Tree & Shrub Planting

Right tree, right place

The most expensive planting mistake is a tree that's perfect today and wrong in twenty years. Before choosing a species, we look at how big it will get, both height and spread, and what's around it: the house, the driveway, overhead lines, the septic field, the neighbor's yard. Large shade trees generally want 20 feet or more from a foundation. Small flowering trees can sit much closer.

Then we look at the site itself: sun, drainage, soil, wind exposure and road salt. A swamp white oak will shrug off wet clay that would drown a sugar maple. A tree that loves full sun will sulk under a big neighbor.

Planting depth and the root flare

A large share of the young trees we're asked to look at are planted too deep. Nursery trees often arrive with extra soil over the root flare, the place where the trunk widens into roots. If that flare ends up buried, the tree can develop girdling roots that slowly strangle it, and bark that stays wet starts to decay.

We find the flare before the tree goes in the ground, remove excess soil from the top of the root ball, and correct circling roots. The finished tree should look like it's growing out of the ground, with the flare visible, not like a fence post.

Planting in Northeast Ohio clay

Our soils are heavy clay in most of Portage and Summit County, and clay changes the technique. We dig wide rather than deep, so roots can spread into loosened soil, and we often set the tree slightly high so it doesn't sit in a bathtub of water after rain. Backfill is mostly the native soil. Heavily amended backfill can keep roots circling in the planting hole instead of growing out.

Mulch goes on two to three inches deep in a wide ring, pulled back from the trunk. Mulch piled against the bark, sometimes called volcano mulching, is one of the most common reasons young trees decline.

Watering for the first two years

A new tree needs regular, deep watering through its first two growing seasons, more in dry spells and less when rain is steady. Deep watering means a slow soak of the root ball and the soil just outside it, not a quick spray. Overwatering is just as damaging in clay, so we'll show you how to check the soil before you water. Staking is only for trees that need it, and stakes come off after the first year.

What we'd plant, and what we wouldn't

Diversity matters as much as any single pick. Neighborhoods planted with one species lost everything when emerald ash borer arrived. Here's how we think about species for Northeast Ohio properties:

• Strong choices for our area: swamp white oak, bur oak, Kentucky coffeetree, black gum, hackberry, tulip tree, American hornbeam, serviceberry, eastern redbud and river birch.
• Plant with care: red maple (avoid high-pH sites), white pine (needs good drainage), and red oaks (oak wilt risk means no wounding in spring and summer).
• Avoid: Callery or Bradford pear, which Ohio has banned from sale as invasive; Norway maple, which spreads and crowds out natives; ash, because of emerald ash borer; and silver maple near houses.

After planting: the first ten years

The first decade decides what kind of tree you'll have at fifty. A little structural pruning in years two through ten prevents most of the defects we end up cabling or removing later. Watching for girdling roots, mulch creep, and early pest problems is what plant health care is for. Young trees are part of every Tree Health Membership walk.