How to Plant Palm Trees

In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook heads to Miami to plant several varieties of palm trees in a front yard.

Steps:

1. Arrange the potted palm in the yard, then check for proper spacing and placement. If planting more than one, arrange all trees now. Don’t set any trees directly beneath overhead wires.

2. Before digging, ask the utility company to check for buried cables or pipes.

3. Use marking spray paint to spray an outline onto the ground around the potted tree. Make the circular outline 12 inches larger than the pot diameter.

4. Dig the planting hole with a pointed shovel or backhoe.

5. Lay a rake handle across the hole and measure the depth of the hole. It should be slightly shallower than the height of the tree’s root ball.

6. Tip the tree onto its side and pull off the plastic pot.

7. Carefully roll the tree into the hole, then stand it upright.

8. Backfill around the root ball with the soil excavated from the hole.

9. Water the tree immediately after backfilling.

10. Next, spread 2 to 3 inches of bark mulch around the base of the tree.

11. Water the tree every day for one week, every other day for the second week, and twice a week throughout the summer.