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Still time to plant some green giants?

13 years ago

I was thinking of planting some 8ft green giants- probably around twenty or so. I am in Massachusetts-the weather is still in the 60s in the day. Is it too late to plant such big trees now? I usually plant in the spring but I got a pretty good deal on these new beauties- so it was hard to pass up. thanks

thetman

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Comments (7)

wisconsitom
13 years ago
Hey thetman, the trees will either spend the winter in their pots (Or burlap, whatever), or in the ground where you plant them. I see no advantage to the former, and potential advantage to the latter, in terms of beginning to root in. Plant away, I say.

+oM
thetman
Original Author
13 years ago
Your probably right- if they don't sell this year they will be just sitting until spring. Oh I forgot to mention that they are B&B- infact the rootball are huge on these- gonna need a machine to lift them. thanks for the input.
thetman
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hey dave ... he used the sleeve that goes around the black tubes .... not the tubes.. yes???? .. the ones i have seen are white ... i would get rid of the sleeves.. as soon as possible ... but the most important thing.. will be insuring water in july, august and early sept ... what i call the heat of summer ... they will need constant amount of water.. letting them nearly dry in between waterings .... and they will need to be watered into early november ... but insuring that they are NOT standing in water.. when the soil freezes ... all, of course..... based on what mother nature provides ... i did basically the same thing.. without rototilling.. and without mulch.. on pure yellow mineral sand ... and the little 6 inchers.. planted in 2000 are going on 12 feet ... i ended up using a drip irrigation line ... to avoid the cost and work of proper mulch ... all lived ... dont recognize the name .... welcome to the GW .... cant wait to see the pix ... do keep in mind.. trees that blow in the wind.. grow up stronger... but i like your idea of protecting them since they are freshly planted ... if any of yours dont make it..in oct or so... move the end ones.. into the line.. so you dont have gaps .... good luck ken ps: PEAT pot ... made of peat .. lol on PEA pots ...
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Dig a small hole right beside one of the green giants (just outside where you mulched). Dig the hole maybe 1' deep and fill with water. Let it drain out and fill again. See how fast the water drains. If it drains out within 6 hours you should be alright and the green giants shouldn't be in any standing water. However, if you have soil like my soil... the water will not drain. It'll sit until it evaporates. If this is the case... they need to come up and you need to mound plant them. By mound plant them I mean sit them on the surface of of the ground and pile dirt around them. I have a large yard... I have some areas of my yard that drain alright and I can plant normally. The water will drain out of the hole in just a couple hours. I have other parts of my yard where water will not drain out of the hole at all. I didn't know the soil was holding water like this until some of them started turning brown. So I did a little investigating. I carefully pulled the conifers out of the ground and the hole was a bucket of water. If you have terrible clay that holds water... you can easily over water just about anything. If your test hole drains it could be that they are getting to much water... but at least it drains. If they're getting to much water it's an easy fix... just don't water and hope for no rain. They may brown up a little from stress which is no big deal. If they're sitting in water, they really need to be mound planted. Dig the test hole and let us know your findings.
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there is normal winter bronzing on my GG... up here in the great white north .... i am presuming that is not what you are talking about.. a picture would sure help define such ... but.. with evergreens.. as the name implies.. they are always green .. and i swear.. even for a period after they are dead.. up here.. that can be nearly a year ... if yours definitely are showing a TOTAL dulling .. you can just tell they are 'off' .. then i would suggest they are not long for this world.. if not already dead ... and they may stay sickly looking.. until the heat returns next spring/summer.. when they will finally turn all brown ... if you are saying.. there is sporadic brown spots.. we need a picture ... check out the link ... only time will tell ... but presume the worst.. if in fact they are dead.. or near dead... then the manure will not do anything.. and in fact.. may hasten it all ... i appreciate your searching for old posts.. but this topic would have been better served in anew post.. with its own searchable title.. because it has to do with potential death. rather than this topic title.. of just planted... regardless.. post wherever it makes you happy ... good luck oh.. BTW... i would not go too large on replacements... large transplants can be very tricky to get going.. and a smaller one.. will get moving faster and easier.. and 'catch up' ... rather than struggle and linger for years ... in my world.. warped as it is.. a few off size plants.. lends an interesting variation on the group.. rather than requiring soldier like perfection .... ken here is a pic of mine.. which were 4 inch rooted sticks 11 years ago ... they dont grow quite as fast up here.. especially with 4 months of frozen ground Here is a link that might be useful: link
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This is a great thread. I am new to this, but finally got my back patio looking great after living in my house for 14 years. I decide to enjoy my new fire pit and realized THIS is my current view. It's probably pretty obvious why I planted these trees, not to mention the loud kids running around in the back yard all day. But after reading a LOT more about these monster trees, I feel like I may have overshot the runway? I planted these 6' off the property line (and 6' apart, not to their trunk center but the edge of the hole...oops) but am still afraid they may grow over the neighbor's yard. There is no fence or other obstruction between our yards (well, except for the, you know.....Dodge Durango!?!) so I am a little concerned about the intrusion in to the neighbor's property. We aren't the best of friends either, so there's that. The trees are about 18" now so won't be an issue for a while, but they are still young enough I could replant if necessary. I included two pictures to show the property line and how much of my yard space I'm giving up (which I am HAPPY to do to eliminate that horrible eye sore!) Any advice on if I allowed enough room for these things?
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
i plant in my z5 mi through the end of oct ....

just do it...

presuming you plant properly.. i predict 99% success ... subject only to the stock you bought.. if it has problems.. then when and how you plant it is moot ... i suppose.. a function of the price you pay ...

ken
thetman
Original Author
13 years ago
seems like planting is the way to go then- of course I will keep them watered until it freezes around here-wish I had them in the ground now- it supposed to rain all week. Well I guess I will go down to the nursery tomorrow and pick out the ones I need. Probably won't be able to get to it for another week though but that shouldn't make a big difference I guess in the time frame of things. Thanks for the input. I may want to get a serbian spruce or two also- I am assuming they should be fine as well?
thetman
wisconsitom
13 years ago
Yep, same for the spruce. Good luck with the planting.

With regard to too-late-in-the-year planting, which this is really not, I picked up some Abies nordmaniana at a local garden center a couple autumns back. But this was late.....some time in November if memory serves. The trees were potted and were just plain beautiful. Since they were marked down to almost nothing, I chanced planting them right away. In this case, when I lifted them out of their pots, there were enough circling roots and whatnot that I felt compelled to separate out some of those roots. Long story short, between the lateness of the year and I believe, my root disturbance, the trees did not fare well. They're still alive today, but all the upper portions have died back. Since these are just a few out of thousands of other trees coming up in that field, I haven't really done anything with them to date.. They're sort of shrub-firs!

+oM
thetman
Original Author
13 years ago
Sorry to hear about your trees- that always sucks when they don't make it. I did the opposite this summer- I planted a 5ft. Norway spruce when it was like 100 degrees outside- I know thats not smart but its doing very well right now.well I pulled the trigger today-got about 20 green giants and few 5-6ft norway spruces. Going to be a busy weekend I guess. The downside is I just got my quarterly water bill from the summer-OUCH! oh well, gotta keep the guys alive.
thetman
wisconsitom
13 years ago
GG's and Norway spruce.....sounds like your taste in trees is similar to my own. Have fun!

+oM

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