Container Trees– How To Grow And Plant Them

In another life, I would just grow trees. I love their incredible variety. They can be tall and majestic, weeping or cone-shaped; have trunks with smooth or exfoliating barks; and produce blossoms that smell like perfume or delicious fruit or nuts.

Trees are unquestionably important to our environment, providing oxygen, cleaning drinking water, helping combat climate change, and providing habitats for wildlife, among many other benefits. Every year, I add as many as I can. I order baby, bare-root saplings in bulk, because they're much less expensive than mature specimens. Bare-root saplings are plants that are dug from the ground while dormant and stored without any soil surrounding their roots.

Here’s how I grow them:

After rehydrating their roots in water for several hours, I plant each one in a pot, using a mixture of my compost and Miracle-Gro Organic™ Outdoor Potting Mix, which is rich in nutrients. I leave them in their pots and care for them according to the care labels that are shipped with the bare roots. Once their root systems have time to develop, I plant them into the ground.

Once they are established in their pots, it’s planting time. Follow these instructions for planting container trees, whether you have grown your trees from bare-root saplings or purchased them from your local nursery.

HOW TO PLANT A CONTAINER TREE

1. FIND A LOCATION

Check the requirements for your variety. How much light does it need? Will it require a moist or dry area? Then before breaking out your shovel, call 811 (the national “call before you dig” number) to make sure you won't hit any power lines in your chosen spot.

2. GIVE IT ROOM TO GROW

With a sharp shovel, dig a hole about twice as wide and deep as the size of the pot, and loosen the surrounding soil. Clear any large rocks; add water to the bottom.

3. REMOVE THE SAPLING

Loosen the edges of the container and gently slide the tree out. Break apart the roots with your hands or slice an X through the root ball with a hori hori or sharp knife.

4. PUT IT IN POSITION

Follow the guideline "bare to the flare." The root flare, or collar (the place where the roots start to spread out from the trunk), should be level with the soil line. Add a mixture of compost and nutrient- rich soil (such as Miracle-Gro Organic™ Raised Bed & Garden Soil) to reach that height. Then place the tree in the hole, making sure it's straight, and backfill. Lightly tamp down the soil to remove air pockets.

5. MULCH AND HYDRATE

Give your newly planted tree a long drink of water. Then top with a couple of inches of mulch, (I like Miracle-Gro Organic™ All Natural Mulch), leaving several inches of the space right around the trunk bare (to prevent rot). For the first few months, water for about 10 minutes once a week.

CONTAINER TREES – HOW TO GROW AND PLANT THEM

HOW TO PLANT A CONTAINER TREE

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