Tree planting services
Waco tree service plants trees and provides tree maintenance
How to plant trees in Waco Texas
The Texas Ash Tree
Family Tree planting project.
My father was an avid gardener and he loved to plant trees. He would do his planting on the weekends. But when I was a teenager my idea of fun for the weekend I was playing baseball or touch football with my friends, riding our bikes into town to buy the latest hit song on a 45 (yes I’m that old for those of you who don’t know what a 45 record is) and buy a slice of pizza, or go to the beach. So when I saw my father pull into the driveway on a Saturday morning with a big tree in the back of his pickup I wanted to slip out the backdoor before he asked me to help him plant another tree.
I dreaded having to struggle to lift that heavy burlap wrapped root ball of dirt out of the back of his truck and then have to spend my Saturday morning planting it.
My father is gone now and I wish he was still around to ask me to help him plant another tree. When we planted trees together we had an opportunity to talk and bond in our work together. He would ask me about my life and give me some of his wisdom wrapped in analogies about planting trees.
I miss those days. I advise you to not miss your opportunities to plant trees with your family. Your first project tree could be one of my favorites, the Texas Ash tree.
One of my favorite things about the Texas ash tree is that it is a fast-growing tree. It can grow as much as two and a half feet per year with proper care and favorable climate conditions. When rainfall is below average, watering the tree will help it grow faster and reach its full potential.
The Texas ash tree is a nice shade tree that grows to between 30-45 feet tall and has a lifespan of between 30-to-50-years. It has round green leaves that turn colors in the fall. The leaves turn yellow, gold, orange, red, and purple in the fall. The tree sheds its leaves towards the end of the fall.
A mature Texas Ash tree will provide you with shade and make a beautiful addition to your landscaping. Another big advantage of the Texas ash tree is that once mature it doesn’t need much water and is very drought tolerant. In fact, watering this tree too much when it is a mature tree can cause the roots to rot.
Texas Ash tree's thrives in the hot and typically dry Central Texas environment because they have adapted to the soil and climate. The Texas ash is smaller than many other ash tree species, but this tree is a good choice because it won't compete for water and soil nutrients with your other trees or your lawn.
If you plant more than one Texas ash tree, place them at least 60-feet apart because this tree has a wide root system and that needs room to grow a healthy root network. The Texas Ash tree’s root system is wide but shallow and this is why overwatering it can be a problem. The shallow root system allows the tree to do well with little rainfall because rainwater or sprinkler irrigation does not have to filter down through any significant depth of soil. But the flip side of that is that if you water it too much the roots will receive a lot of water and become too wet potentially causing fungal growth and root rot.
Planting the Texas Ash Tree
You can plant a Texas ash tree in the spring after the last frost, or in the fall. Pick a spot that gets partial sun or half shade and has good drainage. Remember that shallow root system. The early fall is the best time to plant your tree because the young tree needs to grow its root system. If it is planted in the spring the tree will need energy and water to grow leaves and cannot dedicate all of its energy to a growing new root network. As long as the soil stays at 40 degrees or higher the roots will be able to push out sideways into the ground.
Before you dig your hole to planting your new Texas Ash tree there is a very important thing you need to do. You must call the national call-before-you-dig 811 phone number or visit the state 811 website www.texas811.org and request that the location of buried utility lines on your property be marked so that you don't dig into an underground utility lines. You don't want to do is spoil your tree planting day by cutting off your own cable T.V. and internet or other utility. Once the utilities have been marked with spray paint or little flags you can safely to dig your hole.
Now, measure the height and width of the burlap wrapped root ball on your Texas ash tree. Then using a shovel dig a hole three to four times as wide as the root ball and to a depth that is equal to the height of the root ball.
Place the tree in the center of the hole so the top of the root dirt ball is about one inch above the top of the hole. You may have to adjust the hole depth by digging a little deeper or adding some of the soil back to the bottom of the hole.
Sometimes the dirt root ball is also wrapped in plastic. Remove the plastic before positioning the root ball in the hole. After you have the tree centered in the hole and the top of the root ball is at the correct height of about one inch above the top of the hole, cut the sides of the burlap wrap open with a utility knife and unwrap the burlap from around root ball so the roots can grow freely out to the sides. You can leave the burlap beneath the root ball in the hole.
Fill the planting hole with the soil you removed until it is about half full. Then use a garden hose or bucket to soak the soil with water so it settles. Then fill the hole the rest of the way with soil until the roots are covered to about one inch below the top of the root ball. Water the soil some more and let it settle, then add more soil if necessary to fill to the top of the hole.
When the Texas ash tree is new, water it periodically when the soil is dry. Watering the young tree regularly will help promote root growth. Finally, add 2-inches of organic mulch starting from about 6 inches away from the base of the tree trunk and to a 3-foot radius around the tree.
We hope you enjoyed this educational article about how to plant a Texas ash tree.
If you have a question please call Waco Tree Service and we will be happy to answer any question you may have about any tree planting projects.
Call us 254-277-2408
Or you can fill out the Free Quote Request form with your question and we will be back to you as soon as possible.
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