The best thing to do is use soil in your yard only. Bone Meal takes for ever to brake down enough to make ready available to the plant. If your using peat moss mix it thorough with the soil from the hole than back around the plant. I don't like filling holes with water because at could take time for the water to leave the hole. Water the plant after you have in the ground

thanks tmore. Do you think something like a shultz or miracle that has high phos% will give it a kick start? is that to much phos?

Fertilizer and miracle grow is a great way to kill transplants by . Don't use them.
Wrong time of the year to be planting.
Many pines dont transplant well. It depends on the species. White pine- if that's what you got- is fairly easy.

why didnt you simple replant it???

NEVER FERTILIZE A TREE OR ...in this case.. A CONIFER ... EVER.. period.. paragraph ...

unless a soil test indicates something is lacking...

any witches brew you BUY.. or can dream up.. is contrary to mother nature.. and a waste of money IMHO ....

pines like extremely dry soil .... that is why a peat based potting media is not great.. FOR THE LONG TERM ....

why did you not :

WAIT UNTIL PROPER PLANTING TIME for both plants ... October in my z5

and why did you not just replant the pine ...

you have cut your odds of success.. by complicating the process.. by potting it ....

i would get it back in mother earth.. native soil.. ASAP .... and water it properly .... and mulch it properly ..

you may get away with planting a potted cherry ... but this is the absolute worst time to dig a tree .. or a CONIFER... out of mother earth.. keep your fingers crossed ...

good luck
ken

ps: fertilizr .. root stimulator... snake oil... swamp land ... all hokum ..

Phosphorous is like bone meal I don't like fertilizing any tree at time of planting.watering is more important than fertilizer. Root systems are tender as they grow and adding fertilizer can burn them.

ken...not sure why your confused by my post. The pine was dug up and placed back into "mother earth" in less than an hour.
tmore,As far as the bone meal..my local garden center suggested using it for "just about any plant" to help establish roots. I hope i havnet just burned the roots on this tree. i knew i have lost some roots when I dug it up. I was hoping to give the tree a little jump on establishing new roots. The next few weeks should be interesting to see what happens to the tree. I got my fingures crossed>

i have no clue either .... and i swear i was totally sober.. lol ...

your local store.. would sell your mother to wolves.. if they could make a buck off it .. always take a SELLERS recommendation of more products with a grain of salt ...

regardless.. it was most likely harmless ... if there are any repercussions.. its from doing it based on wrong timing ... its not the roots that will burn.. its the needles.. from lack of water due to the interference of the ability to pump the requisite water..

EXPECT extreme INTERIOR browning and interior needle loss.. either this fall or after winter.. next spring ... it would all be normal based on transplant ...

i want you to understand the timing issue.. but i fully understand that sometimes the project muse requires instant gratification ...

pines are extremely resilient.. dont sweat it... good luck

ken

Are you going to be crushed if it doesn't survive? Since you dug it up to plant something else in its spot, at the very least, you didn't care for the location aspect of the pine.

Some of the responses on these forums - and not just this forum - will scare you into preparing to administer the last rites. LOL

Been gardening for years, and, though an amateur by many standards, have transplanted 3-4' volunteer spruce I periodically run across tangled up in other shrubbery - and whenever I have run across them and happened to have a shovel handy. So far, no losses over the course of the years. The best hope for survival is minimal root damage, that you replanted it well, and will make sure it gets adequate water.

Oh yes, as mentioned - mulch would be a good thing. (Not the red mulch - don't want the pine to die of embarrassment.) :-)

honestly i could care less about the pine tree. Its my wife who wants it to live.... Something about it was here when we moved in..blah..blah blah... If I had my druthers I would not have been digging second hole yesteday. I would have loved to call it quits after the cherry tree was in. Anyway..its wait and see now