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<\/a>These airmen have dug a nice big hole, but it’s likely to be the tree’s grave if they don’t raise the trunk flare up to surface level.\u00a0 Photo: Staff Sgt. Michael Washburn, U.S. Air Force<\/p><\/div>\n
When trees decline and die after 15, 20, or even 30 years, the last thing we probably suspect is shoddy planting. Although landscape trees like mountain-ash and birch have naturally short lives, a sugar maple or red oak should easily last a hundred or more years. Yet all too often, a long-lived species will expire at twenty because it was planted \u201cfast and dirty.\u201d You can find examples of trees declining as an age-class in housing developments, and especially along NYS routes where DOT low-bid contractors replaced trees cut down for road improvements. One may as well consider such trees rentals, not purchases.<\/p>\n
Deep planting sets the stage for a sickly tree headed for an early death. Every tree comes with a handy \u201cdepth gauge\u201d called the trunk flare, which should be visible above the original soil grade. If the trunk looks more like a fencepost where it goes into the ground, the tree has been planted too deep.<\/p>\n
Given their druthers, tree roots extend 2-3 times the branch length, or drip line. When a good-size tree is dug in the nursery, between 80 and 90% of its roots are cut off by the tree spade used to dig it. The term transplant shock refers to this catastrophic loss of roots. Obviously, trees can and do survive transplanting, but they need to get their roots back. Initially, a good deal of root re-growth happens within the root ball. Fibrous roots proliferate in the original soil plug, and for a time the tree is much like a potted plant even though it may look like it has a world of room.<\/p>\n
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