[clairity]

yes, LA has a program to give away trees for planting in yards and parkways, and my read of the program is that, while it's goal is laudable, the implementation is lacking. earlier this year, a partner non-profit planted 2 trees for us and i planted an additional 2 trees that another org gave us, and i learned that it's not a set-it-and-forget-it type of endeavor. walking around my neighborhood, many of these trees, even though most are native species adapted to the environment, will end up dying because of the lack of care and the lack of education that comes with the trees. beyond enriching the soil when planting, it apparently takes ~5 years for the trees to establish themselves, and so requires constant watering for at least that amount of time.

ours sprouted quickly when first planted but then stagnated through the hottest parts of the summer. now we're entering the winter season and i'm wondering what we need to do to revitalize the soil again to help them grow in the spring.

[lazide]

Also, even native plants aren’t adapted to what many people consider ‘native soil’ - if there is no existing native vegetation, the soil itself is far different from what a typical seed would deal with from that same plant natively.

And when you think about it, it’s normal - you’d never end up with a giant 100% consistent group of plants in a native area anyway. You’d have variable concentrations all over the place, with some devoid of one species, others overpopulated with it, all based on suitability of the local env. and and variations in the soil, water, shade, and competing plants nearby.

As humans, we just think we can point to a spot and it should comply and grow amazingly I guess, and we get flustered if that isn’t what happens.

[jandrese]

Also, even in nature most saplings don't make it. It's easy to forget that trees release hundreds or thousands of seeds every year and only a small handful will even germinate, and few of those will make it to maturity. Most every plant takes a quantity over quality approach. Exceptions may include stonefruit trees, but even those produce a lot of fruit, but only dozens instead of thousands.

[clairity]

yah, good soil is an ecosystem of living things, not an inert medium. urban soil tends to be more depleted and polluted than average, so needs even more attention to get trees to grow. i'm not really a gardener type, but i do love me some trees and shade!

[mypalmike]

In Seattle, we have a similar program. The tree comes with a donut-shaped water bag for twice weekly watering during the dry summer, and instructions for tree care for those first 5 years. The main takeaways I got were: don't bury the trunk (the top of the root system should just barely be above the dirt line) and amend the tree maybe once a year with coarse wood or bark mulch, leaving a couple inches of space around the trunk. Three years in, my tree seems to be flourishing.

[clairity]

that's good to hear. hopefully watering regularly and remulching will lead to big beautiful trees here as well!