If you were to just add wood chips, their decomposing can cause a slight nitrogen shortage for the tree, plus they take time to start to break down.
As far as tilling by hand, that will work fine, although a machine can really break up the soil better than a shovel. Jay's recommenndation of 10 to 12" is ideal, but I might concentrate my efforts going out farther and being a little shallower because roots in clay tend to stay so close to the surface anyway.
Working at a tree service we have a few different stump grinders which really make fast, easy work of digging planting pits and breaking up soil.
 
Mike,
I never though of a stump grinder for planting. They should form a perfectly shaped bowl for planting.

Isn't that kind of tough on the old machine though?
 
Only in rocky soil, otherwise it works great.
We saw it demonstrated a few years back at a local batonical garden during a tree planting demonstration. My buddy and I, having both planted trees and ground stumps for years, looked at each other and simultaneously slapped the palm of our hands to our foreheads.
Since that day, it's the method of choice for planting. The exception is rocky soil, which I have no ideas of a simple way to dig into.
 
MM everytime we grind stumps here cleanup is a major undertaking because stuff flies everywhere. How do you control that?
 
Wouldn't that be hard on the drive train? I keep thinking about all the gravelly soil we have here on campus.
 
We have a sandy clay, when dry, it has the texture of concrete. :rolleyes:
When planting a 2-inch tree, we might chew up a 15 or 20-foot circle. With the stumper it takes about 2 minutes.
The resulting soil has the texture of compost, which is easy to work with and clean up.
In gravelly soil, maybe you could dedicate a set of dull teeth to plant with, and it seems much less taxing on the drive train than stumping.
 
MM & Tree-If we had a stumper in our inventory I would be tempted to try it. We wait until we have 20+ stumps then rent a stumper for a day. We do have backhoes and skidsteers with auger power heads that we have getting along for now. We keep trying to convince our pencilheads that we could pay for a stumper over the course of 10 years but the budget is tight :rolleyes:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top