"Can I just clip through the metal wiring, remove the canvas sack, and drop the trees into the ground, then pile the dirt back around them? The guy who owns the landscape store told me you don't need to add anything special. Just add the dirt that was removed from the ground to make the hole. Is it really that easy?"

Yes, it is that easy. And the way it should be done. Amending individual planting holes has long been disproven to be a beneficial practice.

Can you post any photo of the spruce? It is hard to judge its condition just by a verbal description.

Thanks for the reply. I will see if I can take pics of it.

And I don't need to clip any of the root ball? Just leave it in tact as it was in the canvas bag?

This is good to know!

I would make an oversize hole, set the canvas covered root ball in the ground and cut as much of the canvas as possible. Reach under as far as possible with a sharp safety knife and slice all the way thru the canvas, out to the edge.. Make at least 4 slices so that the roots can grow in 4 directions. That will help the new roots to help stabilize the tree in the wind.

I know of a Bartlett Pear tree about 4 feet tall. It produced 3 pears every year. So it had been there for many years. You could rock the tree because the tree was still growing in the canvas. I dug under it and cut the canvas myself. Canvas will likely outlast the tree, for one the tree will have a shortened life span.

While your under a tree, cutting the canvas you might amend the hole you made to encourage the roots to grow out of the bag. I wouldn't attempt to cut the encircled roots.

Canvas - being a completely natural material - rots. So does burlap, which is far more likely to be the material covering the root ball. Even treated burlap rots in time and neither will "outlast the tree"!!

The above is outdated information. It is suggested to remove as much wrapping material as possible without damaging too many fine feeder roots, it is no longer advised to amend any planting hole and it is critical to cut or untangle any circling roots to ensure them to be able to develop the proper lateral spread.

A tree weighing hundreds of pounds is a different job than a bare root seedling. I would never suggest anyone hang the tree with their left hand while cutting away the burlap and then cut away the wire with their right hand. And then untangle the roots. Nothing to it. Only hundreds of pounds. So if you cut away the burlap in 4 directions, you might find a root end, but then what are you gonna do with it. The rootball is sitting in the hole. Spreading some compost out away from the ends of the canvas cuts will encourage the tree to grow roots in that direction.

Have you ever noticed that if you grow in a tray, a cup, a pot, a big pot or an above ground bed how important what you use .as a filler is. But then when it comes to working in the ground the reverse is true. I recommended what I would do. I was born with a hernia, I know what it feels like when it bursts. To do it the way I suggest you're going to tunnel under the tree in the 4 locations and never try to hold it up in the air as you work.

Way back to your first question , if your tree is half brown , it is likely dieing from lack of water...planting a dieing tree is a waste

Don't amend the hole

make sure not to plant too deeply

cut away as much BURLAP as possible

ron