How to Get Your Liberty Tree – and Keep it Alive
Folks who ordered a Liberty Tree from the Fayette County Semiquincentennial Committee will pick them up from the Fayette County Recycling Center on Oct. 3.
If you were one of those folks, you might be wondering, “Now what?”
The Record spoke with retired local forester Daniel Lewis from the Texas A&M Forest Service about some tips for planting your tree. Lewis said it’s important to keep the trees watered until the time of planting.
“The most critical part is not to plant the tree too deep,” Lewis said. “You want to leave the root ball a little bit high of the native ground that you’re planting in.”
He said the hole should be wider than it is deep – sort of like a cereal bowl.
“Dig a hole twice the size of the pot in width,” Lewis said. Then you can loosen the soil around it, because you’re trying to help the roots establish themselves laterally as best as possible.”
Lewis recommends keeping the top of the root ball about an inch above the natural ground level.
“A properly planted tree has a root flare,” he said. “The important part is to see that flare where the major roots initially extend out.”
Sometimes nursery trees come with their root flares covered in mulch or potting soil. Lewis said you may need to scrape that away to expose the root flare before planting.
“And then once you get it planted, you want to, put the soil back in place,” he added. “Compress it enough to take the air pockets out of the soil but not compact it. It’s good to water as you’re planting the tree.”
Lewis said it’s important to fill the hole with the native soil you dug out. Do not backfill with compost, mulch or fertilizer.
“If you want to sweeten the soil, you can amend to the top of the soil, but don’t incorporate it into the soil,” he said. “That’s important because if you just dug out a hole and then put nice fertilizer and potting soil in there, you just made a bigger pot for the tree.”
The roots will want to expand in the “sweetened” soil instead of spreading into the native soil.
Then, Lewis said, apply mulch around it. The Liberty Tree volunteers will provide each recipient with a bag of mulch and fencing supplies to protect the tree.
“You don’t want to pile the mulch up like a volcano around the tree,” he said. “That kills trees because the above-ground part of the tree is not supposed to be in contact with the soil.”
Instead, Lewis advises forming the mulch into a donut shape around the base of the tree approximately three inches deep and then tapering out.
“You can add more and make it as wide as you can,” he said. “That’s all good. It’s better to go wider than it is to go up against the trunk. I wouldn’t recommend against the trunk or deeper than three inches deep, because it becomes a sponge for moisture. What mulch does for the tree is it prevents evaporation of the moisture and it keeps the soil cool. Those are big benefits as far as root establishment. If you get it too deep, then roots start growing up into it instead of out because it’s a sponge for moisture.
“And as you’re watering, you’re going to water the whole rooting area,” he added. “Don’t just put your hose right at where the tree’s coming out of the ground. You want to water the entire area where the roots will eventually be growing into it because you want to entice the roots in a way to expand out. Anything you can do to encourage that tree to expand its roots on the ground is going to benefit the tree’s establishment much more quickly.”
Lewis said new tree owners should protect the tree from deer or cattle with a fence, at least for the first few years. Volunteers will provide each recipient with three Tposts and a section of mesh fencing.
“You want to put the Tpost in the ground in an equilateral triangle, and then put the hoop of wire around it and tie it to the T-post. Deer, rabbits, cows, humans are probably one of the worst things for trees – it just protects it from all those things.”
For the first two years, Lewis recommends watering weekly during times of no rain.
After that, monthly watering during the driest times of the year will help the trees continue growing.