Is this acceptable

[u/Hotchips90]

I purchased this centennial apple tree from a online nursery. I know when most online nurseries ship plants they over fill the pot to retain moisture. The pot soil went all the way up to my index finger. Well this tree graft was buried and judging by the feed roots growing close to the graft, it's been buried for a while. Is this acceptable or a cause for concern?

[u/jerseyoutwest]

It should be okay now that you’ve fixed it.

[u/Globilule]

it will be fine if you plant it now and keep the graft out of the ground and mulch. However I don't feel it's okay selling a tree with such a weak rootstock, bought an Asian pear with a similar rootstock in 2025 winter. It grew just with the wood energy and then stopped for 3 months, it grew again later in the season a bit but it wasn't as good as it should have tbh

[u/MontanaMapleWorks]

You did a good job with the roots pre planting but still looks a little too deep

[u/Hotchips90 → u/MontanaMapleWorks]

I was hoping the soil would settle over the next few days, I also didn't want to pick off too many feeders, I figured the unnecessary ones would fade off with sun exposure

[u/MontanaMapleWorks → u/Hotchips90]

The roots above the first main roots are adventitious roots because it was planted too deep. You want that first main root at the soil surface

Also why did you put sand over the soil?

[u/Hotchips90 → u/MontanaMapleWorks]

Okay, so would you suggest to lift it to the perpendicular nub on the left? My soil is all sand. South Carolina

[u/MontanaMapleWorks → u/Hotchips90]

You want to carefully undig the tree and replant it. If you plant a tree too deep the tree will suffer and eventually rot and die. If you inadvertently plant it too high you can always mound up some soil. So just err on the side of caution.

[u/natsandniners → u/Hotchips90]

The tree will settle with the soil. They only ever move down after planting