Tree Planting Tips from Arborist Scott
How to Plant and Where to Play Your Trees.
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Trees provide habitat for wildlife, as well as shade and beauty for us. If you’re adding new trees to your landscape this year: know the rules.
People frequently ask how close they can put a tree to the house, because shade on the house obviously is a huge energy savings. The general rule of thumb is you go no closer to the house than the eaves are high. So, if you measure up to the eaves of your house, and they’re ten feet high, then you need to get ten feet back from the house.
Scott Harris, a certified arborist in Austin, recommends planting native trees. For your tree to get the best start in life, he recommends the following:
You always want to plant your trees at the exact level they were in the pot. Don’t dig a big deep hole, dig a big wide hole. Always use the same soil you took out to backfill. But, you can put your compost underneath the mulch, and then all of that organic goodness will dribble down in the way that nature intended.
Water your new trees infrequently and deeply; this helps them to develop extensive root systems.
If you just have a little bit of water in one area, that’s where the roots are going to go. But if you water very deeply, it’ll spread into the surrounding soil, and the roots will follow that moisture out.
A robust root system helps trees remain vigorous and able to better withstand Texas droughts.
That’s our show…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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