Thursday, September 23, 2010

Still planting new trees

    We planted a small parcel of land to more pecan trees seedlings yesterday. We used 'Kanza' seedlings donated by Forrest Keeling Nursery and the conditions for planting couldn't have been better. I used my 6 foot wide rototiller to prepare the soil in each tree row. The tilling left the soil lose and fluffy. We prepared the planting holes with a shovel, digging in the loose soil about 3-4 inches deep. The trees we were planting were grown in containers so the first step in preparing the tree for planting was to remove the tree from the pot. Next, I pruned of any circling roots at the bottom and shook off the loose potting soil. We placed each tree in a shallow hole (photo above) and then covered up the root ball with the loose soil from the tilled strip. We mounded up soil around the tree covering the root ball with at least 2 inches of top soil. By planting the trees in these small dirt mounds (about 4-5inches tall) we should help the trees survive next spring's flooding season. Now if we get that 1/2 inches rain promised for tonight, our tree planting efforts should lead to 100% tree survival.