wire rootballs

[carlos]

when planting large rootballs wrapped in hessian and a wire cage do people remove the wire or hessian or cut it or just plant it as they got it???

thanks carl

[gary112]

Yes Carlos remove wire and hessian

[richardwale]

Leave them in ?

[richardwale]

The hessian rots, and the wire, which is rarely used nowadays, allows root growth.

[monkeybusiness]

I cut/undo the hessian once everything is in place and leave in the hole under the tree - if you remove it you will lose more of what soil there is left around the roots. Leave the wire to rust away. I have seen a 20 year old pine fail where the ‘hessian’ (although it obviously wasn’t biodegradable) had been left tied around the root - it ended up strangling/constricting the tree at ground level where it eventually snapped in a storm.

[gary112]

I had same problem with 4 london planes by leaving it on hence why i suggested removing it

[Mick Dempsey]

We removed the hessian and flattened the wire into the bottom of the hole, which helps with stability apparently, that’s what the supplier told us to do anyway.

[john p]

Hmm, we planted a load of big cherry laurel s that Had hessian and wire, supplier told me to leave them as they were, hopefully they’ll be alright!

[richardwale]

To be fair, every supplier will tell you to leave them on. It's the right thing to do. It holds the original soil to the roots. Some rootballs simply fail due to being lifted too early. If the hessian and wire were meant to be taken off, the supplier might as well wrap in plastic sheeting.

[carlos]

cool thanks for all the replies, the reason i ask is we were planting wire rootballs the other day and someone was insisting that the wire and hessian had to be cut, we have planted hundreds of these over the years and have never touched the wire or hessian, and as far as i know they have all done fine, i have also had the pleasure of moving a lot of them at various stages down the line and it has always surprised me just how quickly the wire and hessian breaks down.

also if one is using an under ground guy system then a strong solid rootball is essential therefore i would of thought not possible if the wire was removed.

as always good to see other views and opinions on the subject.

on a side note if there any growers reading this can you please come up with a medium in the rootballs that doesent weigh so much!!!! still surprises me just how bloody heavy they can be!!!!.

thanks carl