Planting Balled & Burlap-Wrapped Plants

Plants with a ball of roots wrapped in burlap have a history. They have been cared for for about five to seven years by a grower somewhere out in a nursery’s fields.

Then, when the plant has reached its optimum size, someone removes it from the growing spot. Removal is accomplished with use of a mechanical apparatus or someone with knowledge, a broad back and a sharp spade. Either way, the plant is removed from the ground, the roots are wrapped and it arrives at your local garden store, waiting for you to give it a new home and enjoy it.

The burlap holds the roots together to allow proper handling and transportation from the farm to your yard. Burlap used to be made from natural fiber and, therefore, was biodegradable. Now, plastic is being used. Handling this type of material during planting is critical to the extended life of you new plant.

The plastic or burlap material must be removed, or at least loosened in one of the several ways that I’ll explain to avoid strangling the plant’s roots. Death from root strangulation occurs gradually, but it can seem to happen in one day. I once had a client who returned home from work one hot August day to discover that a seemingly healthy, green shrub had turned completely brown and died in one day, four years after he installed the plant. The intense heat had withered the last of the moisture from the plant. Its roots were strangled and unable to absorb any more water.

The procedure for planting your balled and burlap-wrapped plant starts with digging a wide, but shallow hole at least 12 inches wider than the ball all the way around. If the weather has been dry, create equilibrium in the soil by filling the hole with water and allowing it to drain several times until the area around the new plant is wet also. Set the plant in the hole, water again and soak the root ball.

Cut and remove all twine around the stem and root ball. Once it’s wet, remove the burlap from around the roots. This may prove difficult. Try to avoid breaking up the root ball. Should this happen, don’t panic; simply speed up the process so the roots don’t dry out by being exposed too long.

It you can’t remove the burlap totally, try pealing it down into the bottom of the hole so that it is left under the plant. Remember that roots grow out from the sides more than down and leaving the material deep in the ground will not damage the plant or hinder root growth and development.

If removal and peeling prove unsuccessful, you can and should slit the burlap with a knife. Use only the tip to avoid damaging too many roots and cut vertically, one slit from top to bottom, about every four inches all the way around the ball.

Don’t be fooled by small holes in the material around the root ball. While roots may be able to get out of the tiny hole, a non-biodegradable material will not expand or separate as the roots develop leading to the strangulation death I mentioned earlier.

Finish the process by adding an amended soil and creating the watering saucer. Now that the material around the roots has been properly cared for, water and nutrients are on their way to the root system of your new plant. It should grow beautifully.