How to Care for Your Seedling Till Spring.

1)     Place your seedling in a plastic container of any size:  a one, two or four liter milk jug is fine.  Do not               modify the container…simply remove the lid and put the tree seedling into the container without                     adding anything to the container except….. 

2)     Place one quarter to one half inch of water in the bottom.  Maximum ½ inch water! 

3)     Keep the milk container with the tree popping out the top outdoors in normal climatic conditions.  Do          NOT keep it indoors.  Temperature variance from twenty below to twenty above will not harm the    tree seedling at this time of year. 

4)      Low to Zero Maintenance Tree Planting 

          In the spring once you are ready to plant your single tree in your backyard lawn for example I                           strongly recommend the following procedure so you never have to weed, nor cultivate, nor hoe and             rarely water your tree seedling:

          a) Spade out a two foot by two foot piece of the lawn removing the grass with the sod root and soil.                    This will create a two foot by two foot depression four inches deep in your lawn at the location you                wish to plant your tree.  

          b) Scrape the bottom and trim the edges of the hole so the edges are straight down four inches.  

          c) Now dig a secondary hole about the size of a one gallon ice cream pail in the middle of the                                depression i.e.: a hole ten inches diameter and ten inches deep.  

          d) Now place your tree into the hole all the way to the bottom of the ten inch hole. Remember the                      deeper you plant the seedling the more sub-soil moisture it gets.  This is why we have developed                  a system to create extra-long tree roots at HELP.  Plant all the root plus two inches of the stem                        underground. Replace the SAME SOIL you removed and pack it around the seedling. 
 
             e) Pack the soil very well around the tree so that there is a depression of one inch or so around the                     tree in the ten inch diameter hole.
 
              f) Take a black or dark green garbage bag …Lay it flat on a table.  With a scissors, cut a two inch by                     two inch PLUS  sign  i.e.: +   in the middle of a two foot by two foot section of the bag.
 
              g) Place the plastic over the tree with the tree stem sticking out of the plus sign. 
 
              h) Cover with soil the outside one inch of outside perimeter edge of the plastic which now lays at                        the bottom of the two foot by two foot hole.
 
              i) Place a fist size stone immediately next to the tree seedling so that the plus sign of the plastic is                     pushed down into the one inch depressed area right next to the tree.  This will ensure that: 
                  a)  any rainfall or water run-off entering the two ft by two ft. depression will enter the tree hole                        b)  the stone will hold the plus sign hole down so this plus sign hole will be the lowest area of                               the plastic so there will be no evaporation of water out of the tree hole…and water under the                           plastic will remain captured to create a greenhouse affect under the plastic which the tree                               will love.
 
Remember the plastic must be dark green or black because this will create greater heating of the soil which in turn stimulates tree growth.    
 
 
For Tree Orders or More Information:
www.help-shelterbelts.com
Tel: (306) 842-2433 or (306) 861-0814
 Fax: (306) 848-0902  Email: [email protected]