Chris Walsh of Treetech – tree care specialists, gives you tips on buying and planting a tree:

“When you’re selecting a tree for a home, you want to look for a tree with good form, good strong stem, nice central leader, so right to the top which is nice and strong. You want to find a tree that’s not root bound, and that’s not cheap. So you don’t want to buy a bargain tree.

You want a normal tree with a label on it and not at a bargain price.

When planting a tree the hole needs to be that deep – so as deep as the root ball with a little bit of broken up soil in the bottom of it and it then needs to be another 400mm all the way around the tree bag or the bag, and that’ll give you a nice tree pit for the tree to start growing into.

This type of tree will grow for years, and the structure will grow so that it won’t fail and it won’t cause issues in the long term because with branches failing or crossing because you’re getting good specimens.

To maintain this tree, once you’ve planted it, you want to put a nice layer of mulch over it approximately 5 cms to 10 cms around the base of the tree, about 600 mm around from the trunk, you want to water it in and keep it moist. And then put two stakes around it to hold it together for the first couple of years and then once the routes are established you can remove the stakes and allow the tree to take off.

Don’t forget to check how big your tree is going to grow and the species that will grow in the area that you want to plant it. If you’re wanting to shade somewhere or block out a view, make sure the tree will grow the right size.

This is an example of a tree that has been growing in a pot for too long or a bag for far too long, so all the roots have girdled and have gone around the tree.

The girdled routes you can see through here and in here, and across the top. This will eventually strangle the tree and your tree will fail. It’s like the living Christmas trees we get at Christmas time, you need to take the trees out and plant them in your garden otherwise they’ll do this and they’ll die.

These are the types of trees you’ll find in sales, they have not been potted on, so you just need to stay away from these types of trees. This tree needed to be repotted earlier on.

Or ask us and we can come and find you the right tree, the right size, and the right species for your property.

Don’t forget tree selection is a big part of what we’re doing when we’re buying trees, so make sure that if you’re going to shade or block out an area, that it’s going to grow to the size you want; and that it’s evergreen or deciduous.

If you have any problems with this or selecting trees, call us at TreeTech and we can help!”

To learn more about the best tree pruning services Wellington and Christchurch have to offer, contact Treetech today!