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K-State Turf and Landscape Blog

Tips and tricks on planting trees before you trick-or-treat

(Megan Kennelly, KSU Plant Pathology)

My family did a campfire and cooked our first pot of chili in awhile – it’s really feeling like fall! We have a few weeks remaining in October, and between now and Halloween is still a great time to plant trees and shrubs. Here are some articles with tricks of the trade before you trick-or-treat:

Nice summary from Johnson County:

https://www.johnson.k-state.edu/lawn-garden/agent-articles/trees-shrubs/planting-trees-shrubs-in-fall.html

Excellent nuts and bolts of tree planting:

https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3313.pdf

A few more details on methods:

https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/mf402.pdf

Watering new trees and shrubs:

https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF2800.pdf

Now, with all that, truly your most important FIRST step is deciding on what to plant. If you have not yet done your research on that question, here are some more resources on tree and shrub selection.

Trees and shrubs for difficult sites:

https://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF2205.PDF

Trees for Northeast Kansas:

https://www.kansasforests.org/community_forestry/community_docs/NE%20Kansas%20Preferred%20Trees.pdf

Trees for Northwest Kansas:

https://www.kansasforests.org/community_forestry/community_docs/NW%20Preferred%20Trees122016.pdf

Trees for Southwest Kansas:

https://www.kansasforests.org/community_forestry/community_docs/Pref%20Trees%20SW.pdf

Water-wise plants for south central Kansas:

https://www.sedgwick.k-state.edu/gardening-lawn-care/documents/Water%20Wise%20Plants%202015.pdf