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Membership Trees Planting Guide

  1. Introduction
  2. Can't plant the trees right away? Go here.
  3. How to plant your trees «
  4. Transplanting your trees to their final location
  5. Print the Tree Planting Guide

How to Plant Your Trees

If you cannot plant your trees within a few days, it is recommended that you “heel in” your trees. Click here to learn about this.

What To Do When You Receive Your Trees

INSPECT your trees in the package. Extensive damage should be reported to our Member Services Department at: 1-888-448-7337 or email our member .

If you cannot plant your trees right away, follow these guidelines:

Storing your trees for 2–5 days: Make sure the tree roots have hydrating gel around them in the root bag. If you find that the tree roots are dry, open the package and wrap wet paper towels around the roots and enclose them again in the root bag with the twist-tie. Place the trees and root bag in the original shipping bag. Put the trees in a cool place without sunlight (such as a garage, basement, or they can even be stored in a refrigerator between 35–45 degrees F) until they are ready to plant and follow the simple, step-by-step instructions below.

We recommend that you plant your membership trees in a protected area with worked-up soil, such as a garden, for a year or two. Provide a good planting bed, and if necessary, roto-till the soil or turn it over with a spade. This will give those young trees the best chance at a good start. It will reduce competition from weeds and grass, wildlife damage, and the likelihood of being damaged by a lawnmower.

1. Your trees arrived in a plastic recyclable package. Remove your trees from the outer bag. The trees are twist-tied together with the roots in a plastic bag of hydrating gel.
   
2. Fill a bucket partly full of water. Untwist the root bag tie and remove your trees from the hydrating gel bag.
   
3. Remove the tie on the trees and carefully separate the roots of your individual trees.
   
4. IMMEDIATELY place your trees in the bucket, submerging the roots. It is very IMPORTANT to keep the roots moist. Soak your trees up to 3–6 hours.
   
5. Move your trees to the protected planting site, keeping the roots wet.
   
6. Using a spade or shovel to open your soil, create a hole as deep as your tree roots are long. Dig one hole per tree, 2 1/2 feet or more apart.
   
7. Place one tree in a hole, deep enough so that the top-most root is covered by an inch of soil. The roots should lie naturally. Do not fertilize the first year to avoid “root burn.”
   
8. Partially fill the hole, firming the soil around the lower roots. Shovel in the remaining soil. It should be firmly, but not tightly packed. Construct a water-holding basin around the tree. Continue this step until you have planted all of your trees.
   
9. Place a 2 inch layer of protective mulch in a 2 1/2 foot diameter around the base of each tree (but not touching the trunk).
   
10. Give each tree plenty of water. During dry weather, water your trees generously every week or 10 days during the first year.

Please note: If your site is a feeding ground for any deer, rabbits, etc., it may be a good idea to fence up your new trees.

When you are ready to move the trees to their permanent location, dig up your trees and follow the step-by-step instructions in our transplanting guide.