Wind vs Shrub: Preventing Uprooting
Q: I planted eight shrubs in my back yard backyard in August. In late September, they blew over and broke the low-quality stakes that I had put in to hold them up. I righted them and put better stakes in, but the roots were damaged when they blew down. Could I have prevented them from blowing down?
A: I have good news and reassurance. You chose the perfect time to plant shrubs this year. There haven’t been any extended dry periods, and the soil has been warm up to December. Even though they may have been damaged by being uprooted, the warm soil and adequate moisture points to success.
One of the best things to do for a shrub is to plant it properly to begin with. You should always dig a planting hole big enough to spread the root system out. Many times I see roots that are wound around inside a pot. They should always be unwound. If you neglect to do this, the roots will be very slow to explore surrounding soil as they should. In your case if you had spread the roots originally, they would have been less likely to topple. It would be difficult to correct them now without a lot of work, so I think you’re better off leaving the shrubs alone to establish on their own.
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