When Do We Plant?

We plant Saturday mornings, 9 am to 1 pm, November through June, and occasionally on other days or times.

• We plant during the months when rains may help make the soil more workable. This time of year is when the trees will be dormant and the weather is cool - so there is less shock for the tree when it is transplanted. This time of year allows the trees to establish its roots, before it braves the warmer sunnier climate that will promote top growth. 
  
• Youth are welcomed and encouraged to participate - we simply ask that an adult guardian accompany them if they are under 13, and that all youth under 18 please have their guardian sign the waiver on their behalf.   If a minor will be attending our event without their guardian, please email us and we can send you the waiver for the guardian to sign in advance.
  

Volunteer to Plant With Us!

​Get the latest info on our volunteer events and sign up to plant with us on our Meetup  page  https://www.meetup.com/Trees-for-Oakland/

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How Do We Plant Our Trees?

There are many ways one can plant a tree. This is the way that we do it. (Download full guide here).
We aim to place 2-3 people per tree.

Tools & Materials:

Digging Tools:

• 1 round-nosed shovel per person
• 1 square-nosed shovel per crew
• 1 pick or pick-mattock per crew
  

Clean-up Tools:

• 1 tarp or sheet per crew
  
• 1 broom per crew
• Wire brush

Pruning Tools:

• 1 hand pruner
• 1 folding hand saw

Steel Staking System (Option A):

• 1 9-foot steel stake per tree
• 1 L-bar per tree
• 1 crossbar, rubber strap, & nut-bolt-washer attachment system per tree
• 1 adjustable wrench per crew

... or Wooden Staking System (Option B):

• 3 wooden stakes per tree
• 3 cross-braces and 12 nails per tree
• soft strapping and nails, as needed, to brace the tree
• 1 stake-pounder per crew
• 1 hammer per crew

Dressing the Tree:

• 1  5-gallon bucket of compost per 5 trees
• 2  15-gallon buckets of mulch (wood chips) per tree
  

Safety:

• Orange safety cones for the street (optional)

Step 1 - Prepare the hole:

• The sidewalk will be marked with a white bull's eye, dot, stripe, or other mark - indicating where the center of the tree will go.
• Lay a tarp down beside the hole to keep the sidewalk clean.
• Using a round-nosed shovel, dig a 3' x 3' square hole.
  • Sometimes the soil will be too hard for a shovel. When that is the case, use a pick-mattock to loosen, then shovel the loose soil out, and repeat.
  • When digging, you may notice the soil changing as you go deeper (in color, in texture, etc.) - try to keep the different layers of soil separate (see step 3).
  • Dig the hole as deep as the tree is in the nursery pot - up to its root crown.
    • The root crown = the base of the trunk, where it starts to flare out towards the roots. 
    • Try not to dig any deeper, because you want a stable foundation for the tree.
    • Form a little mound at the base of the hole:
      • You can do this by digging a deeper ring around the bottom OR by digging the entire hole a little deeper and then filling the middle back in with some soil and tamping it firm.
    • Make sure not to compact the side walls of the hole - keep them scored or loose to encourage the roots to grow out to the sides.
• To check the depth of the hole:
  • Lay down a shovel (or stick) across the opening.
    
  • Invert another shovel into the hole and use your fingers to mark the depth.
    
  • Compare the depth of the hole to depth of the nursery pot.

Step 2 - Prepare the tree for planting:

• Smack the sides of the nursery pot to dislodge the root-ball. 
• Slide the tree out of the pot:
  • Tilt the tree to one side - almost completely on its side.
  • Have one person hold onto the pot.
  • Another person grabs hold of the base of the trunk and gently pulls the tree out. 
• After the tree is out, massage the root-ball to loosen up the roots.
  • If there are roots encircling the root-ball, cut them away with pruners or use the serrated edge of a saw to break the roots up.
  • This prevents the circling roots from choking out other roots as they grow bigger. 
  • No need to hold back - as much 1/3 of the roots can be removed without causing too much harm. 
    

Step 3 - Plant the tree:

• Sometimes, the branches will be wrapped up with twine for easier transport.  In these cases, remove the twine to free the branches.
• Put the tree into the hole on top of the mound. 
  • When doing this, try to hold the rootball rather than the trunk to prevent damage.
• Make sure that the root crown is at the soil line, or as much as 1" above it.
  • Above the surrounding soil is OK - as the tree grows, it may settle and sink further down.
    
