Q: I ordered several large trees for my yard, but they won't be delivered for another three weeks. Can I dig the holes now, and if so, how should I go about it? If the trees arrive before I'm ready for them, what should I do? A: It's fine to go ahead and prepare the planting holes, provided you have a pretty good idea how big the root balls of your new trees are. That way when the trees show up, you'll have half the work out of the way. However, you don't want to have big holes in the ground where rainwater could collect. So as you dig each hole, place the excavated soil in a wheelbarrow or on a tarp, and cover it. Fill the hole with leaves, grass clippings, hay or straw, and cover it with a piece of plywood or heavy cardboard. When the trees arrive, remove the protective covers and fill material. Loosen the sides of the planting hole with a spading fork just before planting.
If you're unable to get trees or shrubs--specifically bare-root or balled and burlapped trees or shrubs--in the ground right away, your best bet is to heel them in. To do that, dig a shallow trench in the ground deep and wide enough to hold roughly half the root ball, place the tree or shrub in the trench at an angle, then cover with leaves or straw. You can keep a tree heeled in for a few weeks, but you'll soon need to give it a permanent home. Otherwise, the top will begin to grow up, and you'll have a crooked tree.
Q: I know that the best time to transplant trees is while they're dormant, but how big a tree should a regular-size person be willing to tackle?
A: Good question, because when transplanting a dormant tree, you want to dig out as much of the root ball as you can with the soil intact, and a root ball that's two feet in diameter can weigh more than 200 pounds. I'd be willing to transplant a little oak myself. I'd even be willing to transplant an ash, although I might need a little help lifting the root ball out of the ground. But I wouldn't even think of trying to transplant a more mature lacebark elm.
Q: I have an American elm that's been diagnosed with Dutch elm disease. A tree service guarantees it can save the tree with a series of injections at a cost of $300. What do you think?
A: I think your tree is a goner and that the tree service should be reported to the Better Business Bureau. Once Dutch elm disease strikes, there is no cure, and the tree typically dies pretty quickly. If I were you, I'd have it removed right away. Consider replacing it with a lacebark, or Chinese elm, or one of the new Liberty elms, both of which are immune to Dutch elm disease.
Q: How should I go about hiring a professional tree service?
A: Your best bet is to talk to friends and neighbors to find out whether they've used a professional service and were happy with it, or check the Yellow Pages under "Trees." Check the listings carefully for a certified arborist, a fancy word for tree expert. To be on the safe side, make sure the arborist is bonded and insured.
Q: Can you recommend a good street tree, one that will tolerate poor soil and city pollution such as car exhaust as well as occasional road salt?
A: I can recommend several trees that are tough enough to stand up to those conditions. If you're looking for small trees, try the golden-rain tree or an upright callery pear such as 'Aristocrat'. But stay away from the Bradford pear: even if it's planted 10 feet away from the curb, its branches may reach out into the street, where trucks can hit them. Among medium to large trees, consider planting hackberry, ginkgo, thornless honey locust, sycamore, sawtooth oak, lacebark elm or Japanese zelkova, a nice tree that looks much like an American elm.
Q: What's the best way to remove snow and ice from trees?
A: The best way is to let nature take its course--that is, wait for temperatures to climb above freezing. If you try to shake the snow or ice from the tree or use a broom or stick to knock off the snow or ice, you risk doing more harm than good because frozen branches are brittle and break easily.
