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HURON – The best time to plant a tree, as the saying goes, is yesterday.
To observe Arbor Day, Huron third-graders have once again been given the opportunity to plant a tree to make their tomorrows brighter.
Seasoned experts John Hinners, a retired state forester, and LaRon Klock, director of the city parks and recreation department, spent time in classrooms in the public and private schools Friday to distribute Black Hills spruce trees and talk about how to plant and care for them.
Arbor Day is celebrated at varying times of the year depending on the climate. In South Dakota, it’s always the last Friday of April.
In his presentations in the classrooms – where a total of 300 seedlings were distributed – Hinners explained how wide and deep a hole should be dug when planting a tree.
He told them to look for a black collar, called the root collar, on the tree trunk and to plant the tree so that collar is roughly at ground level.
“If you plant it too deep, your tree is going to die,” he said.
“Once you get the tree planted, you’re going to have to water it and take care of it,” Hinners said.
New trees should be watered once a week. He suggested they run the garden hose to the tree and turn the water on to a slow trickle for about half an hour.
“Once it’s planted, the other thing that you have to do is give it some protection from what I call the three deadly “D’”s,” he said.
And they would be?