How Not to Plant: Big Holes with Lots of "Stuff"

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How Not to Plant: Big Holes with Lots of "Stuff"

Рет қаралды 9,748

Күн бұрын

All-too-common wisdom is to dig a wide and deep planting hole and fill it with some high proportion of amendments to surround the roots of your new plants. Let's talk that through together - because I don't think it's helpful either in the short or long-term health of you trees, shrubs or perennials.
Now I can already anticipate some push-back on this topic. No worries! Let's discuss. The main objection, I suppose, will be from people who say "my soil is too poor/clay/rocky/waterlogged/sandy/alkaline etc. so I need to improve the planting hole to give my trees a fighting chance!". I respond with this: you can't realistically solve a "whole yard" problem one hole at a time. If it's poorly drained, for instance, your rich planting hole just became an easy place for the water to collect. If it's infertile, let your roots anchor into it, and then mulch, improve, and feed appropriately from the top down to support the whole root system.
For those who may argue anecdotally along the lines of "I planted with heaps of manure in the bottom of the hole, and it always worked for me" I'll say two things: 1) I'll never try to argue against your personal experience or success - I don't have the same facts in front of me as you do, and you're really the best person to make that call, and 2) I'd suspect that a similar dressing of manure added as a top layer and watered in regularly as the plant(s) established would deliver the nutrition equally and avoid some of the potential risks.
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Пікірлер: 118

@fridgemagnet9831 8 ай бұрын

Nurseries also push this to get you to buy more stuff from them, compost, bone meal, fertilisers, someone once told me spend more on the hole than you spend on the plant.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

I've heard the same - truly bad advice! Think of the assumption that every garden soil is default "lacking" and the only way to fix it is to add some arbitrary regimen of amendments. What did plants even do before we came along and decided fix nature for them?

@paulinecrispin121 8 ай бұрын

Hi Jason, great information. I have often felt guilty that I don't dig a bigger hole for my plants. I am sure I have seen information that says a hole needs to be 3 feet across for a one gallon pot. I can now plant guilt free 😊.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Definitely - and take extra solace in watching commercial (forestry) tree planters, who wedge out a hole and drop seedlings in so fast you can hardly keep up just watching!

@suzetteccc 8 ай бұрын

I don't have the energy to dig a big hole. I've never had a problem....yet!🤞🏼

@paulinecrispin121 8 ай бұрын

Many thanks 😊

@gwbuilder5779 8 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm I literally just pulled an 8 foot Norfolk pine tree out of the ground (only an inch of soil) 2 weeks ago and put it in a 3 gallon pot with potting soil and multipurpose sand . It is my Charlie Brown Christmas tree and is getting stronger and healthier every day since. All of the brown needles are falling off and fresh new green ones taking their place. It is fascinating to me just how determined trees are. Here in the lava rock, trees still manage to grow 30 feet tall with almost no soil at all. Eventually I will find lava folds where the seams between the layers go down several feet and plant the tree in one of them. I also got a 3 inch seedling that was growing in the needles on the ground with no soil at all. Trees are extremely resilient and most will grow just about any where, even without the best conditions for growing at all.🤙

@teresaswanson1850 7 ай бұрын

So happy to find out what I have been doing is ok! I thought I was being lazy 😂

@avroblue1 8 ай бұрын

In heavy clay soil from where I'm from (south west Ontario) I was taught the adage: " plant high, wont die; plant low, wont grow". It has worked well for me. I will also amend the soil slightly with some loam in conjunction with using the native soil; otherwise, it is like planting in concrete. Thank you for this video and all the others!

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for this. As a side-topic, I quite often hear from rose gardeners in colder climates that take exception to my "default" placing the crown at ground level, having buried the crown much deeper themselves for protection. I wouldn't argue with success and what works in their own landscape, but my habit is born from years in the nursery industry, where a low planting depth (for plants like heuchera, for instance) was often punished with heavy crop losses. So I cheat upwards if anything, but more or less go with what "nature intended" - stems above ground and roots below.

