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have i sentenced my conifer to an early death?

17 years ago

i just planted a picea omorika pendula bruns that was in a 10 gallon pot.

i was referred (by other local gardners) to an employee in a nursery who told me to mix 1 part sedge peat (it came in a bag by a company called "garden magic" out of michigan) with 1 part sphagnum peat then take that mixture and mix an equal amount of the soil (soil here is clay)and backfill into a hole as large as i could manage.

i dug a hole about 2 1/2 feet deep and 3 feet wide, did as he said but planted the tree so that it was a bit raised.

now i cant sleep. i'm so worried about it.

i'm relatively new to gardening: ie, i tried planting trees for the first time in ocotber of 2006 and all of those things are doing fine (1 crimson queen japanese maple, 2 dwarf alberta spruce and 2 peegee hydrangea grandiflora shrubs which i've just pruned to tree form). all i did was mix compost with the soil and mulch for the winter.

is my darling pendula bruns going to be ok?

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
17 years ago
if its guaranteed... forget about it ....

trees are pretty easy to take off .... i wouldn't have amended the soil .. but i don't have clay ... and if the guarantor suggested such .... what the heck ...

mulch it well ...

and water it properly .. let it nearly dry between waterings ... insert finger to see how the water deals with your soil ....

good luck

ken
karinl
17 years ago
The "bit raised" is probably a good thing.

KarinL
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wisconsitom
17 years ago
The modern-day recommendation against ammending backfill soil at tree planting is based on two things: 1) Making the soil "real good" right around the present rootball is of no value when what you want the plant to do-and what it needs to do in order to survive, is spread it's roots as far and wide as possible. Hence a pocket of highly ammended soil right where the roots are going to first colonize, is meaningless in the long run. And 2) There is a danger of making the planting hole into a bathtub, or conversely, a very dry spot, if the soil around the new tree is very different in texture from the native soil around it. You can monitor for these problems as you go along. We all recommend the use of a high-tech gadget for assessing soil moisture status-your finger! When the soil is dry a couple inches down, it's water time.

I like that you planted a little high. Tree should be fine.

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treelover3
17 years ago
Possibly.

Since you said you have clay soil, amending the planting hole has made a bathtub-like well around the roots of the tree. If your soil is really poorly drained, I would lift the tree and plant it elsewhere and NOT amend the planting hole.

In a dry year the tree will probably do just fine, but in a wet year, the tree may not be so lucky. Planting the tree high is the one thing that is in your (and the tree's) favor.
Good luck
Mike
greyneedle
17 years ago
Should be okay. It's going to take time to get established though. I've seen tree roots cross streams and climb up the other side! So don't worry about the soil too much. We've all been there. For the first year, water the tree when it doesn't rain. Some mulch would help too, but don't let it touch the trunk.

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