Yes, massage the roots!
On one of my frequent visits to LinkedIn I ran across an interesting post. One municipal arborist in the United States showed pictures of a dead tree he extracted. You could clearly see how the roots kept on circling, never extending into the surrounding soil to search for resources. Instead the roots kept on circling and and they either girdled the tree (choked it off) or failed to keep the tree fed. Whatever the case, the tree died. Take a look below.
The fix
You can help the tree at planting by “massaging” the roots. Use your fingers or hand snips to rough up the root ball so the roots stick out like spokes on a wheel. The person who posted the picture called it “erasing the roots’ memory”.
We need the roots to head out into the soil in search of water and nutrients. I know it’s hard work in new soil; life was easy in the root ball.
When you first rough up the roots, it feels weird, like you’re injuring the tree. However, the opposite is true. Definitely take the time to mess up the roots before planting your tree.
Don’t worry about the boss
I always massage tree roots before planting, except when the cage and burlap stay on. But that’s a whole separate blog.
Of course massaging roots is something you might have to sell to your boss who only worries about pumping out invoices. Quickly put the tree in the ground and move on to another project. And so on.
Speaker phone
Then one day my crew member was on speaker phone when the boss called. That allowed me to hear the boss’ jokes about my root massages. (Yes, bosses trash talk just like workers!) So I laughed it off and planted the maple tree after roughing up its roots.
Sadly, the garden representative later had the maple tree replaced because it was too small. I have no idea if anybody massaged the new tree. I wouldn’t bet on it.
Trust me!
Before you plant your new tree check the root ball and rough up the roots so they get a chance to look like spokes on a wheel. This blog post shows how quickly trees can die when the roots aren’t messed up a bit.