@avroblue1 8 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm I agree with you absolutely; do what works, and it is often plant and soil specific. For ex. I would not hesitate to plant anything in the willow or hydrangea family at soil level, but anything that has lower water requirements, I always advise the above mentioned adage (when planting in heavy clay). This is always our recommendation to customers, as is often the case, they plant at or below grade and typically over water. Additionally, an excessive amount of mulch is often applied further burying the plant.

@marisayoung796 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for this feedback. I especially appreciate your experience informing the rest of us not to over-think / over-engineer our soil for the purposes of simple planting.

@Growing-Our-Retirement 8 ай бұрын

Great video Jason! Such an excellent point. Have seen evergreens planted 2-3 years ago blown over like a ball in a socket. The roots never had to explore out into the native soil. Very informative!

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks so much!

@lazygardens 8 ай бұрын

Sometimes this is because the people who planted the evergreen didn't remove the burlap ... if it's "balled and burlap" you need to liberate the roots when you plant.

@chrisstott4100 8 ай бұрын

Jason, great video. I learned just about the same way to plant. No bathtub effect. I also learned to score the edges of the hole to help the roots break through the soil easier. We have mostly clay soil where I live.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks - no more bathtubs in the garden! Lol. Mine is heavy, but nowhere near the heavy clay I've seen in other regions.

@80sforever3 8 ай бұрын

Thank you! Suddenly, what i feel like a bone breaking chore is super doable. It never occur to me to tease and remove some of the potting soil. I always dump everything in hence the big and deep hole. Not only you advice helps me save tonnes of money it also makes me recalled Paul Zimnerman's advice against bonemeal a few months back.

@Tibetan2 8 ай бұрын

Love your channel! Your videos are always relevant, always useful … even for experienced gardeners. Many thanks for being such a great resource. 👏💫

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

My pleasure. Thanks for the encouragement and feedback!

@KatesGarden 8 ай бұрын

I mostly use the same method out of laziness. And I hardly stay on top of regular fertilizer anyways 😂 I do add in some compost or manure in places that the soil is REALLY hard when planting. Probably less than 50% mix I’d think. You can hardly get a shovel in there when it’s dry in the summer. I agree that the plants need to settle into the greater local environment 👍

@JamesDeanDiedIn1955 8 ай бұрын

HI Jason, great video. I am losing bareroot roses that I bought 3 months ago. They have not sprouted any new roots since planting. I have been told, I might be using too much cow manure in the pot. Its a tough lesson to learn.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

It sure is - and I'm sorry to hear it! Manure is a good thing in the garden, but there's a right time and place.

@jarnevanbec2886 4 ай бұрын

I have planted so many plants: Always I just dig out the size of the container, put the pant in, top dress with some of the original soil, and that's it. 100% success rate.

@Combatpzman 8 ай бұрын

Great information on this subject. Had not considered removing the nursery potting material before, but that does make sense!

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Right on - and within reason: it takes extra time and can damage the roots, so it's a judgement call about how much effort to put into it.

@Combatpzman 8 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm I'm willing to take the time for plants that are going to stay long term. I've even used my hori hori knife to free up the roots on root bound plants before, on Jim's advice from hortube.

@shannonobrien8390 8 ай бұрын

Brilliant video!

@brandiisbell7746 8 ай бұрын

Jason absolutely agree with everything you just said. My experience over the last 30 years of hard core gardening has taught me the practices that you suggest are the best for our plants.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks - good to hear it jives with your experience!

@plantsnrockies 7 ай бұрын

Great info. So many gardening KZfaqrs just keep dumping piles of new soil & fertilizer literally like spoonfeeding kids. How did plants grow naturally all these years, it's good for the plants to learn to survive themselves providing compost is fine but not fertilizer.

@popandbob 4 ай бұрын

This is an excellent video (that sat in my watch later list for far too long) and so true! In my area we have such a high clay soil that any hole digging results in a hard pan lining around the hole from the shovel so I keep telling people to not dig huge holes and amend because it can and will kill the tree/shrub between the hard pan limiting roots and capturing water.

