Tree Installation and Establishment
Stock and handling
Recognize bareroot, container, and balled-and-burlapped stock, and the handling each requires. Root ball diameter generally scales with trunk caliper (roughly 10–12 inches of ball per inch of caliper for B&B stock). Keep roots moist, shaded, and out of the wind; bareroot stock must stay dormant and never dry out.
Planting
The hole should be two to three times the root ball width but no deeper than the root ball, so the root flare sits at or slightly above grade. Backfill with the native soil; research does not support amending the backfill to improve establishment. Remove twine, cut away the top of the burlap, remove synthetic burlap entirely, and take off the top of the wire basket. Cut or straighten circling roots before backfilling.
Aftercare
Water to settle soil, mulch 2–4 inches deep and clear of the trunk, and stake only when necessary, removing support after one growing season. The establishment period is commonly estimated at about one year of attentive irrigation per inch of trunk caliper.
Traps
Planting too deep is the most common installation failure. Gravel in the bottom of a hole creates a perched water table rather than drainage. Fertilizing at planting is not recommended. Permanent staking and guying produce weak trunks. "Root-bound" container stock with girdling roots may fail years later.
Worked example
A 2-inch caliper balled-and-burlapped tree needs a hole roughly 5–6 feet wide, a setted depth that leaves the flare visible, and about two years of scheduled irrigation before it is treated as established.