Everything in my training tells me that this is going to restrict root growth and inhibit water uptake. My supervisor said they were doing it this way because:
1) it’s hard to get the materials off (which is true, they’re large, heavy trees that required multiple people to maneuver) and
2) because the guy who sold us the trees said it’s fine to do it that way
I’m skeptical. Have y’all seen this technique before? How do you think these newly planted trees will fare?
by Beneficial-Ocelot717
43 Comments
The trees will live, but not be as good as if it was removed. Not sure why you couldn’t cut it off when they were in hole. 🤷🏻♂️
It has long been proven that removing the cage and burlap is the right way to go.
Do the job as fast and crappy as possible, charge as much as possible, and then leave. This is the American way.
Let me guess you work construction. This reminds me of every tree planted in all the new built neighbourhoods around me.
Are they planning to return in the middle of night and repo the trees back?
Please educate them to remove burlap and cage.
Side note: that burlap bag looks like it has a cattle’s head in it.
Will they live, probably. Will they thrive? Definitely not.
Oh man. I just bought and planted an Ann Magnolia this past weekend. They handed me an instruction sheet on the way out and were adamant that it be followed.
So now I have a tree planted in the burlap, wrapped in the cage, because their instructions said to leave it that way.
You don’t have to remove the burlap I’m pretty sure it helps prevent shock. I’ve been taught to either cut large holes or slices in the burlap but don’t remove completely
The ISA recommends removing all burlap and wire cage down to as close to the bottom 1/3 of the root ball as you can get. It looks like yall have several lined up there and I’m not sure what kind of manpower you’re working with but these aren’t huge B&Bs, you should have no problem maneuvering these inside an appropriately sized hole to remove the material. Huge props to you for trusting your gut and training that this isn’t right for the trees.
At what time is the tree start to be stunted and why.
It’s their own job security. Their only interest is selling more trees so if they cut their life span in half by keeping all that shit on then they make their money back faster.
Thats not treated burlap so it will break down fairly quickly and doesnt restrict roots or water. The cage is no different than a tree growing around a rock so no real issue. You have removed the top burlap and string after being set in the hole which is correct. Now i dont like to see that the top of the soil wasnt shaved away from the rootball to expose the root flare, thats lazy and wasteful as top soil is fairly expensive to bring in.
The reason behind leaving it on is that you risk breaking apart the root ball by removing it before placing it in the hole. Those rootballs can be 350lbs for a 24 inch basket and a 1.75 inch tree or 750 lbs for a 32 inch basket with a 3 inch tree in it. so not easy to move without damaging if basket is off.
Called a landscaper out about this thinking maybe she had a shitty employee and she flipped tf out. “Don’t you know who I am?!?! I sold trees to the OBAMAS”
“No ma’am never heard of you, anyways your 15 new plantings are all dead and we will no longer be associating with you or your terrible business practices.”
Literally just dug up and old cage, today.
Right after my coworker used a chainsaw on it the other day.
Why do we leave these obvious hazards for each other??? Some poor landscape laborer is going to get hurt.
The guy who sold you the trees is now in line to sell some more trees sooner than later
I think it’s ideal to unwrap it, but I’ve had footballs fall apart after getting unwrapped. I try to get it set in the hole and cut off as much as I can from the top and sides.
They obviously don’t care if they survive. What is the point of planting them in the first place? Trees are not cheap. Perhaps a tax write off? Any roots that grow will wrap around the trunk until it strangles itself.
So, I’m kinda mixed on this based on my own experience. On the one hand, it’s pretty obvious not having anything potentially restrict root growth and expansion is the way to go for the maximum health of the tree. But when planting larger trees (3″-5″+ caliper), I feel like in real world situations it becomes a judgement call to completely remove the b&b based on the risk of potentially damaging the rootball. There’s been plenty of instances for me where attempting to remove the basket would end up disrupting the rootball pretty severely. At minimum I do cut slits all around the burlap and try to at least remove the top 3rd of the cage generally with a grinder. I’m not saying just dropping em in a hole and throwing some mulch on top, but there is tradoffs to consider depending on the circumstances. Doesn’t seem like OP’s situation would warrant NOT removing them though. Whoever made that call was just cutting corners.
Good lord, the doom in these comments…
Is the burlap treated? If so it’s best to remove as much as possible. If it’s not treated, it will remove itself within a year. Probably a good idea to at least fold/cut the top of it off though.
Most baskets will rust away in a few years. Is it better to remove (especially the “ears” that fold over the top) yes, but not a massive deal.
Twine….best to remove all from around the trunk but if it’s natural and it’s left…should rot away on it’s own before causing issues. IF it’s not natural (ie plastic) it’s absolutely necessary to remove it.
