Tree Planting in Grand Rapids, MI

Depth. It is always depth.

The root flare, the point where the trunk widens into the roots, must be visible at the finished surface. Nursery stock arrives with the flare buried in the container or the ball far more often than not, so planting the ball at grade plants the tree four to six inches too deep. It does not die that year. It sulks for five and then goes, and everybody blames the drought.

The second version is the mulch volcano, a cone of bark piled against the trunk. The City's own forestry guidance is blunt about this: keep one to two inches clear around the base, two to four inches deep elsewhere, and never pile soil against the trunk. Piled mulch traps moisture against the bark and invites the fungus and pests that then kill the tree.

What actually survives in this city

Not maple, or at least not another one. Grand Rapids, like most Midwest cities, is heavily over-planted with maple, and a street of one species is a street waiting for one pest. The City publishes an approved species list precisely to spread the risk, and diversity is the whole point of it.

What works here: swamp white oak and bur oak, which handle both clay and street conditions; Kentucky coffeetree; hackberry, which is close to unkillable; American linden; London plane in the right spot; Ohio buckeye; and serviceberry or ironwood where there are overhead lines and you need something that stays under twenty-five feet. What we will talk you out of: another Norway maple, Bradford pear, which splits on schedule at around twenty years, and ash, for reasons the rest of this site covers.

Big picture, the city has a stated goal here. Grand Rapids adopted a forty percent canopy target in 2011 and the assessed canopy has been sitting around thirty-four to thirty-five percent, so every tree that goes in on private land counts toward closing a real gap rather than a slogan.

Right-of-way planting, and who owns what afterwards

If you want a tree in the strip between your sidewalk and the road, the City will consider it, and the terms are worth knowing. You request it, you choose from the approved species list, the City reviews within two business days, and once it goes in you are responsible for watering, mulching, staking and general care. The City's own guidance is fifteen gallons at a time, one to three times a week for the first three years, May through October.

That watering commitment is the whole ball game. A street tree that gets watered for three years is established. One that gets watered for one is a coin flip. If you cannot commit to it, plant inside your own line where you will see it from the kitchen window.