Originally Posted By: Dave Davidson1
I generally just slice up the sides of the container and remove the entire root ball. When I transplant it, I lightly loosen the soil around the hole so the roots can spread. For this I use a fork. I like the idea of watering outside the root ball but had never thought of that.

I've never tried planting a 10 foot tree. I generally plant at about 18 inches. My biggest problem is that the rats with antlers(deer) eat the tops off the tree. I fixed that problem with remesh wire about a foot out from the new tree. I found that chicken wire is useless. The deer have also frustrated my attempts at planting grapes.

My other problem on the seedlings is protecting them from blue jays and other larger birds when they are still in the container. They will do their best to pull them up.


Dave,

I never planted one of the big ones either. Most all of mine were in the 1 to 2 foot size. I planted all mine (around 150 so far) in 5 foot tree tubes. They work great to keep the critters off them and actually seem to make the trees grow faster the first couple of years. The guy I get my tubes from sells thousands of tubes to the vineyards in CA for grapes. I bought some 3 footers for berries I will be planting in the spring. You can see some of my tubes in the attached.


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Last edited by Bill D.; 01/05/15 10:35 AM.
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