I Bought It. Now What?

Ideally, plant in fall between mid September and late November when plants will establish faster. But since we can’t always control plant availability, the mild months of spring work as long as plants have a stretch of time in the ground before hot weather settles in. Here’s a detailed step-by-step to support the demos in our Desert-Wise Planting video!

‘Harden off’ your plant by placing it outside for one week in a spot that isn’t too exposed. Let it reset itself to its new home. It may have come from a grower located in a completely different climate.
Clear the planting area of weeds, dig a hole twice the width of rootball and slightly deeper. Loosen soil on the bottom and sides, then soak and drain the hole twice.
Carefully remove the plant from the pot. Loosen the plant by applying pressure to the sides of the pot and gently banging the bottom. Wet rootballs are prone to tearing. Slightly dry rootballs are easier to remove. If the rootball is very dry, dunk it in a bucket of water until it sinks before planting. If the plant is root bound or ‘potbound', soak the rootball and fluff the roots.
Place the plant in the hole with the collar at least 1” above grade. The collar is at the base of the plant where the stem or trunk meets the roots and is sometimes called the crown. Backfill the hole with loose topsoil and water as you go.
Gently compact soil to remove large air pockets, working around the outside of the rootball and pushing dirt under and around the roots. Poking holes in the loose dirt with a tool handle works well for this. Water again to settle soil and add more backfill if needed. Compact again using your heel but avoiding the root area.
Create a berm ring around the plant to create a water well. This well will hold extra water. The interior of the ring should be wider than the rootball. Always slope the water well away from the base of the plant. Never plant into the middle of a bowl shape - water must drain away, not puddle at the base of the plant.
Top dress with several inches of mulch, leaving the area around the collar clear for good air circulation. Mulch helps soil retain water and also protects roots from getting hot in summer and cold in winter. To help compact the berm, spray it lightly with water and pat down by hand. Repeat spraying and patting until it’s firm.
Cage new plants with chicken wire or hardware cloth. Animals can surprise you by eating a nursery-grown plant that they won’t touch in the wild. If needed, cover the cage with loose weave burlap to minimize water loss due to transpiration, strong sun, or winds. Remove cover as plant stabilizes.

TIP	PEEK AT ROOTS BEFORE YOU PLANT
	Once your plant is out of the pot, examine the roots. If there’s more root than soil (right), your plant is pot bound. While this isn’t ideal, it’s also fairly common. Drought-tolerant plants have root systems that are many times longer than the growth that you see above ground. Since we can’t resist selecting the biggest plant on a shelf, root binding often comes along in the bargain. Left untreated a rootbound plant will never perform as well as a properly rooted plant but a quick intervention will get those roots back up to speed. Our planting video shows dunking a really distressed rootball (left). Water helps loosen intertwined roots, just like tangled hair. We submerged the rootball of a one gallon plant with a messy wad of unhealthy dark roots and teased them out. Since it was summer and putting the plant directly in the ground would cause too much stress after fussing the roots, we potted up into a five gallon container. The plant was kept in a spot that was shaded during the heat of the day. Just two months later when the weather started cooling, the plant already had fresh light colored roots that extended to the bottom and sides of the bigger pot. For less severe root binding, a light fluff or shallow slicing will do the trick nicely. Wherever roots are cut, new ones will form and start growing out and down. Note that it’s not a good idea to dunk a properly rooted plant since the moist soil can fall away and the weight of the wet soil can tear the rootball. Remove plants from containers slightly dry.