Learn the skills of planting seedlings with soil balls!
Lv Tuo et al
Large-size seedlings and evergreen seedlings for landscaping, must bring a certain specification of soil ball when the seedling is raised, to prevent the damage of the seedling root system caused by the collision during loading, unloading and transportation; Combined with years of work and practical experience, the author makes a comprehensive discussion on the excavation, transportation and false planting of seedlings with soil balls, which can be used as a reference and reference for garden scientists and amateur garden enthusiasts.
1. Excavation with soil balls
1.1 Specifications and requirements of soil balls
When excavating seedlings, the specific size of the soil ball needs to be considered according to the characteristics of the tree species, the size of the trunk diameter, the age of the tree, the soil conditions and other specific factors. Generally, the diameter of the soil ball is required to be 7~10 times of the DBH of the tree, and the height of the soil ball depends on the tree species, and the diameter of the soil ball is not more than the diameter of the soil ball. Generally in production, the specifications of soil balls in evergreen trees are 80~120 cm in height, 25~30 cm in diameter and 20 cm in longitudinal diameter, 120~150 cm in height, 30~50 cm in diameter and 30~40 cm in longitudinal diameter, 150~200 cm in height, 40~60 cm in diameter and 45 cm in longitudinal diameter, 200~250 cm in height and 50~70 cm in diameter and 45 cm in longitudinal diameter, 250~300 cm in height and 70~80 cm in diameter cm, longitudinal diameter 50 cm, seedling height more than 400 cm, soil ball diameter 100 cm, longitudinal diameter 70 cm. When planting in the summer, the soil ball should be enlarged by one size.
1.2 Preparation before seedling digging
According to the needs of the greening project to provide for the qualified seedlings, organize the relevant personnel into the nursery according to the specifications and standards of the seedlings. Then check the soil moisture of the nursery, when the soil is dry, the excavated soil ball is correspondingly firm, not easy to scatter the soil, often due to the lack of water is not conducive to survival during transportation, should be watered in advance a few days before digging seedlings; Before the seedlings are raised, it is necessary to prepare seedling digging tools and packaging materials, such as shovels, pickaxes, bags, woven bags, straw ropes (wet in advance), etc. For evergreen trees with low side branches, in order to dig the seedlings smoothly, tie up the canopy with a straw rope, and the tightness should be moderate to prevent damage to the branches.
1.3 Excavation procedures and technical requirements for seedlings with soil
1.3.1 Excavation method with soil ball seedlings. The appearance of the soil ball should be neat and intact, and the straw rope should be tied tightly when packing, and the bottom should be sealed tightly so that the soil can not leak. When digging the soil ball, it should be centered on the trunk, pay attention to the size of the soil ball when excavating is larger than the specified size, dig a layer of topsoil in the circle when digging, and the depth should not hurt the root of the surface, and then dig a trench vertically downward, and the width of the ditch is 65~85 cm. When digging the soil ball, be careful not to touch the soil ball, and trim the surface of the soil ball while digging. When digging to the required height of the soil ball, after arranging the spherical surface, carefully dig out the soil from the bottom of the soil ball, the bottom can be hollowed out if the diameter of the soil ball is below 50 cm, and then the soil ball is lifted out of the pit for packaging, when the soil ball with a diameter greater than 50 cm is excavated, a part of the central soil at the bottom of the soil ball is retained, so as to achieve the effect of supporting the soil ball to operate and pack in the pit.
1.3.2 Packing method of soil balls with a diameter of less than 50 cm. Soak the bag that is basically the same or similar to the size of the soil ball with water for later use, take out the soil ball from the pit evenly, gently place it in the center of the wet bag, tie the bag tightly with a wet straw rope, and wrap it horizontally from the upper part of the soil ball downward, and then wind it longitudinally from the lower part of the soil ball, and the rope spacing should be less than 8 cm during operation.
1.3.3 Packing method of soil balls with large specifications and loose soil. For large or loose soil balls, first wrap the soil balls in a wet bag, then fix the waist of the soil ball with a wet straw rope, and wrap the soil ball horizontally with a straw rope according to the program, and fix the base of the trunk and wrap the straw rope upward. After completing the bottom of the rope, wrap the straw rope in the direction of the trunk, and the distance between the straw rope and the straw rope is less than 8 cm, and the whole soil ball can be wound.
1.3.4 Method of winding straw rope. The strength and density of the winding rope are determined by the diameter of the soil ball. In production practice, the soil ball with a diameter of less than 40 cm is only wrapped around the soil ball with a straw rope called "single strand and single axis"; the soil ball with a diameter of 50~90 cm is wound with a straw rope; the soil ball with a diameter of more than 100 cm is wound with two straw ropes; at the same time, it should be noted that the soil ball with a diameter of more than 50 cm is paid attention to, when the longitudinal winding is finished, in order to achieve the safety factor of the soil ball in loading, transportation, unloading and planting, the straw rope should be tied horizontally in the waist of the soil ball, which is called "tie rope".
1.3.5 Back Cover. Practical experience shows that all large soil balls with a diameter of more than 50 cm need to be packed in the pit, and when the waist rope is tied, the bottom of the soil ball is tightly wrapped with straw rope and pouch bag as the "back cover". The specific steps are in the direction of the trunk down, digging the longitudinal ditch, the depth and width of the ditch are subject to being able to put down the tree body along the ditch, and then the bottom of the soil ball is tightly wrapped with a wet bag, and the bottom of the soil ball is longitudinally connected with a straw rope, and the grass rope at the bottom of the soil ball is connected in a pentagonal shape when the bottom is covered.
