Should wire basket & burlap be removed?

[Gus]

I recently purchased a 12 foot balled & burlapped river birch at a charity auction. The guys from the nursery came out and planted it, and they did not remove the burlap or the wire cage from the root ball. I read some information from another post about stem girdling roots, and now I am concerned about the long term prospects of this tree. The tree has only been in the ground since February. Should I consider digging it back out and removing the cage and burlap? Due to the size of the tree, I would need some help to get this done.

Your advice is appreciated.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Anicdotal evidance has shown that burlap and wire can cause problems in the root system. University studies are being done prove this through scientific method.

They say the basket will rust, but we are digging up artifacts from the revelutionary war. Burpal decays, but I've dug up 5 year old plants that have partialy decayed burlap on them. They will say that it is natural, untreated fiber. I say why risk it.


What you should do is dig down beside the ball so you can get at the backing material. Cut the burrlap off as low as possible, and cut the baskett with some heavy wire cutters, as low as possible.

ensure that the flair where trunk and roots transition is exposed to air, I prefer to jave the firs order roots partialy exposed too.

If you are realy interested in the trees well being, dig down into the ball to inspect the root system, look for roots that encircle the ball and the straighten them out into the lawn, bury them in slit trenches, a few inches down. now you have increased the area the tree gan get water from and ahev given it a head start in establishing itself.

Lastly do not use any spol dirt on thop of the root ball, this will just increase the chance of SGR's later in life.

 

[John Paul McMillin]

I agree with JPS , and what i do with large trees is i leave the wire on while i roll the tree into the hole so i dont disturb the root ball, then i back fill a little to support the tree, then i cut off as much of the wire basket that i can but i dont worry about leaving it on the bottom of the ball since the roots will be growing out and not down. then i cut off the burlap around the sides and the top of the root ball, then back fill .JPM

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Two weeks ago I was in Concord, MA. We visited the Concord Bridge where the militia exchanged fire with the English soldiers. At the restroom building there are a group of spruces or firs, don't remember the species...the burlap was still intact and the trees had grown around some of the wrapping, girdling the stem. I cut away some of the pieces with my pocket knife. We auessed that the trees must have been planted at least 7-8 years ago.

Unless the soil in the ball is really loose sand you should consider cutting away as much of the burlap as possible. Aat a minimum, cut ALL of the top burlap away and slit the sides. Cut away the wire too as has been said.

Tom

 

[Jay Banks]

After I get the tree in the planting hole, I remove all of the wire basket on smaller trees (under 6'), and the top half on larger trees. So on smaller trees I can take off most of the burlap and on larger trees I can take off the top half of the burlap.

All so as mentioned take a good look at the root crown in relationship to the surrounding ground level. And if you feel comfortable clearing even more dirt you can check for girdling roots like JPS mentioned.

 

[John Paul McMillin]

I would say that on 75 to 80% of the balled and bulaped trees that i plant , I have to remove soil from the top of the root ball to find the root flare. I think either in the digging process or planting process or cultivating between tree rows at the nursery that soil gets piled up aroung the tree trunk. It is very important to remove soil from the top of the root ball until you find the first large lateral roots and plant the tree with those lateral roots at ground level, even leaving them partially exposed like JPS had mentioned earlier. JPM

 

[John Paul McMillin]

oh and by the way . and im not picking on ya JAY, just like we dont say "Heal" but compartmentalize or close over , I was taught years ago that "Soil" is soil , what you plant in and "Dirt" is the stuff on your floor that you sweep under the rug. so when talking about earth or soil , we shouldnt use the word dirt. this is just a kind reminder . JPM

 

[Jay Banks]

Man, what is it with you guys in these country clubs!!!!!


And I don't <b><u>feed</u></b> my trees either!!!!

 

[John Paul McMillin]

thats right , trees produce their own food. Hey like i said its just one of those language things that goes with the industry. and please correct me also if i use a wrong term or something now what about the country club thing ? are ya jealous because we can work in shorts and a collared shirt sometimes LOL just kidding ya Jay , i respect all of the input you have written on this site so far. All of us certified arborist need to stick together and learn from eachother , I know that i am always learning . JPM

 

[Jay Banks]

Heck, I'm learning something new in just urban forestry everyday.

Every day's a school day.

 

[Gopher]

Thank you for all of the love and support from fellow arborists.

This week, I was rudely treated by a tree spade operator (I am a professional and not use the proper words for the man). I had two clients of mine, which had some trees moved in by this guy, ask me to let them know what kind of work he did. I told them, and he came and found me.

The B&B trees he planted were roughly six inches deep, and the burlap was so tight around the stem that I had a tough time geting my knife in with out wounding the tree. This rookie proceeded to read me the riot act about ruining his livelyhood and he knows how to plant trees because he has been doing it since 1971. (I think he was about ten at that time!)

Anyway, both of my clients are not going to have him do any more planting on their land. They both appreciate knowledge and the best practice.

I have to admit, it took me a good part of the day to forget about the verbal abuse I received from this person. Oh, and there was also twine left in the rooting area as well.

One more thing on this subject of wire and burlap; should I send this guy pictures and data, or just let him hang himself?

Gopher

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Sounds like you're dealing with the same attitude from a person who deals with roots as you might find from someone who tops trees and claims that the trees don't die so topping isn't bad. You're in a tough place. You could sssee if he is open to someone elses opinion. Take a look at these pages. Maybe you can open up his mind when he finds that what you're saying isn't your opinion but a proven fact.

http://www.cnr.umn.edu/FR/extension/TreePlanting101/depth/plantinghole.htm


http://sitelevel.whatUseek.com/quer..._title=&page=&domain=&exclude=&autocustomize=


IN the past, I've layed out the challenge to toppers to do a literature search and have them show me ANY literature that supports topping. My side of the bet is that I'll literally eat any of the literature they provide. If anyone can show literature that shows that burying the root crown is better for the tree you could challenge them to an eat-athon. My bet is that they won't take the time to even search because he either doesn't care to learn or knows that he's wrong.

Tom

 

[Eric E.]

I have an article from a guy that did research on the wire baskets. The study showed very little adverse effects from the wire. The wire did not rust but roots grew around them with minimal translocation disturbance. The disturbances were only temporary until the root tissue engulfed the wire.
That said, I haven't changed my planting procedures because of one study. I remove as much of the burlap and wire as the ball will allow. If the ball isn't falling apart I attemp to take all the wire and burlap.
JPS, I too have found untreated burlap in planting holes many times. Once in Boston we removed and replaced a 30 year old landscape. There was burlap under a number of plants, soilconditions were poor which had some thing to do with the delayed decay.
JP Mc., You should find a different supplier of plant material. I got tired of trees being 4,6,8 inches too deep. Finally found some good growers. Actually, you're probably closer to them than I'am.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

There are some ongoing long term studies that started not oto long ago on wire baskets.

I have see a number of pictures of roots girdled by damaged by engulfing baskests, some were severed in windthrow events at the basket.

One ofthe best sourses of trees is local, then you can choose them undug and request the flair be dug out prior to harvest, if the vendor does not do it aleady. If they make noises, a good responce is "isent the topsoil one of your major assests?"