let it dry.. and then gently excavate until you find the root flare.. then more pix ... hand trowel and stiff brush.. or some such .... go all csi on it.. lol ...

what concerns me.. is that even if thats it.. or close enough.. it looks like its still a few inches below grade ...

drainage of water is not caused by the tree or what it might take up ...

you dont mention where you are ... but fall is the perfect time to do this.. and even if you have to call a redo.. it probably shouldnt matter if it takes a week or 2 ..

big city name plz....

ken

South of Boston, MA. Yeah I planted 3, and 2 were right at grade but the last one ended up an inch or two below somehow. I actually just shoveled out around it (about 2 feet in all directions) to make it level relative to the surrounding soil (seemed easier than digging it up and re-planting).

Do you happen to have a good pic of what the root flare looks like on a young tree? All I can seem to find is mature tree's... I'm pretty sure I'm good, as I got low enough to see a few small roots pushing out, but I'm not 100% sure on what I'm looking for to begin with. Don't want to dig too low either.

Thanks for your reply.

The second picture looks more like the graft union than it does a root flare. The root flare would be around 5-6" below that.