Thinking of planting trees this Autumn?

By: Mark Kesby, Projects Officer
March 29, 2010

In most situations, Autumn is the best time of year to plant tree seedlings or seeds because there is usually less stress on the young plants. The only exception is areas where there are extreme frost conditions such as at the bottom of a valley. On the face of it, this Autumn could be a great opportunity to plant those trees that you have been thinking about for some time. We have had great rain since Christmas to the point of full profiles and runoff.

However, before you rush off to the nursery to buy the seedlings, there are a few things that you should consider.

First and most important is moisture. While we have had lots of rain, most of that moisture will have been used by the plants that have grown. So unless the vegetation has been controlled by spray or cultivation, you’re now back to square one! And if you don’t have much subsoil moisture then you shouldn’t plant. It’s way too time consuming and costly to rely on watering to get trees going.

Secondly weed competition and the seed bank need to be controlled. If you have let the weeds go rampant this summer, then you will need to start again. Fallow the area over winter and plant next year.

If you have fallowed over summer and think that you are right to go this autumn, you need to think about what you will plant. 

Too often I see people go to great effort to plant species that are totally unsuitable. They either die early or even worse grow for a few years and then keel over when things go wrong. When deciding what to plant, the most important thing is to look at what’s already growing in the district on that soil type. These are the plants adapted to the local conditions and should make up the backbone of your planting. 

Often there are few if any shrubs growing naturally in your area. This makes it very hard to know what to plant as understorey. However, there are publications that will give a good clue. They describe the vegetation communities that existed naturally and which species are found on what soil type and where in the catchment. What we can say for sure is that it doesn’t include a South Australian wattle or a mallee from western Victoria. Try these plants in your garden for sure, but leave them out of your farm plantings!

Good preparation is vital for successful tree establishment

It is important to look after young trees in the first year. Weeds need to be controlled or they will rob all the moisture and in extreme cases, can smother plants. 

Mulch should be the mainstay of control and it also reduces moisture loss. It is particularly important on cracking soils to help reduce cracking which is death to young trees. Lots of things can be used as mulch. I’ve seem tip mulch, old hay, underfelt and newspaper all used successfully.

Mulch will not control all weeds. Sometimes it is necessary to carefully spray around young trees with glyphosphate (don’t use hormone sprays). Tree guards make this operation much easier.

Rabbits and hares can be devastating to young trees. A control program combined with guards is the best solution but you will still lose some.

You will need to water at the time of planting but only a few litres. Provided there is good subsoil moisture, follow up watering is only required if there is prolonged dry spell - especially if it is hot.

Happy planting!

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