I had landscapers plant a new Japanese maple in my yard but noticed the soil it came with feels like clay. Curious if this is normal or if I should be trying to loosen it up.
Soil breaks into chunks and is DENSE. We’re in the Pacific Northwest if that makes a difference.
Also just discovered it was planted with the burlap. Internet has conflicting information about whether this is good or not.
Edit: Thanks all! Ended up lifting it out, removed the burlap sack, raised it a good five inches and exposed the root flare!
by thirdtriptohomedepot
7 Comments
As long as there isn’t standing water it should be fine.
Looks like there could be clay in there, but not overly so, just keep an eye on it and be sure there’s not standing water after heavy rains.
On a side note you may have planted that a bit deep, as far as the root flare, and it being below ground level. If you’re going to mulch that, which I would, it’s really going to be below grade at that point and may cause issue down the road.
Picture 1 looks like girdling roots wrapped around trunk, set low below surrounding soil. Free the burlap and make sure the tree wasn’t rootbound and grown in a too small container. Picture 2 looks like dirt was added to fill in around trunk, covering the root flare. 2 will cause rot, suffocation, and death.
Thats not Japanese maple. That’s Cardinal dogwood cut as a standard. Even before we talk about the bright red color, the way the newer branches grow off from older branches will never happen that way on a maple of any type. How many hundreds of dollars was that?
The size of the hole is a joke. Get you money back and buy a shovel.
Looks like it’s buried too low
Good rule of thumb make your hole 2.5 times bigger than rootball (including depth) to combat compacted soil. Makes it easier to add fertilizers or b12 too.
(Edit because of auto correct)