"Going To a Tree Farm, Nursery, or Garden Center can be a fun and relaxing time. Looking at all of the plants, shrubs, and trees and picturing how they will suit your landscaping strategies. However there are some vital things you require to look at before you purchase; otherwise your gorgeous plant or tree, that looked so great when you purchased it, will turn your landscape into an eyesore.
A Real Story:
Nancy likes plants and trees, nature, and wildlife; but she just purchased a new house in a new advancement that has very little landscaping and no personal privacy. Spring Time comes and Nancy is excited to improve her landscape. So Nancy goes to her regional garden center to select some plants and trees. She is so happy when she gets here; all the plants and trees look so good. Nancy desires immediate privacy so she chooses the greatest trees they have, but they are too big for her to handle so she has the garden center provide and plant the trees. She views as the crew at the Garden Center moves her trees off to the side. She cringes as they pull her tree out of the others because she can hear the branches breaking as they get caught on the other trees.
A year passes and the trees that Nancy had planted just do not look as great as they did in the garden center. A few of her Spruce Trees have brown branches on the bottom and they look sort of yellow. Nancy contacts the garden center to complain, they come out and state that the tree is great and is just a little stressed. They say it will submit next year and will look fantastic. ""OK"" Nancy says.
Well, next year comes, and Nancy's Trees do not look any much better, however it is still not dead and by this time its guarantee has expired. Year after Year the tree looks to barley hang on. The branches are thinning and gradually the tree passes away. Now Nancy wants she had actually never purchased those trees. If just Nancy had read my article she might have had a tree that will always look as great as it did the day she bought it.
Don't be Nancy!
Here are some things to Think about:
Rootball Size - This is the greatest aspect of why your tree will suffer down the road. Trees require roots - The more the much better! Christmas Trees look great when you purchase them, however what occurs buy New Years - they die. A lot of Garden Centers are offering trees that are very little better than Christmas Trees. It only makes good sense from their perspective. Dirt is incredibly heavy and things that are heavy become expensive. They are more costly to move, plant, and set up. It is more affordable for them to have to change a tree if it passes away than to offer a tree that is destined to live. The size of a rootball will inform you how it will look down the roadway. If one garden center is less expensive, do not simply compare the tree however compare the roots.
How it is watered - Numerous Garden Centers water their trees various ways and some don't appear to water them at all. As soon as the rootball has been dried, a lot of damage has currently been done. Make certain the place where you are purchasing your trees is keeping them watered.
Potted or Balled and Burlapped - Do not be fooled into believing that if you are purchasing it potted, somehow it is much better than balled and burlapped. It is not unusual in the industry for a tree to be removed early in the spring and positioned in a pot, rather of placed in burlap. All this does is make you believe that it was grown in the pot. Make certain to ask the length of time it has remained in the pot. If you get a balled and burlapped tree ensure that the burlap and wire basket is tight; if it is loose, root damage will occur when it is moved.
Service warranty - This is a big misunderstanding, I have actually changed a number of my competitors' trees that apparently had a guarantee, but the tree was not dead - just 1/2 dead and ugly - so they do not change it. Other times the customer was informed by the garden center that they did not water the tree and they were not going to change it. While the client might have not offered it the appropriate quantity of water at all times, if you get a tree that has a bigger root system you have a lot more wiggle room to make mistakes.
How it is Managed - The more a tree is managed the more root damage can occur. The very best is if a tree spade, installed on a truck moves it straight from the field to your yard. If you can not go that route make certain that they are utilizing the correct equipment to plant the trees. Couple of things are even worse for a tree than to be dropped, kicked, pulled, and pried; this is what will occur if they are not utilizing the appropriate equipment to plant the tree."