One More Time . . .

[mtate]

I've seen this question asked before with different advice. So here goes, again . . . I just bought a Japanese Maple, about 5 feet high or so already. I would like to plant it pretty much in the same spot where I had a stump ground. The stump was very large, because the tree there was about 100ft tall. I know the soil there contains woody fibers from the grinding. Previous advice was to wait years before planting there. If I take care to dig the hole fairly wide and fill it with peat moss and a slow release fertilizer, rather than putting ALL of the excavated soil back in, what are the odds that the tree will survive? If it does survive, will it eventually sink from the deteriorating fibers? What could you recommend to put back into the soil if peat and fertilizer will not do the trick.
Thanks.

 

[Stumper]

If the stump was ground deep enough to permit planting the new tree and you backfill the hole with good soil it should work okay. Ideally I reccommend a different location but I know of several trees that are doing fine in the old tree's hole.

 

[FBerkel]

Peat and fertilizer backfill is not a good idea at all. Recommended backfill is native soil, so as not to create an artificially enriched area that the roots may not want to leave, (although the tree may just want to die in peat and fertilizer-- Roots would burn, peat is low in minerals/nutrients.)

Why not just remove all the loose woody material and replace with native soil? We do this frequently, and with great success. If you do this (and the stump grinder did a decent job of separating-out the roots of the old tree), there's not much difference from planting by just digging a hole in soil.

That is unless the stumped hole is actually too deep, in which case you run the risk of burying the new tree (depriving the roots of oxygen.) Better too shallow than too deep: if the hole's too shallow, you can always mulch over the root ball, use extra water until it's established. If too deep, raising the bottom level by putting in extra soil may not work for the long term: tree root balls
tend to wallow down and find the original level. Whether this would happen with a small tree like you are planting, I don't know. (I solve this problem by placing large rocks in the bottom of hole, filling between them with soil.)

 

[Stumper]

Thanks Fred, I failed to explain clearly about the soil.

 

[mtate]

According to what the stump grinder guy told me, the arm of the machine he was using went down 12 inches. Will I actually hit wood there still? By native soil, do you mean that I will have to dig another hole someplace else and use the excavated soil from that area? Can I just buy a bag of topsoil?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Loac topsoil would be ok to use. Though i would want something from a woodlot so as not to bring in any anthacnose.

Being that you are removing the debrise from a large stump and installing a small tree, I see no problem with using a somewhat richer backfill then native soil. Those precausions are for amending a small pit.

I would get all the woody matter out, naybe use it for mulch in the yard, then bring in a good topsoil/sandy loam mix. That said, we have heavy clays here. Jap maple likes a rich well drained soil.

With such a big tree, you might well find woody material ungound a foot down, but it will not mean mch in this situation, we are woried about the decomposition of the shedded wood using up all the nitrogen around the roots.

Use this as an opertunity to install a small garden under the maple, use perenials so you will not need to disturb the roots of the maple every year.

 

[mtate]

John,
I'm going to plant this tree myself. All out of bucks from the other 2 maples I had the nursery install . I'm going to have to buy the topsoil from a local nursery. Will they know what loac topsoil is and if it contains anthacnose (not sure what that is or what a woodlot is). Can you recommend a particular mulch also? The other 2 maples are mulched with peat.
Thank you all for taking the time to respond.
Just as an aside, I look at my neighbors beautiful bloodgood maple that they basically just stuck in the ground when it was about a foot high. No mulch, no watering, no nothing. That thing has about tripled in height over the past few months. Jeeez . . .

 

[treeclimber165]

Marie,
Most of us have come to accept John's horrendous typing/spelling. But he has so much knowledge and experience that we like him anyway. I'm sure he meant 'loam' not 'loac'.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Actiualy that was suposed to be local topsoil

If you get a sandy loam (which in soil speach infers mor loam then sand) you should have good results. Loam is compost, so the black dirt sold most places will work well.

Determine how much you will need then see if you can haul it yourself, or contact a topsoil hauler. If you go with a nursery you will be paying a premium rate.

Another way top go is get the bagged product, little more pricey, but eaier to handle. In our area they sell composted yard and wood waste in bags undre the Hypox lable. (find that scarey Reed?)

Anthacnose is a fungus that causes systemic failure of trees, maple is a genus that is suseptable. Pasture plants are a secondary host, so soil from a pasture sourse will have the spores in it, this can cause problems in stressed plants suseptable to the disease.