Burlap Removed & Roots Cleaned for Planting
This weekend, my husband and I planted our 40th tree! Some have been bare root, a few in nice potted soil and some salvaged but most of them have come “balled and burlapped”. You too may have invested in some trees but what to do about the roots wrapped up like a present?
Regular readers of this blog will most likely be familiar with the concept that you want to remove most of that wire, fabric and twine before planting. In my book, removal of as much non-plant material surrounding the root ball is preferable. Plus, after all that disturbance I like to give the leftover roots a clean cut with sharp hand pruners to avoid unhealthy roots trying to heal while also trying to establish.
The obvious reason for taking all this stuff off is so roots won’t have any barriers to growing and establishing at the soil level they are planted. However, what you often don’t read about is the fact that roots growing around and around in hard clay or with the barrier of twine or burlap will start to become good candidates for becoming girdling roots. Worse, they will try to find any easy access to the nicer soil they’ve been planted in and grow up and over the original ball. Both of these situations will create less than ideal root situations.
Roots trying to escape their wire and burlap cages by growing up and over the top of the ball will often result in exposed surface roots growing above the level of the base of the trunk flare. Roots rising above this level can often be nicked by lawn trimmers or mowers, tripped over by people and pets and can’t be covered with mulch without covering the rest of the root zone too deeply.
This Trunk even Looks Like it Wore a Girdle!
Girdling roots are roots that have grown in a manner with the potential strangle tree (or shrub) parts in one way or another. When roots aren’t flared out or remain balled and burlaped they will actually continue to grow around in a circle for a very long time. As the roots enlarge and happen to be near to a trunk or other root they have the ability to strangle and impede the flow of nutrients. A even worse situation is a completely girdled trunk (see photo). As one who performs tree risk assessment, seeing this kind of abuse raises all kinds of red flags for the hazard this tree presents now and into the future, not insubstantial in this case considering the trees’ beachside location and purpose of buffering strong southerly winds. While this specimen seemed to be growing ok after the (extremely overkill) rope had been removed the trunk will always have this defect and remain the weakest part of the trunk, no matter how old it gets.
Give your new investment a fighting chance and unwrap those roots carefully and completely. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
Still confused? Get in touch to schedule a garden coaching session. We can help you unwrap your new tree and plant it to thrive!
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Tags: arboriculture, arborist, ball and burlap, girdled roots, tree
Katy,
Thanks for sharing this. Your photo of the tree trunk that looks like it wore a too-tight belt for too long reminds me of another issue I ran into last week. A client had hired her mowing company to plant a new b&b maple for her. Not only did they leave the burlap intact, but they also left all the plastic string strangling the trunk of the tree. (The string held the burlap in place around the b&b. Often it is tied tight to the upper trunk.) Plus, they dug a too-deep hold and buried the tree too deep. The trunk was nearly 8″ buried below the soil line.
Just a reminder: better to plant too shallow than too deep. Burying a trunk is a sure way to kill a woody plant!
excellent
Another issue here is also that some of the trees were actually planted too shallow but they were too deep in the soil that was in the ball and burlap. So, even though the root ball was half way out of the soil, the crown was still three inches buried … sigh. Did I mention this was a 100K install??
Katy…do you mean that the tree had been packed too deeply in the B&B? I don’t quite follow….but, I’ve definitely unwrapped a B&B in the past and found the trunk packed in clay!
Yep, trunk packed in clay. Minimum of three inches … This deserves another post altogether (nursery practices …)
Agreed! I’m looking forward to that article Katy!
We are purchasing a house with a tall (about 40′) beautiful straight tree in the backyard. Unfortunately, the previous owner was lacking in the smarts dept. and tied a dog lead (wire coated with plastic) around and around the tree trunk quite some time ago. We have unwound and pulled out what we could but it is so imbedded into the trunk that most of it can’t be seen anymore. Can this tree be saved? Thank you.
Once a tree has grown over something like this dog lead or even a tree tie, the foreign object should be left in place. If it is ripped out of the tree, the tree’s protective systems will be disrupted and the tree may have more problems in the long run. Unfortunately, if this lead is embedded in the trunk of the tree around the entire circumference of the tree, you may see significant decline anyway. The trees water and nutrient transport systems reside just under the bark layer all the way around the trunk. If this is completely cut off, sadly the tree likely will not survive. Ideally, contact a local arborist for an on-site evaluation. There may be other options that they can help with.