When I'm ready to plant, I gather a shovel, a pocket knife, some organic compost, and a hormone-based root stimulator. I also use a narrow board as a straight edge; a 1 X 1-inch roughly the width of the planting hole works well.
My rule is to dig a planting hole approximately 50 percent wider than the root ball's diameter. For a root ball 20 inches in diameter, I make the hole 30 inches wide. If the soil was compacted by construction equipment, I'll dig a wider hole - up to three times the root ball's diameter. For sites with lawn, I remove and discard all sod from the planting area.
The key to planting a tree is calculating the proper depth for the hole. If a tree is planted too deep, not enough air can circulate through the feeder roots just beneath the surface. This causes gases and other chemicals to get trapped in the soil, which gradually burn the roots and suffocate the tree.
To determine the right depth for planting, I locate the root flare - the point where the tree trunk starts to flare out and the root system begins - and make sure it remains at or above the soil level (photo, below left). Because soil gets pushed up around the root flare by mechanical tillers when trees are cultivated commercially, you have to untie the burlap and pull away the soil from the top of the root ball with a blunt tool or your fingers. Sometimes hairlike feeder roots peek out from the soil at this point. Once I've cleared away soil from the root flare, I use a shovel to measure from the root flare to the bottom of the root ball. This is the proper depth for the planting hole.
As I dig, I periodically check my progress by placing a board across the hole and using the shovel to measure the depth. If the hole is too deep, I backfill with some soil. To prevent the tree from settling in the ground, I firmly tamp the bottom of the hole with my feet.
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Generally, I plant anytime the soil is easy to dig and not too wet. However, beeches and dogwoods don't like to be transplanted in autumn unless they were dug from the ground the previous spring. If you're not sure when a tree was dug, just ask the nursery. Also, whenever I plant broadleaf evergreens in late fall in cold climates, I spray anti-desiccant on the leaves to reduce moisture loss over winter, or I wrap the foliage with burlap, leaving an opening on top to encourage air circulation.
