- Hi, I'm Eric with landscape garden centers.

Now we're going to talk about shade trees.

On a container tree, you would not be able to see all the root system.

Buying a bare root tree is definitely the best way to buy a tree if possible.

But once again, it's just on a limited time just because of the weather, the Root Cellar we usually will keep the Root Cellar open 'til about the end of April, the first week or two in May.

It all depends on the weather.

And we all know in South Dakota, the weather can change at any time.

But a shade tree, this happens to be a Linden.

Linden is a great tree to be used in a boulevard.

It's a great tree to be used in the front yard, backyard, just kind of all around great purpose.

Lindens are awesome because they, when they bloom they smell absolutely wonderful.

And I believe their bloom time is around into that June/July time period.

But the one thing about a bare root shade tree to remember is that you're going to have to be digging a little bit bigger hole.

And in this case, you're going to be probably digging this one.

This is about four foot wide, but you don't have to dig this one as deep.

I would suggest that you're going to dig down a little bit down below the root system to loosen up that soil.

So that way, when the roots take off they go into some soft soil and establish quickly.

And then once you, you have this big hole that it is probably about a four foot circle, not very deep, the soil is all loose.

You put the the tree into the ground and make sure we look for that root flare.

And in this case, that's about right here.

You put this in the hole, then cover up the roots with all of the dirt.

Step on it, tamp on it, make sure that it's in there firm and that the tree is straight.

That's the main thing to do is make sure your tree is straight before you go hog wild and put the last finishing touches on it.

The other thing to kind of remember is when you're looking at bare root trees, you have the opportunity to look at the roots.

Plus you get to look at all the branching, branching isn't as important in this case because these trees are younger and they're going to fill out.

Even if this branch was removed, it will in time fill this area out to where you would never notice that it was gone.

Once you have this established and in the ground, you're going to want to water it and water it in thoroughly.

And in some cases you may want to stake the tree, because we all know it's always windy, and we recommend putting a stake on the North side and the South side of the tree, and then tying it with just a rope, and then having the rope go around the tree just once, and then tying it, connecting it to the other posts.

That way it does allow some movement, but it's not so rigid that the tree won't develop roots.

Trees need to have some flexibility in order to produce more roots.

The more roots, the more structure roots, it just makes for a better tree.

So that's why I will recommend staking the tree for maybe 30 to 60 days until the ground becomes firm enough to where the tree just won't tip over because the ground was too soft.

So just kind of keep that in mind.

Very easy to do.

We also recommend, in the late fall, or if you have pets that like to get a little bit... need some attention, and they'll actually take out things out of the ground.

I've heard of that happening.

For sure, put a tree guard on the trunk of the tree every fall before winter.

When this tree is less than two inches, give that extra protection.

If the snow comes up to here, the rabbits walk up on top of the snow, and they're going to start chewing away everything, especially on fruit trees and especially on really soft trees.

Lindens, there's one of them.

So make sure you put a tree guard on them or even tree wrap.

You'll save your tree.

It'll be ready to go for your next spring.

Take the tree guard off.

And then you're set to go.

When you're digging the tree hole and you're pulling out all of the soil and you're setting it off to the side, what we recommend doing is try to use the existing soil, the native soil that you're, that you have there, because you will end up with a better tree at the end.

If you amend it too much, the tree will just grow its roots out into the nice soil and then you'll stunt it.

So if you do feel as though you really want to amend it because it's like heavy, heavy clay then use some type of peat moss or some type of organic matter that you can use in there.

And then that will, your tree will do great.

I'm Eric with Landscape Garden Centers, keep it growing.