When Ohio garden rules don’t apply: Lessons from planting in Ecuador

Our MGVs go nuts when they start planting in the Ecuadorian soil. It is a rich, extremely well-drained volcanic soil that is perfect for planting. The downside is that it is so well-drained that it dries out quickly. However, its much better than Ohio compacted clay.

To compensate for this, when planting tree saplings, they dig a hole that is about two feet deep. They put a little organic matter (usually composted guinea pig poo) and some soil in the bottom and then plant the sapling at the one foot mark of the hole and fill up to the one foot mark with soil.

The rest of the space in the hole is open and eventually fills in with soil. The root flare is about a foot deep. The root flare is the area where the trunk transitions into roots.

Our MGVs have a hard time understanding this process as we plant trees with the root flare at or just above the ground level. If we used their planting method, our trees would suffocate from the lack of oxygen in compacted clay soil, particularly if the hole fills in with more clay soil.

They use this method successfully for a couple of reasons. Number one is that during the dry season (summer) the humidity in the hole allows for some moisture to remain in the soil, helping the plant to establish.

The other reason they can get away with this practice is that the soil is so well-drained and also has lots of oxygen down around the root flare and roots. Our trees might grow for a little while at this depth but would not thrive.

They do the same with vegetable seedlings by creating a three-inch hole with a stick marked at three inches. They plant the cabbage, broccoli, or cauliflower seedlings three inches in the hole and then compact the soil around the roots.

These experiences over the years have been contrary to our methods of planting. MGVs struggle with this until they understand that they have been doing it this way for generations.

In Ohio, planting trees has become a challenge as many of them sold in containers don’t have a clear root flare. When this is planted below ground, the lack of oxygen promotes secondary and sometimes tertiary roots to develop. These roots end up growing in a circular fashion around the trunk, eventually gridling the trunk of the tree.

I am going to write more about this challenge as we get closer to tree planting season this spring. I often see it causing problems in the landscape. When a tree is planted, we want it to thrive and be around for a long time.