Viewing post #783497 by dyzzypyxxy

You are viewing a single post made by dyzzypyxxy in the thread called How to know if shrubs and trees were planted too deep - and what to do about it.
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Feb 9, 2015 10:18 AM CST
Name: Elaine
Sarasota, Fl
The one constant in life is change
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If the landscape company won't do it for you, (they really should!) try to get someone or do it yourself before the shrubs break dormancy in springtime. Probably there's a fairly short window between when the ground thaws and the shrubs start to grow.

Disturb the root ball as little as possible, and Chelle's method of 'levering' up one side then the other is great, but I'd put as much soil and amendment under those shrubs as you can, as well as rocks if what you originally planted in was that awful subsoil you describe. By all means get them mounded up if you can because they will certainly settle deeper as they grow, too.

Going forward, keep on amending that bad soil, a top dressing of compost around the 'drip line' each spring and fall will put good organic matter into the growing area for each plant. Cellulose fibers (anything that was a plant) will work their way down into the soil, and there they do their thing - expand with moisture to retain nutrients, and then contract when they dry to leave air spaces in the soil. You do need to continue to add because compost does break down with time and disappear. The hotter and wetter your climate, the faster this happens.
Elaine

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill

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