@scallywags12 8 ай бұрын

From many experts in planting trees is to plant it in the soil it will grow in. This way will help the tree to adjust to the soil. I put in microbes fungi to help the tree take up nutrients. Then top dress with mulch or compost.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Perfect! If your garden soil is reasonable, your plant is better off getting accustomed to it. And if it's not, you won't be able to fix it one hole at a time!

@kimmicannon5629 6 ай бұрын

Great reminder for the guru gardeners and instructions for new gardeners! Thank you for a detailed informative post. Happy gardening!

@AMFleming 8 ай бұрын

This is perhaps the most informative and accurate video I've seen on planting. Working in the industry it can be painful at times to see so much misguided and harmful practices. Thank you so much for sharing I thoroughly enjoy your content 🙏🌿😊

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks so much AnneMarie - I appreciate the vote of confidence!

@ClickinChicken 8 ай бұрын

Dad and I planted apple, cherry, and crab apple trees in 2019. When I think about it later, it's like the tree is in a pot in the ground, because the 'soil' here is almost like yellow sand, not like black dirt. It probably takes time for tree to find it's way.. Anyway.

@threadbarerag336 2 ай бұрын

I dig just enough of a hole to fit the root ball. I mix a small amount of compost with the soil that I have dug up because there always seems to be less soil than there originally was in the hole. However, I mix it into the clay soil here pretty well and it really doesn't change the texture by much. It supplies some micronutrients quickly but it is still clay like. The roots still have to grow into the clay. I then top dress with chicken or steer manure and then wood mulch. That seems to work well.

@joanschutter5863 7 ай бұрын

I have rock hard clay soil. A gardener friend showed me how to dig the hole, saving the clay soil, and then mix the clay soil with potting soil, etc. to encourage the roots to grow into the clay. This year with heavy rain (Pacific Northwest), I lost 3 boxwoods that became water logged and developed a fungus. Your suggestion to top-dress with mulch, like wood chips, would probably have saved them.

@deborahburgart561 5 ай бұрын

Excellent information as always. Same reason why trees begin to fail after about a year in the ground if planted this way. Once the roots leave all this added organic matter in the planting hole and enter the native soil they aren't accustomed to it and don't thrive I think.

@GreyBeardUSA 8 ай бұрын

Excellent information. Thank you. The tag that comes with plants from a nursery advise digging holes twice the size of the plant and back filling with compost.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks. Judging from your footage, it looks like your garden has reasonably heavy soil, so backfilling with pure compost or potting soil would definitely make for a dissimilar texture.

@LittleSpaceCase 8 ай бұрын

We only use fungi amendments, and only in situations where the plants are known to rely on fungal networks. In the PNW native plant business we have a lot of forest under-story plants that seem to love it. It's amazing how much of the old common gardening wisdom was a ton of extra work and money for things that actually dont work as well as being "lazy"! Nature really does all the hard work.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks - you bet. It'd be interesting to know how some of this old "gardening wisdom" took hold - I have a feeling that some of the fertilizer recommendations in particular just came from salespeople needing something to say!

@FireflyOnTheMoon 8 ай бұрын

I'll take science over "common garden wisdom" any day

@MrMockingbird1313 8 ай бұрын

All my life I have heard about $5 trees and $50 holes. It always seemed wrong to me on trees. Hole amendments seem to make sense for tomatos, not trees. A secret from a state champion peach grower was to stick shallow holes just outside the drip line and add a little light duty ferts and water there. Then tree roots will travel outward.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks. Feeding towards the drip line makes a lot of sense! I was also talking to an excellent rose grower about his results, and he mentioned small but frequent applications of fertilizer as his go-to. It seems borderline reckless to try to feed as a "lump sum" at time of planting.

@lazygardens 8 ай бұрын

AZ was big on drip systems, and you ALWAYS put the emitters near the edge of the canopy, not near the trunk. I would make a ridge around a newly planted tree out past the canopy and flood the area regularly with a slow trickle of water to encourage roots to spread. This was NOT a depressed planting basin, it was raised above ground level like a causeway. When the tree was established, the next summer, the ridge was raked flat.

