Orchard Soil Preparation and Planting the Trees
We're going to be placing a number of fruit trees in a small area. But
even though we're going to keep the trees small, the roots will be quite
intensive and this will demand a healthy soil. The trees are
going to be there for a while, and the roots will have needs that have to be
met. A plant is only as good as its roots. Since you can't fix the soil after the
trees are established, it's imperative that you start with the best conditions
for growth. That'll keep the trees active, and an active tree is a healthy tree.
Drainage and Soil Structure.
Just like you, roots need to breathe. They also need access to water
to carry the nutrients. Drainage allows them to breathe and the soil structure
allows them to drink.
The most important requirement is to keep the roots out of standing water. If the
ground is low and collects water after a rain, pile a foot or two of
dirt there and plant the trees on top of the mound.
Soil
structure is the porosity of the soil. An ideal soil has
channels to carry water, is granular, loose and friable. Ideally,
you want a cross between cookie crumbs and a sponge.
Fertility is important, but that is something that can be
increased with composting and proper soil practices. More on that
later.
Planting the Trees
The most important thing here is to not bury the poor things, they aren't
dead. When the trees come home from the nursery, they will have a funny-looking
twist just above where the roots meet the trunk. This is a graft union, where the roots (that like
your dirt) are grafted to the variety (that likes your climate.) That graft union
needs to be at least a couple of inches above the ground. You can often see the line where the soil
level was when the tree was grown in the nursery, and that's about where you should
have your soil line. If it seems as if the tree might fall over with the next
puff of wind that's probably about right.
If you're going to plant in existing dirt, work up the ground twice as
wide as the roots but don't go very deep, you don't want
the tree to
settle. Chop up the sides to give the roots a way out of your nice
hole, otherwise they'll just take the easy route and go around in circles. Make a mound of dirt
in the middle and spread the roots out over that mound, backfill and
you're done. Don't stake the tree, and don't add any fertilizer or magic grow sticks or
compost or steer manure or water crystals or vitamins or potting
soil or liquid sky blue potions or anything else, but you
should
water like mad for the first year.
Take a deep breath, because we're now going to
do something
extremely drastic and it involves sharp objects.
|
