The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Techniques and skills => Topic started by: crimson on June 04, 2014, 10:44:29 pm
-
I dug up some ash , alder and beech trees from a mountain side to plant them in another field . They range from 50cm to 2m tall. They are currently in buckets of water, any tips on how/where to plant them?
(Not sure if this topic is in the right section)
-
Beech trees tend to be shallow /surface root feeders , so plant them where you won't be cutting the grass .
Also because of the shallow surface root system they do get blown over , so put them away from building or on high bank edges if it tends to get windy at your place
-
Bare rooted trees should be planted between September and March at the outside, when there aren't leaves on. Survival rate this time of year might be much lower so unless you took a pot's worth of soil with the rootball you might have been better to leave them be.
Depending what mountain you took them from, you may also be breaking the law so I'd be pretty careful about who you talk to. All ash movement is currently prohibited due to dieback, you can't even go buy ash from a tree nursery so watch any ash you have nearby in case you've brought in a problem.
If you do plant then clear the areas around each sapling of all weeds and grass roots that will compete and potentially deprive the sapling of nutrients. By hand rather than weedkiller, and keep it clear for a good year til the tree is established. Stakes and guards are good for protection from rabbits, deer etc but without keeping the base clear by a good few inches more than the rootball, you're likely to get a very long thistle or grass coming out the top and no tree left..
-
Don't leave them in a bucket of water - you'll drown the roots!
If they are bareroot, just stick a spade in, wiggle it to form a slot and shove them in. Tread down to close the slot.
Tubes provide a micro climate and protect from nibbling by rabbits/deer etc.