@MaxMustermann-jw4yp 8 ай бұрын

Very interesting

@lazygardens 8 ай бұрын

We called this "flower-potting" because you might as well just stuff a flower pot in the hole ... and after every storm you could see sizeable trees fallen over with a tiny flower-pot of a root system on it. Plant into NATIVE soil and mulch over the top.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Lol. That's a good description!

@kathybryce8113 8 ай бұрын

Excellent video! I knew all this and it makes so much sense, but it’s hard to disregard planting instructions on the tags! I think it’s especially difficult to just backfill with the native soil when that soil is awful. We have areas that are mostly gravel or rocks and others that are heavy, dry clay and it seems to take a while for the plants to get established.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

No doubt - and you're right, the real challenge is when your underlying soil is so poor that it begs for improvement. Troubleshooting that situation, it'd be nice (if cost and resources were no limitation) to improve the entire planting area instead of just a little pocket - because of the downsides to drainage, anchoring and settling as mentioned. I've occasionally gone for the half-measure of a raised bed or bottomless planter, hoping that the (admittedly temporary) advantages to early rooting can enable eventual penetration an anchoring into the underlying soil. But it's a tough call!

@geraldinefields1730 8 ай бұрын

Thank you.

@MyFocusVaries 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the video. My neighbour is a master gardener and gave me same this advice for planting. Loosening off the potting soil is a useful step as it can often reveal if there are problems with girdled roots. Having the info on why helped me overcome the compulsion to follow the misguided instructions on plant tags! Good to have the info reinforced.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks. Good point. The untangling and even pruning of roots is particularly important when dealing with trees, where badly crossing roots can eventually cause the whole plant to fail.

@MyFocusVaries 8 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm And once I wished I'd loosened the soil before I bought the rose from a small local nursery. They had repotted the shrub and buried it over the crown to hide a huge piece of damaged bark on the tiny trunk.

@jwstanley2645 7 ай бұрын

Good video. Good info. Thanks. I will mark this as one video to consult again and again.

@aiai-j7i 2 ай бұрын

Thank you! I learned so much just in this video!! Much appreciated!

@FireflyOnTheMoon 7 ай бұрын

Very useful. Thanks and happy new year.

@leeck5491 8 ай бұрын

Great information again!

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks so much!

@tomtwiss8506 7 ай бұрын

I like the tip about not mixing in too much, when I started planting I was guilty of using potting soil:/

@wvhaugen 8 ай бұрын

Pretty much what I do, except I throw a handful of balanced organic fertilizer into the bottom of the hole. Also, if you are going to mulch, put a collar made from a plastic soda or water bottle around the trunk for mice.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks - a little collar can also protect against damage from the string trimmer!

@andrewjames6676 8 ай бұрын

Great advice! I wish I'd seen this 40 years ago. Well, I don't think I did too badly - my plants (apple, rose, viburnum, clematis) are doing OK with organic fertilizer on the surface early spring. A different approach from a British radio gardener's amusing advice 50 years ago: "If you buy a 10 bob plant, give it a 10 bob hole"! (At the time, "10 bob" was quite a lot of money). Jason, what tips would you give for planting in chalky soil? (Apart from choosing plants that don't mind alkaline conditions).

@lololynn90 8 ай бұрын

Things I knew, but now I know the why. Thanks!

@Craig-MItchell 8 ай бұрын

Eucalyptus trees don't like having their roots disturbed. Those I've planted with horse manure have done best in terms of overall growth and stability. I don't spray any chemical herbicides or pesticides, and I'm convinced this strategy has been one of the primary factors promoting healthy growth of all my trees. I have a tame fox which keeps the herbivores (Hares) away from the palatable Paulownia trees.

@diegonegreb3948 6 ай бұрын

I never water a newly planted shrub…. I water the area around in. (2-3 foot radius) Water more than anything is what encourages roots to spread.

@will5286 8 ай бұрын

Must be AMAZING being in Zone 6 or 7-your winter is our fall here in zone 5a Maine--Cheers

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Lol. I won't boast, but zone 8 actually!

