okay I just ordered 40 trees and now Im waiting for them to get here, I need super awesome ideas for when they get here. Soil prep, planting ect. I want these buggers to do well so any help would be awesome and appreciated.
We need a little information. Like what sort of soil do you have, what is the sun exposure, which planting zone, has anything else been growing where you plan to plant them?
My mom has 2 dolga (sp?) crabapple, 2 apricot, 2 cherry & 2 apple in her 1-acre yard. I could help a little bit, but Gardener's right... we need to know your growing conditions! love, mom
Okay the spot is up on a knob so lots and lots of sun. The only thing that was there before was loads of oak, walnut, hickory and assorted wild little green plants. The soil, well its not real rocky but have not Ph'd it yet but that is the plan for today. Hmm zone I believe is a coin toss or on the line of 6a-6b http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hrdzon3.html Hmm I think that is much as I really know at this time, likely not near enough huh??
So you're growing dwarf fruit trees in soil where trees were previously. You HAVE gotten all of the roots out of the ground, right? My mom has one walnut tree in her yard, and even though it's still a sapling NOTHING will grow anywhere near it! The tree itself somehow toxifies the soil... I'm afraid I don't know why, or how long those effects would last after the tree is gone but you might want to find an extension office to ask about that. I'd hate for your trees to all die from poisoning! More than just rocky soil, is there a high concentration of sand or clay? Reach down & grab a handful, (about 6" down is good - so you're not getting the topsoil which is almost always healthy) and squish it. If it makes a loose ball, that's a good thing. If it packs down into a fairly tight ball, you've got a lot of clay. And if it just crumbles & doesn't even try to form a ball, you've got lots of sand. Once you know what you've got, you can work on getting your soil to a healthy level of tree-readiness. As far as living in zone 6... you should have no problem growing everything we can grow for sure - as well as pears, peaches & plums Any citrus trees would need a zone of 8 or higher, or to be brought indoors during the winter though. love, mom
It's a start. How about irrigation. It's important to provide adequate water the first couple of years. Starting out dig your holes as deep as the rootball and twice as wide. I am not a big advocate of soil additives. Preferring just to backfill my plantings with native soil, unless you really live in an area where the soil is basically heavy clay, then I would recommend ammending your soil about a third with something like peatmoss, or bark mulch and some sand. The reason being most nursery plants are grown in a mix and that will provide a transition for the roots to become established. If you have loam or sandy loam I don't think it's really necessary, and you run less of a risk of confining the roots in an inground container by making the soil in the hole too different from the surrounding soil. Plants have become rootbound in some cases not wanting to venture out of the nice amended hole. I like to add a little slow release fertilizer in the bottom of the hole covered with a layer of soil. A small palmful for each ten gallon plant. Just rewards those first roots that venture out of the original rootball. Prune when you plant, removing any dead or broken branches, try not to remove more than 25 percent if the tree is a container plant. You can prune more to shape a few months down the road when you are sure they are happy where they are. Water your trees in thoroughly, making sure to remove any air pockets that may have been created by planting.
Walnuts are not especially symbiotic when it comes to being friendly towards other plants. But I've noticed around here that orchardists have pulled their walnuts out during the fall and winter and planted prunes the next spring without any detriment to the prunes.
Ph isn't really going to be much of a problem unless your soil is highly acidic, which I doubt. Prunes, peaches, apples and pears can pretty much handle a range from 5 to 7.5. Your ph is going to vary with fertilization and irrigation anyway. If you were growing azaleas or rhodies I'd tell you to worry about it. Drainage and irrigation are going to be your biggest concerns. You don't want standing water around your new trees, but you don't want to drought them either.
Staking is something to think about also. Place you stakes on the side of your most prevailing winds. Here we stake to the north. Don't tie your trees to tight. The movement of the trunk with the wind is one of the determining factors for the increase in girth. Trees tied to tightly are slow to increase in girth and stability. And plan for the removal of the stakes down the road. Don't use those medal things with the prongs on them unless you have a tractor to pull them out with later. And don't put them into close to the root ball. If you have to, use two wooden stakes and tie with a figure eight for support but not restriction.
Oh gosh, I just thought of something else. Dwarf fruit trees are (or at least used to be) grafted. There should be a knob near the base of the trunk... that's where the two were spliced together. You MUST make sure that the knob stays above ground, or there's a possibility of the parent tree taking over! love, mom
Actually the grafts on dwarf fruit trees are a little higher then you see them on roses. But that's definitly a concern for growers. Keep that graft healthy or your trees will revert. Usually the rootstock is dwarf with the fruiting part of the tree being grafted onto the dwarf stock.
I think I remember the knobs on Mom's trees being about 8" or so out of the root-ball when her trees came in. We started that orchard when I was 12 though so my memory could be flawed. All the same, I remember Mom having absolute fits about the depth of the holes when we first put them in the ground... and watching those knobs like a hawk! Oh, and yes - the fruit trees were grafted onto a dwarf non-fruit tree! love, mom
Oh yes have a little diesel 4x4 tractor with the auger, bucket, brush hog and a little plow. I have used it to drag logs and such so far and to spread the gravel out that the guy brought in. Wish I had a rock rake for it but oh well.
I remember my uncle rigging a skid type rake out of an old mattess spring with about three four by four posts tied to the top of it for weight and dragging it down his driveway. Worked great.
we have planted something over 10,000 trees here on two permaculture properties in new zealand and without question the number one difference between solid growth and success versus struggling has been MULCHING. not all 10000 trees are fruit trees though about thousand of them probably are. I like to mulch with good layer of worm encrusted, worm casting saturated, compost in the early spring and cover that with heavier bark type mulch or shredder mulch or what have you. You want a good 6 inch layer of your bulky mulch - it will settle - but it can't be that deep right up against the tree. you put a dough-nut hole around the trunk to keep all manner of unpleasant away. Mulch and compost are miracle workers. the difference in growth in just one year in newly planted trees - even shelter belts - is huge. make sure you check in at the Dwarf Fruit Trees Blog for more suggestions.
