First time planting trees/shrubs in new bed-NEED HELP!!!

[cannon]

Any help will be appreciated! I have a lot of plants coming at the end of the week and would like some information on what to add when planting them. They will be put in a dense clay (grass grew very well here) and an area with very poor dirt. Is there something I can add after digging to help them survive and give nutrients? I am very nervous that I spent this much money and everything will die.

This is my first time planting anything so it will be a learning process!

Thank you for your help!

[MaineDesigner]

The current wisdom on planting most trees and shrubs is to just reuse the existing soil and not to add anything at planting. The arguments for not amending the soil, especially in clay, are that you can create a perched water table effectively drowning the plant and that it makes it more difficult for the roots to expand beyond the initial planting hole.

I'm not clear on what you mean by "poor dirt", poor in what regard? Is it extremely sandy?

It is extremely important that you not plant too deep, especially in the heavy clay. The linked site is focused on balled and burlaped (aka B&B in the trade) trees but the basic advice is also true for container woody plants:
[url]https://www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_sheets/plant_culture/trees_shrubs.html[/url]

Another issue that I see more often than not is spacing woody plants too closely both with respect to buildings and other woody plants. If you would provide a list of what you are planting you can probably get some good advice on spacing and which plants tolerate clay well.

[bullthistle]

Each school has its own procedures and I was taught when you dig a hole it should twice the width and twice the depth of the ball and mix manure or compost when you backfill and add super phosphate or bone meal mixed in. Which means you backfill the mixture into the bottom of the hole before planting that will bring the top of the ball level when set with the ground and if the area is moist raise the ball so water slops away. You compact the soil when filling in the bottom of the hole so the plant will not settle. As you backfill with the plant in place tap down the soil around the plant with the end of your shovel and before filling the hole completely add water and tap down the soil again and then bring the additonal soil to ground level. I've planted many woody plants and none ever died on me unless they didn't receive water on a regular basis, because I guaranteed them for a year so I wasn't going to take shortcuts especially in the colorad heat. The theory is in amending the soil the roots will grow into a happy medium and not dirt. If you have hard pan clay dig the hole deeper and backfill with gravel so water does not sit in the bottom of the hole, but then do not overwater.

[applestar]

Do you REALLY want to hear yet another method?

I plant a lot of my trees and shrubs basically on TOP of the hardpan clay soil. I have areas in my property that I can just peel the sod away because it's 100% solid blue-green clay underneath.

I cut a circle 3X the width of the root ball, peel up the sod, then plunge in/stand on my garden fork to fracture the clay underneath all over. I DO NOT DIG UP THE CLAY -- that'll just make a watertight basin. I put a layer of UNFINISHED compost (with all the visible undecomposed kitchen scraps etc. in it as well as big and small sticks and a whole wriggly mass of earthworms ) on top of the clay, then flip the sod on top, making sure to cut it up into chunks first so it's not solid (don't do this on top of the compost or you might mush or cut up the earthworms!). I water that, then set the rootball -- roots combed out -- of the tree/shrub on top and start covering with garden soil from another part of the property that is still pretty heavy on clay but a better ratio of loam. It's not the super rich black garden soil, mind you. If some of the combed out roots are long, I anchor that with a piece of flipped sod. The rest of the sod is used to form the edge to help hold in the soil. I cover the whole mound with several sheets of newspaper/newsprint/kraftpaper and/or cardboard. Water that down, set in stakes to support the tree with guy lines if necessary, then mulch the lot.

Oh yes -- depending on the moisture requirement of the tree/shrub, I arrange the sod around the planting area to create a water catchment above the slope of the grade if it likes a bit more water, and below the slope of the grade if it prefers a bit less. I believe that otherwise, water will drain and shed right along the surface of the clay layer. We have a period of drought in mid summer so this is necessary to help sustain especially the moisture needy tree/shrub.