Some thoughts on planting Japanese maples

Last week I put in a planting scheme for a customer that I'd dealt with before , about nine years ago. In fact, if you want to see some of the maples I put in originally have a look at this picture, taken a couple of years ago. The main plant in the foreground is Katsura, now about thirteen feet across.
Link
While I was digging the planting holes, I was reminded of various articles I'd read in the past about planting Japanese maples, the gist of which was: dig a hole three times wider than the rootball! Digging holes is not a hobby of mine and I don't suppose yours either; the whole point of the exercise being to do the least amount of work for the maximum benefit.

The correct method will be to dig a hole that is only fractionally larger than the rootball and with tapered sides that allows proper firming of the backfill. The less interference with the surrounding soil the better as the microflora that's essential to the well-being of your plant will be damaged when the ground is disturbed.

Making the sides of the hole tapered allows the loose soil to be compacted easily once it's put back which means that the plant is firmly anchored; staking to ahieve the same result should be avoided as it doesn't allow the trunk to flex and therefore build up thickness and strength.

A couple of other tasks that need to be done when planting a Japanese maple will be covered tomorrow and then all that is required is to stand back and admire your handiwork!