Chat with a landscaper about root flares changed my whole approach

I was digging out a dead maple in Raleigh last month and a landscaper walked over, said I was planting them too deep. He showed me how the trunk flares at the base and now I check every new tree before backfilling. Anyone else had to unlearn the way they were taught to plant?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_harper7d agoMost Upvoted

That deep planting keeps them from blowing over in strong winds, roots need that extra cover.

betty_fisher57d ago

Planted my tomatoes deep last spring after seeing a tip online and yeah, @the_harper is spot on about the wind. We had a crazy storm come through in June and my neighbor's shallow-planted ones were all knocked flat but mine barely moved. I buried them up to the first set of leaves and the stems got thick as your thumb by midsummer. The roots just grabbed that soil like crazy.