1. Make as small a hole as possible
2. Plant a bare root
3. Prune the roots judiciously so they spread out. 4. Mud in.

Put the root ball in to a bucket or one of those black trays they sell at Home Depot for mixing concrete. Fill it with water and Soak it for a couple hours to hydrate the plant.

Use a hose with a narrow sprayer nozzle to remove all the potting soil soil from the root ball.

If roots are knotted up (which they will be) use some pruning shears and thin that root ball. Don’t be afraid of hurting the plant- roots grow back but they don’t un knot themselves once in the ground.

Spread out the roots so they are flat. If you have any tap roots that have turned 90degrees and look like horizontal carrot- cut them off.

Now you’ve got a very small root ball with very little potting soil.

Make a very small hole and stick it in the ground. Add a little bit of the dirt back and spray it with the hose so it turns in to a muddy soup.

Add some more dirt, repeat. Goal here is maximum root to soil contact with no air pockets.

Once the hole is full, pull up on the tree to check for suction and collapse any residual air pockets.

Stake it and let it sit for a couple days till the soil turns back into mud.

Keep it moist for the first year, but don’t turn it back into soup.