s/o watering new trees - TreeD come in ...

[NitaX]

I'm planning on planting Emerald Green Arborvitae as a privacy screen along the retaining wall in my backyard. I'm thinking late Sept as a planting time frame. anyway, I noticed in the other thread you mentioned that larger trees are harder to establish than smaller trees. Lowes has the trees at about 5-6 ft tall. Another local center has the trees at about 2-3 ft tall.

Which would you suggest I plant? I'd love to do the taller trees just because it would give me instant privacy along the wall, but I'd hate for a $50 tree to die off on me.

[treedimensional]

If you are able to provide all the water it needs, you can get bigger ones. But my advice is always get the smaller ones because it's such a huge job. Most people don't have time, or enough experience to recognize when their plants are in trouble.
In that document, Gilman talks a bit about the difference in container-grown plants vs. BB plants. Pay attention to that. He also tables a formula of gallons per inch of trunk diameter (caliper), and frequency of application.

I don't live in FL and our soil here is totally different, but in my experience what his research has found is 100% true even in our clay soils.

In an ideal world, you would be buying plants with most of their biomass occurring in their roots. You want a root-to-crown ratio of big roots and a small crown. However, this standard does not exist because it doesn't attract buyers. So do your best when you choose (this is why I like to SEE the plants in person before I pay for them).

Plants sell best when they have tons of lush foliage/flowers (visual appeal) and very little soil (so customers can easily transport them). This paradigm is unsustainable and works AGAINST establishment. The longer it lives in a nursery, the more the root-crown ratio is distorted, and the less healthy it becomes. THAT'S why we have to work so damn hard to overcome the nursery practices that create these monsters. You have to reverse the ratio and do everything possible to make the roots grow... the only effective thing is WATER, and lots of it.

[NitaX]

Thanks TD. Because of what you mentioned on flowers selling best, I try not to purchase plants flush with blooms. I'd read that before.

[treedimensional]

People are as predictable as bees. They are drawn to flowers. They can't help themselves, I'm guilty too.
You can certainly buy blooming annuals, though, because they keep going.
If you want a flowering shrub, many times it will not even be available at other times of the year, because people won't buy it, many won't even recognize it, and it doesn't make good sense for retailers to bring them in if they won't sell quickly.
But it does take a lot of resources to bloom. Sometimes growers repeatedly remove flower buds to force bushier growth before letting it bloom.