Field Dug vs Container Trees
The Hidden Cost of Field Dug Trees: Why Root Systems Matter
When planning a new shelterbelt or planting a privacy screen, it is incredibly tempting to go with wild dug spruce trees spaded and planted for a low flat rate. It feels like a shortcut to a mature landscape.
But when you buy a tree, you are not just buying the canopy you see above ground. You are buying the root system below it, and that is where the field dug trees become expensive.
The Biological Reality of Spaded Trees
When a large evergreen is spaded directly out of the bush, the heavy machinery severs up to 90 percent of its critical, water absorbing feeder roots. The tree is left with a massive canopy demanding resources, but almost no root system to support it.
To survive this severe transplant shock, a wild dug tree is forced into survival mode. It will completely shut down top growth, sitting stagnant in your yard for three to five years just trying to regenerate the roots it lost. Without absolute perfection in watering and aftercare, mortality rates for these trees are notoriously high. A cheap row of 30 spaded trees often turns into a frustrating landscape full of brown, dying gaps.
The Nursery Grown Advantage
At Swift Tree Centre, we do things differently. Our trees are all healthy, cultivated container grown stock, never wild harvested. Every tree is raised specifically to develop a dense, fibrous, and completely intact root system.
Here is what that means for your property:
Zero Root Loss: Because the root system is fully intact, our trees do not fight the severe transplant shock that plagues spaded stock.
Instant Establishment: Once planted, our trees adapt to your soil immediately and begin putting on vigorous vertical growth in their first full season.
The "Tortoise and the Hare" Effect: Because it is not fighting to survive, a healthy, 2 foot nursery grown spruce will reliably outgrow a stressed, stagnant 5 foot spaded tree within a few short years.
Do It Right the First Time
A lower price tag is not a deal if you have to replant half your shelterbelt three years from now. By choosing properly cultivated, prairie hardy stock, you are investing in higher survival rates, faster establishment, and long term success.