@gardenimperfectplants 8 ай бұрын

For the audience: Don’t plant in compost. Compost goes on top only. That is all you need to know to not kill your plants. In nature trees don’t shred themselves into pieces to become “rich organic matter”. They slowly decompose. If you bury wood chips along with your compost in the ground, consider yourself lucky if your plant doesn’t rot. It’s a death sentence if you have clay soil. It is especially true for potted plants as well. Check out Gary’s channel at Laguna hills nursery. Gary’s best gardening, who will teach you everything about “perfect soil. I like your channel Jason, you are an expert of your craft. I ordered a conifer from Gil. Thanks your other video on conifers. Blue bear is exceptional.

@insidethegardenwall22 8 ай бұрын

Jason, Is that a rose garden behind you? It looked a lot like my blueberry field! I’ve been planting my blueberries the way as you described except slightly raised from the ground for drainage. No amendments at planting but every early spring thereafter, I apply cottonseed meal around the plants and then covered with peat (or alternative).

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

That's my neighbor's blueberry field. I tucked under some trees on the border of our properties to escape the rain!

@pompereute 8 ай бұрын

excellente video, merci Jason

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Vous êtes les bienvenus

@AnticipatedHedgehog Ай бұрын

Ahh, so once again, the life lesson of keep it simple applies!

@RomanticFlor 2 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for your videos. I am learning a lot from your informations. I recently came across with some peonies that were neglected in a sandy soil. Could you please direct me to one of your videos if you have posted something about it in your library? Again thank you so much for your hard work.

@user-be5xr9zc6p 8 ай бұрын

Jason i planted 5 hybrid teas today with microrizal fungi in deep big pots..i’m sure that’s ok right?..they were..peace,moody blue,polar star,Belle Époque & remember me.. may be you’d get tempted to buy any of these too

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks - I've added 'Peace" this year (finally) and I'm trying to root some cuttings from 'Remember Me'.

@user-be5xr9zc6p 8 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm I had to reorder the 4 i had lost .. but got money back .. so went to another vendor & got interest in polar star after ogling at HT white roses in neighbour’s garden from bedroom window.. “i want that “.. we are like a child in a sweet shop ..i just turned 62 on the 17th dec. but i don’t want grow up.. John boy looks nice but lost it at my towns depot.. so peace it was then..

@user-be5xr9zc6p 8 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm Belle Époque is just too beautiful.. sunset.. nectarine..copper color.. saw it in Sarah raven’s garden & .. must get one .. settled in

@user-be5xr9zc6p 8 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm rose peace reminds me of my school days at age 12 in mid seventies on my way to school in people’s front gardens.. giant rose with even bigger leaves.. couldn’t believe my eyes.. now i have one myself

@suz4keeps 8 ай бұрын

Glad I watched, great advice thanks

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

My pleasure. Thanks for watching.

@dennismarks6133 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for these valuable information. What do you do to your soil if you need to acidify the soil, e.g. when planting blueberries?

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Generally elemental sulfur.

@dennismarks6133 8 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm Would you put that on the ground around the plant or mix it into the soil? And wouldn't it be washed away during heavy rain?

@bradcarby3765 8 ай бұрын

You forgot one important point. Always use an auger attachment on an excavator to dig your holes because using a shovel is the worst kind of hell.

@mikufukasaku7356 7 ай бұрын

Hi Jason, it has been almost 5 years since I started following you and you are my inspiration to grow plants up to now. Related to the topic of this video, soil amendments, how do you see mycorrhizal fungi? I am a person who has not put anything when I start seeding. But if this is beneficial, I may try especially for roses, since I have been struggling to grow them.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 7 ай бұрын

I've seen decent studies on its effectiveness, but of course, they're all sponsored by the suppliers. If I suspected rose replant disease (soil sickness) from roses previously planted in the same spot, I'd be inclined to take the extra effort but in general my roses grow quite well without the inoculant.

@mikufukasaku7356 7 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm I see. It makes sense they are sponsored by the supplier because they need a little bit of scientific support. Thank you so much for your time for answering the question!

