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Planting trees is a big part of Boomhi’s mission to help the world. Why? Because planting trees is a great way to benefit the world—even if you’re only planting one single tree, it’s the small gestures that add up over time. The best odds for your tree to thrive come when it’s planted in the right place at the right time.
So, when is a good time to plant trees? When’s the best time to plant trees? There is no one answer, but it usually isn’t too difficult to work it out.
In 2021, Boomhi teamed up with the Orca Project to plant trees in the Pacific Northwest. Our goal was to help restore natural ecosystems that benefit the southern resident orca and their primary food source, the chinook salmon. We helped plant many different types of trees, including grand firs, vine maples, chokecherries, and more. Our goal was restoration, so it was crucial that every tree was planted at the right time to give it the best chance of growing healthily and rapidly.
The truth is that there is no one “best time of the year” to plant every type of tree. Different species of tree respond differently to different soil types, weather patterns, nutrients, and care. The first thing you’ll want to do is to determine whether your sapling is coniferous or deciduous.
A coniferous tree is commonly evergreen, though their primary distinguishing feature is that they grow needles and reproduce through cones. A pine tree is a common example of a coniferous tree.
A deciduous tree does not reproduce through cones, and as such almost always grows leaves, typically broadleaf, which are lost on a seasonal basis. A willow tree is a common example of a deciduous tree.
Like people, trees experience stress during periods of high heat and cold. The hottest months of summer and the coldest parts of winter make it harder for most trees to effectively attract and absorb nutrients. A young tree or sapling needs to be as established as possible before its first summer or winter! As such, the early spring and autumn seasons are usually the best times to get planting.
Before you plant your tree, remember to keep your sapling out of direct sunlight. Ideally, you want it to be stored in a cool area in damp soil. In keeping with this, planting in early spring is almost always a safe bet for coniferous trees. In the spring, the recently thawed snow and increased rainfall help to keep the soil damp without being too cold for the sapling to take root.
Deciduous trees, on the other hand, tend to do better when planted in early autumn. The cooler soil is good for the tree’s growing root system, and because the sapling doesn’t have any leaves, it doesn’t need as much water as an adult tree. This is important because of reduced rainfall in the fall.
We had both coniferous and deciduous trees in the mix when we teamed up with the Orca Project to plant trees in the Pacific Northwest. We started by planting our coniferous trees when the snow along the coast melted, and eventually switching to fall planting for different trees in different areas. This made it much easier to plant huge numbers of healthy saplings!
The good news is that after you plant your tree, you can usually rely on natural conditions in the area to take care of the rest. It’s a good idea to keep your tree watered until frost begins to appear on the ground in regions where the ground freezes in winter. This is why planting at the right time is so important!
When Boomhi plants trees, we take special care to ensure the right types of trees are being planted in the right places and at the right times. You can do it too! Researching and planning for your new tree’s growth is part of the fun! It’s very rewarding.
Is optimism a conscious choice? How can we choose to be happier in our everyday lives? Happiness correlates strongly with a person’s health and well-being, which is why activities to make you happy are always great things to do! There is so much you can choose to do to improve your mental well-being—and Boomhi can help.
