Planting & watering guide
How to plant a tree
in sand that
repels water.
This is the method our team uses on every installation, written out so you can do the same thing at home. It takes twenty minutes a tree and decides the next twenty years.
When to plant
Plant between May and August. Winter rain does the watering for the first three months, which is exactly the window a young root system needs to get below the dry surface layer before summer. A tree planted in November needs hand watering every second day for five months to reach the same point, and most of them don’t.
Potted and bagged stock can go in year-round if you can water it consistently, which is what most people overestimate. If you are planting in December, be honest with yourself about whether you will still be hand-watering it in February. If not, wait.
The method, step by step
-
Dig wide, not deep
Two to three times the width of the pot, and no deeper than the pot itself. A hole dug too deep settles, the trunk sinks, and the collar ends up buried — the most common way a healthy tree dies slowly.
-
Treat the sand
Perth sand is hydrophobic: water runs off it rather than into it. Mix a wetting agent and water crystals through the backfill, and give the hole a full soak before the tree goes anywhere near it.
-
Tease the roots
Take the tree out of the pot and gently open the outside of the root ball with your fingers. Roots circling the pot will keep circling in the ground and strangle the tree years later. Stock graded to AS 2303:2018 is far less likely to be root-bound in the first place, but check anyway.
-
Set the height
The root collar — where trunk flares into root — sits level with the surrounding soil or a fraction above. Never below.
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Backfill and firm
Backfill with the soil you took out, mixed with compost at no more than one part in four. Firm it with your hands, not your boot. Leave a shallow saucer around the trunk to hold water.
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Water in properly
Ten to twenty litres, slowly, on the day it goes in. This settles the soil around the roots and removes air pockets — it is not the same as a sprinkler cycle.
-
Stake only if it needs it
Two stakes outside the root ball, ties in a figure eight, loose enough that the trunk can move. Trunks thicken in response to movement. Rigid staking makes a weak tree that snaps when the stake comes off.
-
Mulch, and keep it off the trunk
75–100mm of coarse woodchip out to the drip line, pulled back a hand-width from the trunk. Mulch against bark holds moisture where you want dryness and invites collar rot.
First-summer watering
This is the part people skip and the part that decides the outcome. Amounts are per tree, applied slowly at the base — not a light spray over the leaves.
| Stock | First 8 weeks | First summer | Second summer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20–25L | 10L twice weekly | 15L twice weekly | 15L weekly |
| 45L advanced | 15L twice weekly | 20L twice weekly | 20L weekly |
| 100L and above | 40L twice weekly | 50L twice weekly | 50L weekly |
| Potted / courtyard | Check every 2nd day | Daily in heat | Daily in heat |
Skip a week in cool weather or after real rain — 5mm on the forecast is not real rain on sand. A slow trickle from a hose for ten minutes beats a fast bucket every time.
Where people go wrong
- Planting too deep, or letting the tree settle after planting
- Rich potting mix in the hole, so roots never leave it and circle instead
- Standard fertiliser on natives — most WA species will not tolerate the phosphorus
- Buying a variety for how it looks in the pot rather than how big it gets in fifteen years
- Staking too tight, too long, or against the trunk
- Mulch volcanoes piled against the bark
- Frequent light watering instead of occasional deep watering
Print this, tape it inside the shed door, and check the tree once a fortnight through its first two summers. That’s the whole job.
Before you call
Questions we
get most weeks.
Still not covered? Ring 08 9561 1334 — you’ll get someone who has planted the species you’re asking about.
Not at this stage. We are not open for in-person visits because of biosecurity requirements — keeping stock isolated is how pests and disease are prevented from moving between sites. Everything is delivered to you instead, and we are happy to send photos of the actual tree before it is dispatched.
Door to door across the Perth metropolitan area. Freight is quoted per order based on your suburb and the size of the load, and we confirm a delivery window with you before anything leaves.
Tell us what it is. We have long-standing connections through the WA nursery trade and will go and find it for you, usually at a better price than you would get chasing it yourself. It costs nothing to ask.
Every product lists the pot size and the supplied height, plus the mature size so you know both ends of the story. A 20–25L is roughly 1.5–2m, a 45L about 2.5m, and 100L and above from 3.5m.
Yes — Green Stock Installation covers pit excavation, backfill, staking, mulching and water-in. Anyone planting above 45L should take it; the stock gets heavy and awkward quickly.
It is the Australian Standard for tree stock used in landscaping. It sets out how a tree should be proportioned, how the root system should be developed, and what defects disqualify it. Our stock is grown and assessed against it, which is why you will not receive a root-bound tree with a weak leader.
Every onsite consultation includes a soil analysis and a written recommendation for improving it. In most of Perth the answer involves a wetting agent and organic matter, but the detail changes street to street.
More than people expect, provided the soil is treated first. Natives, olives, most citrus and the coastal species all do well. Ring us with your suburb and aspect before you buy — that one conversation saves more trees than anything else we do.
Not sure what will work?
Tell us the spot. We’ll tell you the tree.
Send a photo, your suburb and roughly how much room there is. You will get a shortlist that suits the soil and the sun, with delivered prices. Replies within two business days.