I have received emails asking when is the best time to plant a tree. In the south, the time of year that is the most beneficial to the tree is fall or winter.

If you plant a tree in the fall or winter it can take advantage of the winter rainy season in getting established. This also makes your work easier since you don’t have to water so much. With the drought conditions that most of us have had in the last few years, we need to take advantage of the rain we do receive.

If you plant a tree and are not receiving rain, you should water it at least every week to ten days. The best way to water a tree, in my opinion, is to turn the water hose on to barely a trickle and let it slowly soak the ground at the base of the tree. This encourages deep root growth.

You can plant a container grown tree at any time, but if you want the most growth for the least effort you would be wise to plant trees in the fall or winter.