also, what can i do to keep the grass off the immediate area of the tree plantings?

Studies have shown that it can be detrimental to the long term health of the tree to amend the planting hole at time of planting. Just use your existing soil and dig a wide hole just to or slightly less than the depth of the root ball. Make sure the sides of the planting hole are roughed up (not smooth) and backfill only with what you removed. Loosen or spread the roots before planting. Water in well and as often as necessary during the growing season - generally a good soaking once a week will suffice but your weather and soil will dictate the specifics.

It is not recommended to fertilize at planting but if you suspect the need for fertilizer (very often unnecessary), test your soil for specifics and apply in early fall. A 2-3" layer of wood chips or other organic mulch around the base (not touching the trunk) and extending out 3 feet or so will help to keep grass and weeds down and conserve soil moisture.

most important...

green part UP!!!!!

ken

11 to 16 inches tall? Are these trees well filled out, and growing in one gallon or slightly larger sized pots?

If so, you will need to make certain that where you plant them is a faily well drained site. They currently are small enough that their water demand is not sufficient to compensate for soggy, or very slowily draining soil sites.

If the soil is clay, and you are planting the trees in the low elevation of a down slope; these trees might experience root suffocation.

To accomodate slower draining situations if planting in clay soil, make for these trees a berm planting bed which rises enough for better drainage around the trees' rootballs.

On the other hand, if the soil where you need to plant these trees is such that it drains too quickly, like seen in very sandy sites, the trees will need to be watered almost every day during the first summer after the trees are planted, and they will also be benifited if at the the beginning of fall 2008 you spread some slow release, non burning Osmokote fertilizer on the ground beneath the branches around the edge of the rootball.

maybe a little more helpful .. lol ...

thuja are workhorses... but for lack of water.. or poor stock .... you probably can NOT kill them ....

plant at the height planted in the pot.. mulch .. and provide all water the first season .. insert finger to second knuckle.. and water them when the soil seems to be warm .. damp soil is cool .. with proper mulch ... dry soil gets hot/warm .. let them nearly dry between DEEP waterings ...

second season .. water only in drought ... maintain mulch

free range the third ...

good luck

ken

Green Giants are very adaptable to soil type. They do NOT require well draining soil, and I would doubt that their smaller size at planting would make them any less adaptable to soggy soil. If the soil is too wet for a 1 gallon Green Giant to live, it's going to be too wet for a 10 gallon Green Giant to live.

I have 9 Thuja GGs planted along the north side a Privacy fence, which is only 5 feet just north of a Brick, two story house. They receive mid day and full afternoon until sunset direct sun. In the winter mine stay green and do not show any bronze color change of the leaves

My native soil is a dark, slightly acidic Clay. These trees benefit from the entire length of the fence area being slightly sloped upward and The soil along most of the fence has some builder's sand that had not been cleaned up by the workers who built the neighbor's house. This area is in the north east corner of my lot.

My trees started out as one gallon pot sized trees, which were 12-15 inches tall and very nicely shaped and filled out when I planted them.

These trees have been very happy, have grown to a height of 9 feet tall in Summer of 07. I watered them often especially in drought times, but did not begin feeding them Osmokote until the Spring of 07, which was early in the 3rd year since I planted them.

When I was not feeding them the previous years, they sent up very narrow shoots of new growth each spring and fall. This new growth never seemed to fill out very nicely and by the time they reached 5 feet tall, they began to look pretty unbalanced. Once I started giving them the Osmokote, though, they began growing faster and all the very thin top half of the tree began to fill out more quickly. This made the trees appear much more balanced and more like one would expect the trees to be.

Since my trees were watered, but not fed for the first two years they only grew about one additional foot the first year, and two feet the second year after I first planted them. When I began giving them the Osmokote, they not only grew more filled in tops; they also, grew an additional 5 feet in one year.

I have a friend whose trees are planted in clay with out the benefit of added builder's sand, and they are planted on the South side of a privacy fence, which slopes from west to east at a fairly significant grade. At least half of her trees have needed to be replaced due to them sufficating along the lower part of slope, where the clay soil remainded wet for extended periods of time. They were never in standing water. The problem happened because runoff water kept the soil too moist for too long of times. The replacement trees she planted lived, and it appears they lived under the same conditions due to them being 5 gallon potted sized trees which were already 6 feet tall, when she planted them, and so we figured large of a tree needs more moisture than the original 12-15 inch tall ones, which died for her, needed.

so when i plant my trees should i use the osmokote right off or wait a year?

Osmocote is a good fertilizer. It's high price is a reflection of that. But newly planted trees, above all, need to reestablish a root system. Guess what......they do this more quickly in a low-nitrogen environment. So no, you probably should not use Osmocote, or any other fertilizer at planting time.

