Dig a wide hole, not a deep one
The ideal planting hole is two to three times the width of the root ball but no deeper than the root ball is tall. Roots spread sideways through the top foot of soil; a wide saucer of loosened earth gives them an easy runway. A too-deep hole lets the tree settle, and a settled tree ends up planted too deep — the slowest, most common way to kill one.
Find the root flare — the point where the trunk widens into the first structural roots — and make sure it sits at or slightly above the surrounding grade when the tree is set in the hole. If the flare is buried in the pot (it often is), pull soil away until you find it.
Backfill with what you dug out
Resist the bag of amended soil. If you refill the hole with rich compost, roots circle inside the comfortable pocket instead of venturing into native soil, and the hole can act like a bathtub in clay ground. Backfill with the native soil you removed, broken up, and water it in as you go to settle air pockets — don't stomp it down.
Save the compost for the top: a two-to-three-inch mulch ring out to the drip line, kept a hand's width off the trunk, feeds the soil from above the way forests do.
Staking, watering, and the first season
Only stake if the tree can't stand on its own or the site is windy — and then loosely, with broad straps low on the trunk, removed after one year. A little flex builds trunk taper and stronger wood.
Water deeply once or twice a week for the first growing season (see our watering guide), skip fertilizer in year one, and don't panic over modest leaf drop after planting — transplant adjustment is normal. The best planting seasons are fall and early spring, when roots grow but the canopy isn't demanding water.