I am glad I found this thread. I have two spruce trees I got from Arbor Day that I have had in pots and planned on planting in the spring, but will plant as soon as this cold snap is over. When I checked the ground a couple of days ago prior to the cold it was not froze yet. Hopefully the ground will be OK to dig in a couple of weeks so I can plant them.

When you add better soil to the planting hole, the tree roots react by not rooting into the native soil. Why bother? The soil is so nice right here in this tiny hole. All you have done is put them into a bigger in-ground pot. Tree roots establish much more quickly when not babied with nice soil in their planting hole. Read this:

https://ucanr.edu/sites/soils/...

Roots at the top of the root ball where the roots attach to the tree trunk are called flare roots. When you cover the flares, the roots will rot from lack of oxygen. Looking back at your photo, you will have to remove some soil from the top of the root ball to find the flare.

Tiny roots growing from the trunk are called adventitious roots, they are not the flare roots. You can cut those off or leave them as once above soil level, they will die. Those roots grew because the trunk was planted too deep and will eventually kill the tree by strangling it. The flare roots will be hefty, coming directly off the bottom of the trunk. You need only one - don't dig it up, but make sure that is the soil line.

If you want to put a layer of mulch on top of the planting area, keep it outside the root flare area.

https://csfs.colostate.edu/wp-...

It looks like your tree was dug up and planted in that container. It is a modified version of ball and burlap where the container becomes the "burlap" and you only need to take it out and drop it into a hole. You will probably find that there are no circling roots and do not have to disturb them by loosening with your fingers.

CalPolygardener said: It looks like your tree was dug up and planted in that container... ... there are no circling roots...

Yes, I believe it's not a normal container-grown tree, because it looks like it was dig out of the ground, where pine trees were grown specifically for Christmas
I believe it's kind of luck whether it will grow or not, because I think there are damaged roots or only small roots due to damaging the roots during such "dig out process" Will see how lucky my tree is.

I'm going to plant it in 2 days, when it will be almost no negative temperature in the night for a few days.

When they dig them up there is always damage, but if you're careful and the rootball doesn't fall apart, it will take off in the Spring. As popular as that method is for so many different plants, the odds of survival are very good.

Ok, here is my report. I did it today My first tree was planted.
I dug a hole for the tree: height is the same as tree has, diameter is twice bigger, plus I loosened the dug up soil.

Then I removed the bottom of the plastic pot, put the pot into the hole, leveled the tree, remove the side part of the pot (walls) by cutting that "plastic tube" from down to up, and buried the tree bottom.

So now it's like this

And here is the whole view

QUESTION 1. But I saw only 1 or 2 roots at the bottom and no roots from sides at all. So, I don't know whether it will live or not...

QUESTION 2. It's only like max 20cm in the ground Any wind can cut it, because it's like a stick in the ground now.
So you think it should be supported by sticks with belts/ribbon/string?
I saw once in the park they did it for small trees: 3 sticks with 45°angle to the ground, each with a ribbon bound to the tree.

Wait a minute... you removed the pot bottom then buried the pot sides with the tree?

Looking at your third photo, I think you have it at the right depth. But, if there's pot still in the ground, that must be removed. Tree roots are very near the surface so the pot will keep the roots from growing outwards.

Yes, if its wobbly, stake it. You can put 3 stakes standing straight up in a circle around the tree and tie the trunk loosely between them. The trunk needs to move a little for it to grow strong.

Lucy68 said:
if there's pot still in the ground, that must be removed...

No no no, I removed the plastic pot completely I edited my reply there with more details, that I actually removed the pot completely.

Thank you for advice

Oh good. All you have to do now is keep the soil damp in a large enough area to encourage the roots out away from the tree.

Keep us posted.

Oleksii said: QUESTION 1. But I saw only 1 or 2 roots at the bottom and no roots from sides at all. So, I don't know whether it will live or not...

I'm not seeing enough roots to believe there's much chance of survival either...

that's too bad.

I'd still leave it in place, it has a likelier chance if planted, than if pulled up and tossed.

were there any guarantees of survival that came with the tree?

Looks like roots pretty drastically chopped off
But when I bought a plum tree, turned out it was also drastically chopped off- still grew like a weed.

Hello dear gardeners, after several days of strong wind, I noticed that the tree trunk had loosened the soil - so now there is no soil near the trunk for 2-3mm - see the picture.

Should I just press the soil by hand near the trunk to avoid further loosening in the upcoming windy days?

There shouldn't be any soil against the trunk at all. The soil should be level with the flare (topmost) roots, no higher. Based on your diagram, it's planted too deep. And your photos suggest it was planted too deep in the pot to begin with. Re-read Lucy's Jan 13 post about how to plant it. If it's wobbly, support it with stakes.

Hello dear gardeners, it seems my tree is not super green, do you think it's OK? What do you think?
I think it doesn't need more water because the soil around the tree looks wet.
What do you think?

here is a close view - as you can see some leaves/needles are yellow/dry