This forum needs a provision for "stickies" ;^) No offense, Mo, but we tend to cover the same ground over and over and........

+oM

The best 2 things you can do for your GGs is, after following the above advice from several people, adapting as needed for your particular site, are to:
1) water as needed for one year, less often the second year, and in long, dry spells the third year - follow Ken's advice to test the soil, water only when the soil is dry, not just on a schedule. You will need to water the equivalent of an inch of rain per week, but not in a flood. Rather, you need to soak the soil AND the root ball, so the roots are well watered. It may be easier to run a soaker hose along the line of plants, and run it for as long as needed to get the roots wet - it's better to go slowly, really soak things and then let them dry a bit, rather than to frequently dribbling water on the tops of the roots.

2) mulch along the row, as widely as you can, no deeper than 4", and put no mulch in the inch or so next to the trunks. You can use any aged organic (in the sense of able to break down and improve the soil, not as in certified) mulch: pine-bark, pine straw, double-ground hardwood, etc.. If the site has any slope to it, don't use pine-bark - it tends to float away in a heavy rainstorm. Don't put any landscape cloth or plastic under the mulch as the whole point of it is for it to break down and improve the soil - the under-layers do nothing long-term to limit weeds, and look awful when they do get pulled up and show. If there is grass where you want to spread the mulch, you can either use Round-Up, carefully so as not to get any on the plants you want to keep - wait for a still day - or you can lay down either flattened cardboard - remove tape and labels - or 4-6 sheets of black-ink newspaper under the mulch to smother the grass. If you go with the paper, make sure the edges are covered, as the paper can wick moisture out of the soil if left bare.

Whatever you do, don't add "builder's sand" as an amendment to your soil! It's usually not a "benefit" to add soil amendment anyway, but builder's sand, here in many parts of Tennessee and other parts of the country, can greatly change the soil pH of your soil and be a death sentence for some plants. The material that makes up builder's sand is different from place to place and, in some places, is quite alkaline.

There is another reason that adding sand as a clay soil amendment isn't usually a good idea. If you only amend the planting hole, then what you end up with is a clay tub (soil around the hole) filled with the new soil mix. When water is present, it pores into your amended soil in the clay tub. The surrounding clay holds the water in the planting hole and drowns the plant. Course sand with a known pH can be used to amend soil in a raised bed, but otherwise I'd not recommend it.

Ken and dibbit's advise about watering and mulch are the two most important things you can do for your new trees other than planting them correctly to start with.

in my opinion ...

osmocote was engineered for use in nursery pots... because of the daily water flow through.. and to reduce the pot growers need to not have to come back to feed the pot multiple times during the year ...

there are many formulas for the actual release .. and if you use the wrong one.. you may be releasing fertilizer when the plant is supposed to be going dormant.. more a northern issue with the shorter growing season ...

first.. conifers NEVER need food.. they may be your babies.. but they arent babies ... the only time to amend the soil .. is if a soil test indicates something is lacking.. and it is never food ...

second ... osmocote costs a lot.. compared to plain old fert .. why pay a premium for something that isnt even necessary ...

finally .. and i may have said it above.. if they are within a few feet of your lawn .. and your fert your lawn .. the plants will eventually find the food source ...

ken

The benefit I have found with using osmokote is the fact that it is slow release, can be spread on top of the soil under the GGS and in clay soil only needs to be applied in early Spring and early Fall. In sandy soil which drains quickly and thus requiring more frequent watering its slow release benefit is accelerated.

Another thing I like about it, is the fact that I can mix it with the planting soil when I plant summer bulbs of various flowers and it does not burn the tender roots which first grow from the bulbs.

There might be other fertilizers which works just as well, but since I do not like to ferilize much, other than a good 10-10-10 fertilizer I used on my new bed of creeping phlox I am trying to establish, I do not know any thing about those others.

When planting Thuja Green Giants, choose a sunny location with well-draining soil. Dig holes larger than the root balls and prepare the soil with organic matter. Water the root balls before planting, backfill with soil, and water deeply to settle the soil. Apply mulch around the base, keeping it away from the trunk. Pruning is generally unnecessary initially, and fertilization can be done the following spring. Stake support may be needed temporarily. Monitor the trees for signs of stress and address issues promptly. Consider individual plant needs and follow specific instructions from the nursery or garden center.

To know more details about thuja check this out- https://thujasupply.com/blogs/thuja-green-giant-blog/when-to-plant-your-thuja-green-giant-by-region-and-hardiness-zone

It should be noted that amending individual planting holes is not a recommended practice. Plant in the indigenous soil only. Any amendments may be used as a mulch or top dressing but never incorporated into the soil.