General Guidelines for Planting California Native Drought Tolerant Plants

Plant in existing soil. DO NOT ADD AMENDMENTS. If the soil is brick hard, water the week before you plant.

DO NOT FERTILIZE.

WEED!

weed WEED!!!!!!!, It's easier to get rid of them before you put the plants in. They're your enemy; remove them.(Any way you can that fits your particular situation. We have used postemergent herbicides, shovels, tractors, and hand weeding.) DO NOT TILL or RIP the soil. Do not remove the weeds with tools unless you're going to plant. Use chemical means (or hand weeding if you wish) if you're not going to plant anything.

Remove the weed debris and put it in your compost pile, trash, or whatever, but do not use it on our plants!!!!!!

Dig the holes about the size of the root ball or a little bigger. Don't dig holes smaller than the plant and rip off half the root ball or try to stuff it in the hole anyway (watch the lazy ones; they'll do this every time).

Use your body weight to push the shovel into the soil. Use the shovel handle as a lever. It's amazing to see a landscape crew working where half the guys do not know how to use a shovel.

Scrape one finger along the edge of the root ball to make sure the roots are not coiled. Generally, if you have to cut the pot, the plant's garbage. If you have to tear up the root mass (pot bound) the plant will likely die, and if the root ball falls away more than 20-30% the plant may die. The more you tear them up, the more likely the plant will die. (Many of the riparian species are exceptions.) Give the plant more water if you did a no-no. If you do not run your finger along the edge the plant will have problems later as the roots will be coiled into a gnarly mass.

Fill around the plant with the dirt you dug out of the hole. Show me an amended soil and I'll show you a cow pen. If you want your yard to look like a cow pen, please do not use our plants. Do not put a fertilizer tab in, as we're not planting a latrine. If there's more than one of you planting multiple plants, one digs holes and fills for the plants behind him as the other plants, stacks pots, and tamps.

Use your feet as tamps. Step on both sides of the root ball to make sure it is making full soil contact. (Do this lightly if the soil is wet.) If you wish to use pre-emergent herbicides this is the point at which you apply them.

Use Mulch. Either place it by hand, with wheelbarrow or tractor on top of the ground around the plant.

Do not till the mulch into the soil!!!!!!!! Use between 1-4 inches organic mulch, 6 inch or larger rocks/boulders, or a combination of the two (see chart)

It is important to recognize that desert and prairie plants want rock or boulder mulch, chaparral and woodland plants want tree mulch mixed with boulders(or large rocks), conifers want tree mulch. Vegetables and English Garden types hate mulch.

When in doubt, Mulch!

Water the first time to fill any soil voids and to rehydrate the soil. If the soil is dry, apply as much as 30 gallons. Then water with a sprinkler for up to 24 hours.

Each subsequent time you water, water at the drip line (four inches to six inches away from the crown on small or young plants). Do not let the crown get wet after the first year.

For the first year: Check the soil under the mulch (dig down one inch to two inches ) every week to two weeks. If soil is moist, do not water. If soil is dry, water thoroughly with four plus gallons of water. (Some sites may not need any watering.)

Second year and succeeding years: If the plant originated from an area of higher rainfall than your area, water extra from November to March. If the plant originated from a community that receives fog drip in the summer you will also need to do some light sprinkling during the summer. If the year is unusually dry, supplemental water can be applied from March through May. Other than that, discontinue watering. Try to maintain the mulch at a depth of two inches.