@eo6122 8 ай бұрын

Good video although I do have one bit of pushback. Unless you live in a dry climate, there should be no reason to avoid plant above the soils grade. All plants benefit from the added drainage. And even more important for a conifers. Other than that, great video!

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks. No worries on push-back - totally expected on this topic. When it comes to planting depth, and because I talk about roses a lot, I more often hear criticism in the other direction: that the crown should be lower for winter protection, or sometimes I hear for greater anchoring/stability. I don't argue the particulars about a little adjustment up or down for local soil & conditions, or to suit one's experience with a specific plant variety. You're the gardener, and you're in a better position to assess the results. I will say that natural seedlings start out with the crown roughly at soil level. Sometimes erosion will adjust it one direction or another, and plants can adapt to a bit of a range, but I've defaulted to soil level in my wet climate with good results - and I figure following nature is a pretty good starting point in most regions.

@lizmorris206 8 ай бұрын

Great video. I planted 2 bare root david austin cadfael roses too deep. They have been in for a few years. They have never thrived as I have lots of deer. Any advice for transplanting them? I do follow your planting advice.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

I'd probably tackle it in early spring - try to get as much of the root systems as is practical when digging them out.

@charlimiali9364 8 ай бұрын

Hi Jason always appreciate your expertise and apply all your great info to help me in my garden. I’ve been told NOT to plant a rose in the same spot as one I need to replace. Do you know how I can successfully plant a new rose in the same place of an old roses spot? Thanks

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Start with a large, healthy rose - and the feedback I got from one researched on rose replant disease was that mycorrhizal inoculants (like Myke) can be helpful.

@charlimiali9364 8 ай бұрын

Thank you I’ll try that as I have some 30 year old roses who is like to replace in the same location🤞

@FireflyOnTheMoon 8 ай бұрын

Try planting into a cardboard wine box in the ground with new earth away from roses

@HaniaSurowiec-nq7cl 8 ай бұрын

Does your advice about planting/amending soil apply to perennials and dahlia tubers In pots (specifically in pots)which grow all summer long and need additional nutrients ?

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

In this video I'm discussing plants in the ground, so it doesn't really translate to plants in pots (except for the part about not putting rocks or other fillers at the bottom of the pot for drainage). In a pot I usually go with a well-draining potting mix rather than garden soil, and it's really your own choice whether to add slow-release fertilizer to the growing medium, or to add fertilizer as a top dress or liquid feed. They're all valid approaches.

@torryclark4983 8 ай бұрын

Another great vid. Thanks, Jason. I have several established beds but some have settled 6" plus, and I want to add soil to them to bring it back up to the top of the brick. I think I'm going to have to dig up some of the shrubs (azalea, oak leaf hydrangea, weigela etc.) as their crown is just at the soil level. Can I dig them up, add soil to raise them, and back fill to the crown again? Is there a good way to do it? Any advise would be great.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

It's a tough call whether it's worth the root damage, but 6" is a lot. Azaleas are famously shallow rooted and recover well from transplanting, so it's not my major concern. Oakleaf hydrangeas are generally deeper rooted, so I'd advise more care in digging to preserve the deeper roots. Weigela is somewhere in between, and can suffer a little from transplant shock - but it sounds like you'd be tackling it in the cool season, so that's a plus.

@torryclark4983 8 ай бұрын

Thanks so much Jason for taking the time. . That's great guidance. I will keep all that in mind while topping it up. Greatly appreciated. @@FraserValleyRoseFarm

@Jay_Jay 8 ай бұрын

Hi Jason quick question if I may. When you disturb the rootball as you do in this video I imagine that’s fine in dormant season but my limited experience is during growing season if a rootball is disturbed like that there’s a good chance the plant will go into a shock sometimes writing off the entire growing season? As it stands I prefer not to touch or even tease the rootball, even on the rare occasion congested roots will spread out and find there way? I’d like to know your thoughts on this. Hope you have a great Christmas.

