. being soaked made it heavy
and more likely to traumatize the roots;
but, I was hoping things would stay in place
if dirt was around before the sleeve was removed .
. the instructions are very different from last year,
saying to pull the sleeve without dirt surrounding it,
and then use your finger to pull some roots loose!
I stayed with last year's advice .
. I cut across the bottom,
and then around the bottom,
then checked that the sleeve would pull up
before packing dirt around it;
but I packed it too tight,
and the whole plant would lift
as I was trying to pull the sleeve out;
so I wondered if I ripped away a layer of roots
as they fell with the soil .
. the instructions reminded me not to add
any supplements like peat moss,
and I notice this was very dark soil
like what was brought in for the privets;
I also added several cups of vitamixed
garbagea few weeks ago,
but that was a small percentage of
what the roots will be exposed to ...
. in short,
I wasn't sure how desert-like the soil was,
so, I arranged the tree to be higher than ground,
with a deep moat around it,
so it's easy to both soak and drain .
. it got a shower to help pack the dirt
around the new root ball,
along with filling the moat .
. it smelled like the root ball's bottom
was overly watered a lot,
but the tree looks good .
