Barnyard96 said:
Root balls look good, it just seems the "bucket" is a little lower than grade.
They then did an out mulch ring. Just has a sunk look to it
[combined question] Can I plant a 30 gal eagleston in the summer?
Big question is, do you see a root flare? If the root flare is below the ground thats a big issue. I've pulled some trees out of their buckets and they've had a couple of inches of dirt above their root flare. If the tree has a root flare that is properly exposed, but the tree is the low spot on grading that is manageable. If so I'd just regrade around the tree to give it a bigger flatter spot. Just need to watch for standing water. Moving trees that are already in the ground during the summer is a bad idea. Wait until January or February to move a tree when the plant is more dormant. If you follow some tree farms on social media or their websites you'll see some posts like, 'for specimen trees (big big trees) we will only pull out of the ground up until the last week of February for the year.' Thats a good go by for your planting as well.
For trees that are in a bucket, you can plant them year round with minimal shock. Make your hole 3x the diameter of the diameter of the dirt in the bucket. You want to plant it about 25% 'high' so the hole only needs to be 75% of the soil depth of the bucket. When I do the math and then tease the roots it usually sinks back down an inch or so within a few weeks. Water your hole before putting the tree in. Water after you plant.
I have been shocked with how high I've needed to plant some trees. They came in a wider, shallower 15 gallon bucket, had an inch or two of soil above the root flare I needed to clear, and then teased the roots and planted it 75% depth. Looks pretty silly the day of but they have settled in quite nicely.
