Transplanting trees into the garden

Recently came across the following - that it is better to transplant trees into a square hole than into a round one.  The rationale being that a tree raised in a pot will have a rootstock that follows the shape of the pot, and then planted into a round hole, will continue that trend.  Planting into a square hole will disrupt the follow-on and make the roots spread out, especially when they hit a corner.
Anyone tried this, and am I being had lend of.  (Sorry - am I being fooled, misled or otherwise bamboozled).

It seems like a reasonable idea.  There seem to be a lot of approaches to the problem of roots circling a pot, and ridges along a round pot is one of them, along with mesh pots that have roots pruning themselves.  So this is just a variation of that suitable for ground planting.  Personally, when planting in-ground (best in fall when possible! then winter, then spring), I prefer loosening the potted soil around the roots thoroughly enough that I can unravel them to their full length, and then make a nice deep planting hole to fit that would have them much more easily reaching ground that will stay moist once summer hits.  I imagine that would help them establish best.  Of course, that also tends to address any issue of circling roots.  

It makes sense to me. Though my tree planting holes tend to be triangular. Cause I like easy, which I pretend does the same thing as a square would. Mind, I also tease out the roots like Marriana suggested. Once in a while the planting hole looks more like a star. Ahem. Less easy, but easier than a 2 1/2 foot square hole.

I don't think a square hole is better or worse than a round hole.

What matters to me is what goes into the hole.

Have you heard about the Ellen White Method of tree planting?

https://permies.com/t/160325/Ellen-White-Method-tree-planting

a lot depends on the soil. really dense clay-based soil can be harder for roots to penetrate. a square hole with corners that give a rootlet some purchase can be better than a totally smooth-cut round hole…but a round hole with gouges or shovel cuts around the edge can be just as good. just need some little corners for the roots to dig into.

but in other, less dense soils, it probably doesn’t matter much.

greg mosser wrote:a lot depends on the soil. really dense clay-based soil can be harder for roots to penetrate. a square hole with corners that give a rootlet some purchase can be better than a totally smooth-cut round hole…but a round hole with gouges or shovel cuts around the edge can be just as good. just need some little corners for the roots to dig into.

but in other, less dense soils, it probably doesn’t matter much.

I plant mine that way.  I dig the hole, and then I go back and make shovel cuts all around the hole in all directions.  I can't prove it makes a difference, but it seems to make sense that it would help.  I have heavy clay that makes slick, hard walls when you dig a hole in it, so I'm very conscious of breaking up all that slick area.

Just like the top of most trees are radially oriented, the roots are mostly radially oriented also.  The soil that the hole is backfilled with is light and fluffy compared to the hard compacted soil outside the hole.  Easy for new roots to penetrate through.  But, as the roots continue to grow and spread out radially, they all will hit hard compacted soil all at the same time.

Because the young tree is used to uninhibited root-growth for some time it will have luxurous top growth that is being fed by all the new roots.  Suddenly all the roots hit the undisturbed hard, compacted soil at about the same time, which suddenly puts the brakes on growth.  The young trees suddenly go into shock because the lush top growth can no longer be supported.

By putting the new tree in a square hole, the radial growth of the roots does not hit the compacted wall all at the same time, so the tree has time to adapt to the changing soil conditions.  And yes, the right angles tends to direct the growing roots downwards.

I've planted ~120 seedlings in the ground now, following the square-hole for all of them.  The only dead trees I've encountered were from animal damage.

Have you heard about the Ellen White Method of tree planting?  

Thanks for the link - hadn't heard of that, so following up shortly.

Also thanks for all the responses - good to know the method isn't a total myth

My goal is to get the tree in the ground by any method possible. I don't have the time, nor the inclination to devote my labor to making square holes. If a tree has been growing in a round pot, I might cut through the roots on the side of the pot, or remove the disk of roots from the bottom. I might plant 30 to 60 trees in a few hours.