Digging round or square?

i.e. when digging a hole to plant your newly acquired tree, bush, shrub, whatever; should you make the hole round or square?

The "current thinking" is that it should be square to avoid the roots curling around and around in a round hole. In a square hole they're apparently meant to arrive eventually in one corner and then they have to carry straight on.

I don't know. I've never thought about it before.

What do you think?

Also when you take a plant out of its pot to plant it, should you tease the roots out wider or just plonk it in as it is?

I planted a palm a few months ago and as I'd heard about how palms "sulk" for a year or two after they're planted, I just removed the pot and stuck the plant, as it was, straight into the hole. Lo and behold, there's a load of new stuff growing up out of the centre now: so mine didn't "sulk"!

I was also once told that when you move a plant, move it in such a way that it doesn't know it's been moved. I always try to do that.

What does the committee think?

 

I don't think the shape of the planting hole makes any difference, as long as it's big enough,

But if you plant a badly pot-bound specimen without trying to encourage (carefully) its roots to spread, it's likely to remain with its roots tightly wrapped in a ball. I've dug up a number of shrubs which had been planted by the previous house owners and which weren't thriving. I found the roots tightly wound into a ball, still about the size of a 3 litre pot, the typical garden centre size.

Perhaps someone misunderstood this and attributed the cause to the shape of the planting hole.

Some plants take more readily to transplanting or potting out than others but I always treat the root ball carefully when planting. I try and tease out some roots from the ball but very gently to avoid damage.

It always amazes me how easily you can transplant dicentras which have fragile-looking roots and tubers. They seem to thrive on being moved!

 

Just have a think about that logic for a millisecond.

 

I would always go for a round hole .. after all where in nature is anything square ? :skp:

 

But then where in nature are plants grown under glass in a round pot 2 sizes too small for 3 months of the year:wink:

I think it really depends on what your planting, I was always taught to use a square planting hole for more permanent plants such as trees.

then again it shouldn't really matter if the hole is square or round if you have good quality soil and a well cared for plant before you begin

 

It's not that easy to dig a perfectly round hole with a flat spade. Whatever we plant, the holes I dig are hardly ever a regular size, certainly not round and neither square. As has been said, as long as the hole is big enough and you tease out the roots, the actual shape of the hole hardly seems important.

 

Agree with Flinty n Doghouse.

As long as your soil is well prepared, the hole big enough, and the plant planted properly, it doesn't matter in the slightest whether your hole is round, square, triangle, parallelogram, or shaped like a banana.