Fall is the time to plant new trees

MOSES LAKE — There are two good times each year to plant trees.

And now is one of them.

“Early spring is a good time to plant trees because it’s a little bit cooler and a little bit more reliable weather,” said Dana Anzelini, nursery and garden manager at Penhallurick’s True Value in Moses Lake. “But right now is nice because there’s a little but more rainfall. If we’re lucky.”

Anzelini said most of Grant and Adams counties fall within Zone 6 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plant hardiness map, meaning trees here need to be able survive cold winters with low temperatures that could reach -5 to -10 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Most common shade trees do well here, but you always want to make sure you are planting in the correct zone,” she said. “If you want to be on the safe size, plant for Zone 5, and that way you know for sure that you’re going to have a tree that comes back every year.”

However, even if planted in the correct hardiness zone, Anzelini said our long hot summers and sometimes blustery winds can also take a toll on trees, both small and large.

“You’ll see a lot of plants that are sun scorched, and the wind, it makes the leaves look really tattered and sad,” she said. “It’s just hard to avoid in our area.”

Trees planted in the late summer or early autumn need to be planted about six weeks before the ground freezes in order to give the roots time to establish themselves, Anzelini said.

“Because when the ground freezes, everything basically goes dormant,” she said.

Which means that while you can plant pine trees in the fall, it’s better to plant them in the spring — early April — because they need longer than six weeks to root themselves properly in the soil and it may be too hot in late August to plant them as well.

“One thing to avoid planting in the fall is evergreens,” Anzelini said. “It’s definitely better in the spring.”

Anzelini said Penhallurick’s True Value sells a lot of trees, mostly shade trees like maples and oaks, as well as fruit trees and trees that make good hedgerows. She also said dwarf trees that don’t get very tall, like the two Alberta spruces she has at home, are also increasingly popular.

It takes a lot of digging to plant a tree, Anzelini said, and the hole for a new tree needs to be twice as wide and twice as deep as the root ball. Soil needs to be loosely packed in order to make root growth easier, though Anzelini said a lot will depend on the nature of the soil you’re planting a tree in.

“Some trees prefer more drainage than others, some tend to hold water more, and some just prefer more clay, a tighter mixture of soil, versus loose,” Anzelini said.

Homeowners and tree planters can even get their soil tested or get a home test kit to evaluate the pH level of their soil, and then the soil can be adjusted so it’s the right condition for the trees someone seeks to pant, Anzelini said.

When a tree goes into the ground, Anzelini said it’s helpful to use a starter fertilizer, especially something with “extra hormones” in order to promote root growth. Because it’s important to ensure that a newly planted tree grows down more than it grows up, she said.

“Especially when planting in the fall, you want to mulch (the soil) then water it really well because some people think when planting in the fall, they don’t need to water as much,” Anzelini explained. “They still need that adequate amount of water until the ground freezes.”

The first day of fall is Tuesday, Sept. 22.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.