Planting bareroot trees

1. Dig the hole for the tree using a spade or shovel. Dig the hole two to three times as wide as the root ball and about 1 inch shallower than the height of the root ball.

2. Remove the evergreen tree from the container and examine the roots. Use your fingers to loosen any roots that are wrapping around the root ball. For a ball and burlap tree, keep the burlap secured to the root ball.

3. Place the root ball in the center of the hole. The top of the root ball should be slightly above the level of the surrounding ground. Add or remove dirt from the hole if necessary. Do not put the tree roots in direct contact with the compost

4. Back-fill the hole halfway with the soil removed from the hole. You may also amend the soil first with organic matter.

5. Finish back-filling the hole. Water again to compress the soil, adding more soil if needed. Do not place soil on top of the root ball.

6. Apply 2 to 3 inches of well rotten black crumby compost (mulch, FYM)or pine bark or leaf mold, around the tree. Keep the mulch about 3 inches from the trunk of the tree. The manure will:

• Avoid weeds from growing
• Keep moisture around the tree 
• Increase worm activity

In Ireland the best time of the year to plant evergreen trees and shrubs is from December to January.

Nursery gardens

There are different ways of planting trees, mainly:

- From the seeds
- From the original plant (cuttings, layering or suckers)
- By pollination


In the nursery gardens they grow trees that they will sell to reatilers or to the general public.

One way of growing those trees is with the seeds or from cuttings.

The seeds or the cuttings will be planted in a first bed where they will be for a year time when some roots will grow. The second year they will be moved to a different bed. This will be done year after year, during at least 10 years. The roots will grow along those years, mainly the:

• Structural roots: large roots that have undergone considerable secondary thickening and provide mechanical support to woody plants and trees.
• Fine roots: Primary roots usually <2 mm diameter that have the function of water and nutrient uptake. They are often heavily branched and support mycorrhizas. These roots may be short lived, but are replaced by the plant in an ongoing process of root 'turnover'. A plant with a healthy mycorrhizas system will give the plant 10-15 times more nutrients and water.

During that time the trees will grow as well as their roots. If they are sold, they would be sold as bareroot trees (B/r). Their prices will go up to 25€.

When the trees grow higher and the roots are bigger, the nursery garden should start balling the roots of the trees. This is done by a machine that will take the roots out from the soil, with a big amount of soil around it and will put a net around the soil and the roots. The machine will rootball and wrap the roots all together.

Those trees are bigger and are called rootball trees (r/b). They can go from 1 m of diameter in their base to 10 m or more in very mature trees. Their prices are above the 100€ and can be as high as 6,000€ if it a mature tree.

When we buy a bareroot tree it has to be planted between November and March.



When the tree is a rootball one, it will be planted between November and May.