2. Transportation and false planting of soil ball seedlings
2.1 Inspection before loading
Before loading, it is necessary to carefully check the seedling species, variety, specification and quantity. According to the specifications of landscaping seedlings, the main trunk of evergreen seedlings can not be bent, there is no moth pest harm on the trunk, the crown is dense and symmetrical, the soil ball is complete, the grass rope is not loose, and the packaging is qualified and meets the requirements.
2.2 Technical requirements for loading with soil ball seedlings
Seedlings with tall and soil balls should be placed upside down, with the soil balls facing forward and the treetops facing backwards, and the head of the tree should be stabilized with wooden sticks, and a pouch should be placed at the joint part of the trunk and the bracket to prevent damage to the trunk and main branches. When loading, the diameter of the soil ball is greater than 60 cm according to 1 layer to load, the diameter of the soil ball is less than 60 cm, according to 2~3 layers of loading, the soil ball and the soil ball should be tightly combined to prevent the damage to the root system and the soil ball after the collision of the soil ball. In order to prevent the soil ball from rolling during transportation, it should be protected by fixed objects on both sides of the soil ball.
2.3 Unloading and false planting
When organizing relevant personnel to unload the car, it is necessary to ensure that the soil ball gets off the car safely. The unloader should not lift the trunk of the soil ball seedlings, and the smaller soil ball seedlings should be picked up with both hands and carefully put down; When carrying, only the soil ball is allowed to be lifted to prevent the soil ball from rolling. After the seedlings are unloaded, if they cannot be planted in 1~2 days, you can choose the location that does not affect the construction, put the seedlings neatly, and cultivate wet soil around the soil ball to ensure that the soil ball does not lose water. If the false planting time is long, it is necessary to cover the tarpaulin to prevent wind, sunscreen, waterproof evaporation, and spray water on the soil ball and tree crown to moisturize.
3. Planting seedlings with soil balls
3.1 Specifications and Requirements
In the actual production work, the diameter of the excavated pit should be 45~55 cm larger than the diameter of the soil ball to be planted, and the depth of the pit is basically the same as the height of the soil ball, and the upper and lower mouths of the pit are the same size. The height of the flower shrub is 120~150 cm, the diameter of the planting hole is 60 cm, the depth of the hole is 40 cm, the height is 150~180 cm, the diameter of the planting hole is 70 cm, the depth of the hole is 50 cm, the height is 180~200 cm, the diameter of the planting hole is 80 cm, and the depth of the hole is 60 cm. The height of hedge seedlings is 100~120 cm, the width and depth of single-row planting grooves are 50 cm×30 cm, the width and depth of double-row planting grooves are 80 cm×40 cm, the height of hedge seedlings is 120~150 cm, the width and depth of single-row planting grooves are 60 cm×40 cm, the width and depth of double-row planting grooves are 100 cm×40 cm, the height of hedge seedlings is 150~180 cm, and the width and depth of single-row planting grooves are 100 cm×40 cm, the width and depth of the two-row planting groove is 100 cm × 50 cm.
3.2 Seedling
Seedlings with soil balls should be gently handled and placed to prevent damage to soil balls. The planting speed is suitable for the speed of scattering seedlings, and the planting should be completed after the seedlings are scattered. For example, the planting of street trees, the height, thickness and crown width of the seedlings are numbered and discharged before planting, so as to ensure that the specifications of the seedlings before and after the seedlings are planted are neat and consistent; After the seedlings are issued, they should be carefully checked with the drawings in time, and if there is an error, they should be adjusted in time to ensure that the planting position of the seedlings is correct.
3.3 Arbor soil ball seedling planting procedures
3.3.1 Planting depth. Before planting trees, the height of the soil ball should be measured, check whether the height of the soil ball is basically consistent with the height of the pit, if there is a difference, the pit should be repaired at any time, and the pit should be filled or deepened in time, and the soil ball should be avoided blindly placed in the pit during construction, so as to prevent the waste of manpower and financial resources by moving the soil ball back and forth. The planting depth requires the soil ball to be about 5 cm below ground level. If it is a pine seedling, the soil ball should be about 5 cm above the ground, otherwise it will directly affect the normal growth and development of the root system.
3.3.2 Planting angle and orientation. After the soil ball enters the pit, fill it with a small amount of fine soil around the soil ball, which is conducive to the fixation of the soil ball in the hole. It is required that the trunk of the tree be straight after planting, and the most well-shaped side of the tree should be oriented towards the main ornamental surface.
3.3.3 Remove the packaging and tamp it. After the soil balls and trees are placed, remove the packaging. The perishable packaging can be taken off to the bottom of the pit, and then filled to half of the depth of the hole, tamped, and then filled with soil and tamped until the hole is filled. When compacting the soil, avoid damaging the soil balls, and then hit the weir to water it.
3.3.4 Precautions when planting seedlings. The elevation and plane position should be in accordance with the drawing design regulations, the trunk should be vertical, and if there is a curved trunk, the curved surface should be facing the northwest direction. It is necessary to plant a "benchmark tree" in advance, that is, one tree should be planted every 10~20 distance points, and the planted benchmark tree should be used as the basis for the ranks, and then the comprehensive planting work should be carried out. When planting rows of trees, it is required to be horizontal and vertical, and the difference between front and back and left and right should not exceed half a trunk at most.
4. Post-planting conservation and management measures
Compared with the larger soil ball seedlings, double weir irrigation can be used, and it is best to use the principle of small water irrigation to make the water infiltrate into the soil. The number of irrigation times is determined by the type of tree, local climatic conditions and soil characteristics, such as precious and rare tree species and fruit trees should be watered 2~3 times a year, and general greening trees can be watered 1~2 times a year.