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Christmas Tree Planting Tips

Christmas Tree Planting Tips
Gardening Tips from Mike McGroarty’s Gardening Newsletter

Live (balled in burlap) Christmas Trees are a much better investment than a cut tree. But you should know how to handle them so they live for many years.

1. Decide where you are going to plant your tree before you even buy it. As soon as you get it home dig a hole for the tree, the ground might be frozen after Christmas. Put the soil you remove from the hole in a wheelbarrow and park the wheelbarrow in your garage so you’ll have unfrozen soil to plant the tree with.

2. Only dig the hole as deep as the root ball. Planting any tree too deep will kill it for sure. The top of the root ball should be at least one inch above grade, then when you plant, mound some soil over the root ball.

3. If you have clay soil that does not drain well it’s best to back fill with the soil you removed from the hole. Doing so will keep excess water from leaching into your planting hole. When planting in heavy clay you have to be careful to not create a bathtub that your tree will drown in. A
good way to prevent this from happening is to build a raised bed with good topsoil and plant your tree in the raised bed. Your tree will be able to breath much easier in a raised bed and will love you for showing it that kindness.

4. When you opt for a live tree you must keep the health of the tree in mind and only keep it in the house for as short a time as possible. No longer than three weeks. When you get the tree it will be dormant. If you keep it in the house too long it will think it’s spring and attempt to come out of dormancy. Then when you move it back outside it will be really confused.

5. Don’t remove the burlap from your tree, but if it’s a nylon type of burlap make some vertical slices in the burlap. The wire basket around the ball does not have to be removed. Make sure there are no nylon strings wrapped around the stem of the tree.

6. Don’t fertilize your tree. Evergreens really don’t like a lot of nitrogen. What they really like is good topsoil that drains well.

7. Stake your tree so it does not rock back and forth with the wind. That’s it! Enjoy your live Christmas Tree.

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