I’m Mark Arena, I’m the statewide pecan
agent for Clemson Extension and today we’re going to discuss the proper planting of bare-root
pecan trees. The first thing we need to do is inspect the
tree for root quality and any type of damage on the roots. Bare-root trees are dug out of the earth during
the dormant time of the year. They’re kept in cold storage until they’re
ready to ship and then they get shipped out to the grower’s location. And today we’re in Tamassee, South Carolina,
and we’re going to move for how to properly plant this tree. So the first thing we do is inspect the roots. Look for any broken or damaged roots, and
if there are any broken or damaged roots, I’m going to take my pruners and prune that
portion of the root off because we don’t want to plant any broken roots. We want to cut them off so that they heal
properly. And right here we’ve got a break on the
roots, so we’re going to cut this root off below the break, and that way it will heal
properly and won’t allow any roots diseases or anything to get in there. Overall, the root system looks pretty good. You can see where it was cut off at the bottom. Right here the tap root was severed by the
blade that was taken through the soil. All the other side roots shot the distance
where the blade went through the soil. So one thing that is very important. We want the roots to grow out in their natural
direction. We don’t want to push the roots downward
or anything like that. We want them to be free in the earth, so it’s
important to dig the hole slightly wider that the farthest extending root out. We also don’t want to dig the hole any deeper
than need be because the hole will settle and take the tree down even deeper, which
we want to avoid. So we’ve discussed the roots. Now we will move to the proper planting depth. This floral paper, this green tape that is
showing where the graft of the tree was made. There are two parts to a bare-root tree. There’s the root stock, which is the below-ground
portion of the tree, which is from the green tape downward. And then there’s the scion, which is the
upper portion of the tree, and that’s where the pecan nuts are produced. So this is the graft union right here which
is taped to hold the parts together, and you can see that this tree is already developed
and we can remove this tape later on. But the most important thing is plant depth. So we can see this tree was planted at the
right depth out in the field and pulled out, so we want the root flare where the base of
this tree starts to flare out and becomes thicker, and that part has to be visibly noticed
above ground. So we predug our hole in order to save time
and now we’re going to place this root system into the earth and start filling up the hole. We want this root flare to be slightly above
soil grade level, and that’s very important that the roots are at the right depth in the
earth. So we’re going to move forward with putting
soil into the hole here. We’ve got all the roots facing their natural
direction, as they need to be. And we’re going to start pushing this dirt
back in there and covering this root system up. We want to make sure the tree is standing
straight, that it isn’t leaning to one side or another. The importance of the depth of the tree is
that No. 1 the roots give off certain gasses and those gasses need to escape out of the
ground. If you plant a tree deeper in the soil than
needed, then those gasses will have a difficult time escaping, and it can cause the tree to
decline in health and vigor. So planting depth is very important, and everyone
has become aware of that situation over the years. There is a lot of literature and information
available talking about planting depth and putting the tree at the proper elevation in
the soil. So we’re slowly filling the hole up with
dirt. You want to slightly tap the dirt in so that
you don’t have any air pockets in the soil. So I’m going to just walk around the tree,
slightly pressing the soil to avoid any air pockets and so forth. As we can see, there are no leaves on the
tree because the tree is in its dormant state. Today is February 18th, and it’s very important
to plant these trees at the appropriate time of year. Bare-root plants are only available for a
short period at a time, and that’s during the winter months. Typically in South Carolina, this is January
until the end of February. We want to play the tree in its dormant condition
and during the colder months of the year because its root system has been compromised when
it was dug out of the ground and so this gives the tree a little bit of time to start growing
its roots because this is important for water uptake and nutrient uptake. If we planted this tree in late May and took
it out of cold storage and planted it, the tree would immediately start pushing out foliage
and want to grow, and unfortunately the root system would not be adequate enough to support
the top part of the tree and it would die. That’s why it’s an important factor to
plant the tree during its dormant state so it has time to reproduce some roots in order
to take up water and nutrients for the growing season. So that’s the logic behind dormant and bare-root
trees. A lot of literature talks about building a
wall around the tree. We see this in a lot of landscape situations
where we build up this little reserve, and that’s for when it rains it holds a little
extra water. But out in this field, we’re going to be
bringing in irrigation this week, and these trees will be irrigated, so having this berm
around the tree isn’t as important in this situation, because we’re going to have supplemental
irrigation. But this is showing you the textbook way of
planting a tree. So we can see the root flare is above grade. If you come down the trunk of a tree, the
first root you hit should be just below soil grade and the trunk
of the tree should be wide here. And that’s the root flare. This floral tape really needs to come off
here because this will constrict the tree. It will slowly start to degrade over time,
but it’s better to take that off now. This is where the graft is. So take all the floral tape and anything on
the trunk that is constricting it needs to come off. Any damaged parts should be pruned off and
removed. This floral tape is really tight on here. You can already see right here how the tape
has already constricted the trunk. So this tape has probably been on there six
to eight months. There you go. Get all that off. You can also see that it’s moist under here,
so the tape’s holding some moisture under there that could lead to rot over time. So we need to get this all off of here. One other important thing is after planting
you want to bring water in here. We just had a lot of rain. The soil’s still very moist. But you need to keep this tree irrigated for
at least the first year to ensure good root growth and establishment of the three. So we got all that tape off there. And you can see where the graft was made right
here. The tree looks in good shape. It’s planted straight. It looks good. This is about a four to five-foot bare-root
plant. And we’re not going to prune anything this
year because it’s just a single stem. The tip and the bud look in good shape. That’s basically how you plant a tree. We’ll follow up with some water in a couple
more days when the soil starts to dry out, because we don’t want to keep it too wet. It’s better to keep the soil moist, not
wet. This soil here definitely has a moist appearance
to it. It’s also moist to the hand. It’s important not to over water or under
water. So come out and test the soil. If it feels moist, then don’t add any water
until necessary. But when we get into the spring and summer
months, it will be important to keep this soil moist so that the tree is adequately
watered to ensure growth and development over the first year. And that wraps it up.