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks, and a merry Christmas to you and your family as well. I do this even in the active season! Removing loose soil, teasing apart the root ball or even pruning it / scoring it apart it it's quite tangled or rootbound is generally more help than harm. This is especially true with larger trees and shrubs, where tangled or crossing roots can girdle over time, eventually threatening the health of the plant. But even on smaller perennials and shrubs, the risk of transplant shock is generally outweighed by faster, more stable rooting.

@suzetteccc 8 ай бұрын

Thanks Jason. Great video. I'm too lazy to dig a big hole, so I just fit it in. If I'm planting in the Spring I might add a bit of granular slow release fertilizer to help it along. I mistakenly potted a box topiary with the dirt that came with it. I was doing famously and then it wasn't. I took it out and the roots were brown except for a few in the middle. I repotted it (twice) and put it in the window of the shed for the cold weeks we had. I was thinking rocks at the bottom would be a good idea. There is a hole at the bottom, so at least the water would escape better. What am I missing there? I haven't done anything yet, except cross my fingers...

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Well, as mentioned in the video, rocks in the bottom of a pot will generally result in more moisture in the root zone rather than less. And of course, as mentioned, I'd avoid any granular fertilizer in the planting hole. Particularly with conventional fertilizers, it's far safer to fertilize from the top down once the plant is establishing. As goes to your topiary, just patience. If you've seen some little white roots in the middle, there's still hope - so just low stress conditions and not too much fertilizer while it tries to recover.

@MyFocusVaries 8 ай бұрын

Studies show that water has difficulty moving between distinct layers with different soil structures. Water will tend to stay in the soil layer rather than crossing into the gravel layer. So the soil layer will become saturated. I don't quite understand why, but the research shows it's true. New instructions are to fill the entire pot with soil. You can mix sand or vermiculite etc in through the soil so it's light and free draining in its own structure.

@Flower_hoarder 8 ай бұрын

🪴🌳NEVER DISAPPOINTS‼️🌳🪴

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Thanks so much!

@ipadbill5009 8 ай бұрын

Hi! Thanks for the great video. I wonder if you make an exception to this rule when you replace an old rose with a new one in the same spot. I've been recommended in videos from English and German gardeners to plant the new rose in a cardboard box open at the top in order to give the rose time to establish until it has the strength to fight off rose nematodes in the soil around it. When the cardboard has rotted away the rose is strong enough to fight them off. The dirt around the rose would necessarily not be soil from the garden, at least not from parts of the garden where roses have been grown. Here's an example of what I've seen at 13.35. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/na-nfKyrnNXOlmg.htmlsi=QbA66HFtFq7fgt2u I wonder what your take on this is. Thanks!

@FraserValleyRoseFarm 8 ай бұрын

Soil sickness or rose replant disease is a concern, but it tends to be more severe in commercial situations where roses have been grown and harvested successively in a field for many years - or at least that's where it's been studied. It stands to reason that it could be a concern for younger roses going into a spot in the landscape where a mature rose lived for many years. It seems like nematodes could be a *part* of the problem, but when I talked to a researcher about it, she mentioned that it could be the whole community of soil organisms that have become tuned-in to rose roots. Starting with a larger, more mature rose is a good idea if you can manage it - so that, like you say, it has the strength to fight off the effects. The researcher also mentioned that the addition of mycorrhizal inoculants could be helpful. Replacing the soil with a similar (but uncontaminated) soil from nearby in the garden is a decent measure if you don't mind the extra work. It's important to note that while you sometimes hear anecdotes about rose replant disease in the garden, it hasn't really been studied or measured in the home landscape. It's more pronounced in sandy or light soils than in heavier soils, and the effect of rose sickness may only be a slight reduction in growth rate during early establishment. I can't say it's not a problem, but it's a judgement call of how much effort you want to expend on "solving" it. I can't say much on the cardboard barriers except that I can think of some pros and cons (the latter being a temporary boundary to anchoring and exploring for nutrients).

@ipadbill5009 8 ай бұрын

@@FraserValleyRoseFarm Thanks for a thoughtful reply! You and your videos are a wonderful resource for rose lovers everywhere!

@FireflyOnTheMoon 8 ай бұрын

I have personally found the cardboard box trick to work very well. @@ipadbill5009