planting

[BWhite]

I bought 10 beautiful 8' Canadian hemlocks ( bye bye nosey neighbor ) that will be planted in partial shade and damp soil . What size hole should I dig and should I improve the soil any ?

[AL Inc]

BWhite- The rule of thumb for planting was always to dig the hole 2.5 times the root ball diameter. Pretty difficult, I know, especially if the root ball is 3'-4'. Most of the time, I will go about a foot wider than the rootball. Unless the soil is really crappy, I usually don't use any soil amendments other than fertilizer. If you have to, incorporate some compost into the soil. We were finding that the roots of the trees/shrubs would not venture outside of the planting hole where the soil was amended. I would strongly recommend a spray program for those hemlocks. The wooly adelgid (insect) have been hitting them pretty hard since the early 80's. We remove a lot of dead hemlocks that weren't cared for. Good luck, and congratulations on not having to see your neighbors anymore:) . Mike

[BWhite]

Thanks for your reply , I have them planted and thats about what I did. I already have the systemic treatment and the dormant oil to take care of those wooly adelgids. The farm I bought them from said no fertilizer for the first year .......just sufficent water . I am thinking about using the Sayegrow tree watering setup unless I can find something that is better

[cat320]

Bill dig a little bigger and add some compost to the hole that is what we did last summer on a job planting those tall bushes for a living fence .