  • We don't want the root crown to be below the soil line, as the tree may rot if the root crown is covered with soil.
• Check the orientation of the tree:
  • Branches should not reach out toward pedestrians or toward cars.
  • Orient the branches parallel to the sidewalk.
  • If there are predominant winds - angle the tree slightly against the winds. As the winds blow, it will push the tree into the right position.
    • Generally the winds in Oakland come from off the bay - from the west, but pay attention to microclimates.
      
• Back-fill the hole halfway:
  • ​​Remember when you kept the different types of materials separate when digging? Fill the soil back in,  in the same order in which it was dug out - keeping similar backfill next to similar native soil.
    
  • It helps to have someone stabilizing the tree as it is filled​​, and double-checking to make sure the tree hasn't moved during the filling process.
    
  • Water in the half-filled hole, to allow the soil to settle and to eliminate air-pockets.
    
  • Double-check orientation and make sure the tree is standing upright.
• Continue filling the hole until it is full.
• Distribute the extra soil in a raised ring 12" to 18" from the trunk, forming a watering berm.
  

Step 4 - Add a stake:

• If the trunk looks stable enough - remove the existing wooden/bamboo nursery stake and backfill the hole with more soil.
• If you are using a steel stake, place it on the side of the tree where the prevailing winds are coming from - usually this would be coming in from the bay on the west. 
  • Position it halfway between the street and the sidewalk to keep it as far away from either as possible.
  • Measure where the stake should be using the metal cross-bar.
• Drive the stake into the ground:
  • Start it manually with a few turns.
    
  • Then using the L-bar, turn the stake into the soil to the depth marked on the bottom of the stake -- usually around 2' in the ground and 7' out of the ground.
  • Drive it low enough into the ground that you wouldn't be able to pull it out by hand.
    
• Attach the cross-bar to the stake:
  • Place the cross-bar over the stake.
  • The cross-bar would ideally sit below the lowest branch on the tree, but not below 4' above the ground.  If the lowest branch is lower than that, or if the tree is top-heavy, find a spot higher up the trunk between 2 branches.
    
  • Using a wrench, tighten the bolts that hold the cross-bar to the stake.
    
  • Wrap the rubber strap around the tree and attach to the cross-bar.
    • The strap should go around the the young tree to give it support, but it should be loose enough to still allow the tree to move slightly in the wind. 
    • As the tree sways in the wind, it will strengthen its fibers and its roots to anchor itself better.
    • Make sure to have the washers between the bolt-head and the strap, and between the nut and the strap - this helps distribute the force of the fasteners. 

Step 5 - Add top dressings:

• Sprinkle a few handfuls of compost around the tree, 6"-12" from the trunk.
  • Again, there should be no materials covering the root crown.
    
  • We do not add compost to the backfill, as we do not want the roots to meet a differing medium that may cause the roots to turn in a different direction.
    
  • If you like, you can gently incorporate the compost into the upper few inches of soil.
    
• Form a berm:
  • Form a raised ring (donut-like) around the tree about 12" to 18" away from the trunk. You started this with the soil and compost.
  • If the tree well is on a hill, form the berm into a raised "U" or "C" on the lower side of the tree - to help retain water from running off. 
    
  • Add one or two 15-gallon containers of mulch for the berm.
    • This covers the compost and any bare soil, helping the soil to retain moisture and deprive weeds of light.
      

Step 6 - Water the tree:

• Completely saturate the root ball and the backfill with 10 to 15 gallons of water.
  • As water percolates down, fix any holes that may have formed in the soil. 
    

Step 7 - Clean up!

• For pedestrian safety, the height of the material in the planting strip should be level with the surrounding pavement.
  • Back-fill the opened ground with soil or mulch until it is flush with the walkway.
    
• Return all nursery pots, as well as the tarp, tools, picked-up trash, etc. to the truck to return to headquarters.
  • Nothing should remain at the site except the newly planted tree - staked, composted, mulched, and watered.
• Sweep the sidewalk of any residual soil.
  • Sweep soil onto the planting strip, not the gutter or street.
    
  • A square-nosed shovel is good for scraping soil off the sidewalk, followed by the broom for a final clean-up.
    

Step 8 - Take a picture!

Celebrate all of your hard work with a picture! Please send it to us so we can share it with the world that you just helped make Oakland a little greener and a little cleaner.  ;)