Just planting a sapling is not enough. Once it is planted adequate planting care also should be taken to ensure the plant grows healthy and well. It is essential to take care of saplings to ensure healthy growth, especially when they are just planted. Their care is in your hands and so are the solutions to all your gardening problems.
Water regularly:
Plants need to be watered at regular intervals. Necessary planting care will result in better plant growth. Roots tend to become dry thus retarding the growth of the plant. The saplings can even die if they are not watered regularly. Once planted, the next thing is to water it daily for the first few weeks. Spraying them over-head in the evenings is the best thing. Sunset is a good time always to water plants as the soil is more or less more cooled down at this time. If plants are watered in the morning, the soil tends to get hotter as noon advances and thus the whole exercise goes in vain.
A particular pattern needs to be followed for watering plants. Always plant a new sapling in the evening time and spray it with water gently. It is better to keep it in a shady spot during the first few weeks till the roots get stronger. Spraying water on it in the afternoon may damage the sapling. A good idea would be to cover the plant with a polythene tent in the initial week, to ensure that moisture is retained in the soil even if it is the dry season.
Provide essential nutrients to the soil:
Garden compost, manure, peat etc. are some of the nutrients required by the plant. An excellent and easily available form of manure is animal dung, which is easily available in the countryside. During the initial growth, young shrubs and trees are always tender and are very delicate at the stems. Initially the stems need support or they tend to break.
A long piece of wood can be inserted near the plant to create this support. To maintain stability for some time, tie a twine to hold the plant against the piece of wood for a few weeks, till the trunk attains steady growth. A tender plant will not be able to withstand strong winds. A kind of a screen can also be erected to block or break the strong force of wind.
Did you like the article on sowing grass seed??, Phil Caxton publishes articles for lawnmania.com. More articles on trees watering methods and raised bed garden soil at http://www.lawnmania.com/essential-after-planting-care/ .