The IDEAL way is great but for many reasons, it’s often not done and trees are fine. I’m no academic expert but have real world experience planting/overseeing planting of over 8000 trees and probably removing that many as well in all stages of size.
Roots will grow though burlap two weeks tops. Also some growers will grow trees in the burlap and cage especially quick grafts that will fall apart if uncaged. Will it stress tree till the burlap decals and cage pops yes. But the tree will get over it.
It helps to water the edge of where the root ball is for the planting for establishing
Does it matter with the burlap and cage on if so what harm does it do ive planted hundreds of trees like this id say only 10 percent struggle
How is it hard to remove? A box cutter for the rope and pliers for the cage. Takes maybe 30 seconds for each.
I would be mad at myself for months if I planted something with such laziness.
I was freaked out after I removed all cages and planted about 7 of these girls the other day.
Tell those folks they are dumb af
It’s no wonder most planted trees die. Most of y’all have no idea how to properly plant 🤦
So this is a big point of contention, but the guidelines do say that removing only half the burlap after it’s in the hole is the proper way to do it, as it maintains the most root hairs and allows the tree to establish, and supposedly the basket is big enough that it shouldn’t girdle anything but just be absorbed or grown around and through.
The roots will go through burlap as it breaks down, no big issue there as long as the burlap is removed down below grade! Otherwise it can wick moisture up from the soil and dessicate the hole which is obviously suboptimal.
If you try to remove the basket and burlap outside the hole, the soil structure is destroyed (because it’s often mostly sand) and takes the fine root hairs off the already heavily reduced root network, and the tree can’t support itself and will rapidly decline and fail more often than it would otherwise.
I still try to get as much of the basket off in the hole as possible and remove probably half the burlap before filling it, and rarely lose them this way if they’re reasonably well looked after.
I’ve seen better results from dormant bare root trees statistically, but it seems like the logic at least is sound.
My main concern would be putting whatever they’ve treated the burlap with during its life into the soil.
If people don’t mind waiting, the science does show that planting a smaller younger tree will give you a lot more growth over a five, ten, and fifteen year period with healthier trees overall over largeer caliper BNB trees – again for relatively obvious reason of having less massive root trauma and transplant shock to recover from.
The person who sold them to you guys knows you’ll be back in a year or two for replacement,he’s creating his own future revenue.
Thats how its done, you only remove the the top half of the burlap, and bend the loops of the cages downwards, everything else deteriorates
The landscaping company that planted our trees in a new construction home did exactly this. They were also wedging large stones around the base to get the tree to stand up straight and left a giant mulch volcano to hide scalping like 80% of the circumference of the periderm due to rough handling with a forklift when planting. Total crapshow of a company.
I dug around all the trees they planted on my property and cut back the burlap and cages as best I could. It was of course a giant PITA. Three years on, the trees are doing well. Half of the other neighborhood trees are in serious distress. Sad stuff.
Head horticulturist at my nearby botanical garden and zoo was also my professor and said he prefers to keep the cage on as it upholds the integrity of the root ball. He said he had a much better success rate when leaving the cage on compared to when they took it off.
Ugh just dug up some Bradford pears that had been planted in the cages, as if it needed to be a more difficult job!
Just fyi, ive been able to fairly easily cut those cages out using the Dewalt 20v Cordless Pruner DCPR320B. Works shockingly well
https://jeh.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/jenh/39/1/article-p41.xml
What the science says
That’s horrible
unfortunately older “professionals” run most teams these days and so they set the standard. many in this field come from a background that looks down on new proven research.
I would at least cut the basket in a few places and get rid of any above ground burlap. I’ve seen “professionals” plat a balled burlapped tree without even cutting the rope/twine that holds the basket. Tree is girdle in a few years. Unfortunately lots of jobs want quantity over quality.
And the job was done correctly! Don’t remove the ball. Only cut nylon lacing cords around the trunk!
Insurance for future work. Those will probably die, they’ll get called back. It’s a shame.
Folks, where was the top 2-4 inches (5-8 cm) of the ball removed to expose the root flare (not flair)? And where is this job, so we know if this is an arid climate?
I have seen worse, trees being strangled at the base by non-bio degradable ratchet straps of all things. Al of those had wat certainly looked like stunted growth.
Some people have 0 pride in their quality of work.
The burlap will rot away pretty fast under the soil I wouldn’t expect that to cause any real damage to the tree long term. It may cause early girdling roots but ime, that can be avoided by exposing just the top and making sure no roots there look suspicious before planting. If the tree is planted at the proper depth, those can even be spotted and fixed later.
I would remove the metal cage though, I don’t see any upside to that, and it will just be in the ground for way too long, maybe even longer than the tree.
3. The guys paying you to plant them will need to plant replacements sooner. All the faster to grease all the palms in the chain.