Amending soil in yard for fruit tree planting

[bradflorida]

Hello

I'm going to be putting my 20 fruit trees into the ground in the yard if my new house. 

I am planning down a thick layer of mulch.   

I was then planning on mounding up / raising the planting sites for each tree in order to avoid water pooling at the base.     

Drip Irrigation will be run to each tree. 

Should I add manure to the soil?  Is there anything else recommended in order to prepare the yard?

Thanks
!

Brad

[bsbullie]

Not sure if you meant it that way but it appears you have the order mixed up.  Are you saying you are putting down mulch FIRST, before planting??  If so, not recommended.

Also, why would you mound all trees?  Is your soil that poor draining?  Other than avocado and citrus, in certain yards or areas that have poor drainage/retain water, most fruit trees would not require "mounding" as you seem to be describing.

As for manure being mixed in (and I know some disagree), I would not amend the soil with manure when planting.

After planting, then apply your mulch but NOT directly against the trunks of the trees.  Leave a 6"-12" buffer between the trunk and where the mulch begins (again, some will disagree with me however you don't want to smother those crown roots).

Drip irrigation...can be useful with smaller trees IF, and I reiterate IF, you have the right drip rate/duration for each type of fruit.  For instance, a jaboticaba will take, and want, much more water while a papaya would take significantly less water...and most others would fall within varying degrees with this range.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Agripro (dry forumula) is great for amending poor soils. 

From the website, "It's a 100% Organic Soil Inoculant & Soil Amendment that contains Beneficial Soil Biology, Plant available Trace Elements, a full range of Humic Acid Compounds and Lignin"

[Cookie Monster]

I know just about everybody says not to amend the soil, but I've had great success with it. I mix in copious amounts of black kow composted manure in a 6 to 8 foot diameter, ~18 inch deep hole. It does 2 things -- 0) loosens the soil, 1) provides a slow and steady source of nitrogen for a year or two while the tree establishes itself (ie, roots out).

[bradflorida]

Thanks Adam and Jeff.   I appreciate it.

Brad

[zands]

Hello

I'm going to be putting my 20 fruit trees into the ground in the yard if my new house. 

I am planning down a thick layer of mulch.   

I was then planning on mounding up / raising the planting sites for each tree in order to avoid water pooling at the base.     

Drip Irrigation will be run to each tree. 

Should I add manure to the soil?  Is there anything else recommended in order to prepare the yard?

Thanks

!

Brad

Are there low spots in your yard where water will pool up for a day or two? You may not know at this point but you will after a heavy rain. Generally soils here are sandy and quick enough draining unless you have mucky soil so no need to mound up. If my new house had a great lawn I am not going to pour 12" of wood chips (mulch) onto it and get rid of it. I would plant the trees and just mulch around  them and keep the lawn.

[Cookie Monster]

Good point. I'm able to get away with tons of composted manure, cause my yard is raised a little and has no problems with flooding. Someone like Harry, who has muck soil, would not be doing himself any favors by amending with manure. It does depend heavily on what your soil is like.

Hello

I'm going to be putting my 20 fruit trees into the ground in the yard if my new house. 

I am planning down a thick layer of mulch.   

I was then planning on mounding up / raising the planting sites for each tree in order to avoid water pooling at the base.     

Drip Irrigation will be run to each tree. 

Should I add manure to the soil?  Is there anything else recommended in order to prepare the yard?

Thanks

!

Brad

Are there low spots in your yard where water will pool up for a day or two? You may not know at this point but you will after a heavy rain. Generally soils here are sandy and quick enough draining unless you have mucky soil so no need to mound up. If my new house had a great lawn I am not going to pour 12" of wood chips (mulch) onto it and get rid of it. I would plant the trees and just mulch around  them and keep the lawn.

[davidgarcia899]

I think it depends on your soil and the trees you are planting.

In my case, long before I bought my property it was trenched and mounded. So trenches were dug to break up the rock underneath and that was more or less crushed and mixed with all the soil on the surface and mounded. The result is that the soil on the mounds is heavy but drains well. Thus, whenever I am planting on these existing mounds I usually don't amend, unless its a tree that does not like alkaline soil, in that case I usually add compost to acidify the soil a bit and then mulch heavily on top with manure and wood chips.

However, I also occasionally have new holes augured and those I always amend because other wise i would be planting trees on a bed of pure crushed limestone. I usually mix one wheel barrel of compost when I backfill the holes. These are big holes, 4-5 ft deep 3-4 feet wide at the top tapering to 2 ft at the bottom.

I find that it is best to mulch heavily around trees, the worms and bugs take the nutrients in the soil down for you.

I regularly get dump trucks of horse manure and tree chippings delivered and it always dumped in the same spot and the trees there grow noticeably.  faster. 

Actually there was one spot on my property that the water always pooled so we had a dump truck of manure thrown there between to rows of trees and we just let it rot and fill the depression. We did this in January a couple years ago, by the end of the growing season the Longan trees in that section had grown at least two feet more than the longan trees on other parts of the property.

[Cookie Monster]

Mulch works miracles. I mulched over the entire backyard with a couple hundred yards of tree trimmings. Made a big impact. Only problem is that the millipedes multiply exponentially with all that organic matter to devour. My step-daughter and neighbors were both complaining about millipedes in the house :-).

[davidgarcia899]

Get some chickens haha

[Cookie Monster]

I was actually considering that :-).

Get some chickens haha

[davidgarcia899]

I actually dont recommend it, they dig up everything, especially around newly planted trees

[Tropicalgrower89]

I actually dont recommend it, they dig up everything, especially around newly planted trees

Does building a chicken wire fence around each tree help with that problem?

[murahilin]

Hello

I'm going to be putting my 20 fruit trees into the ground in the yard if my new house. 

I am planning down a thick layer of mulch.   

I was then planning on mounding up / raising the planting sites for each tree in order to avoid water pooling at the base.     

Drip Irrigation will be run to each tree. 

Should I add manure to the soil?  Is there anything else recommended in order to prepare the yard?

Thanks !

Brad

If you have a sandy soil or anything that resembles soil, I would advise against amending the soil with manure. If your land does not flood, I also think it is unnecessary to mound your soil to plant your trees. The reason I advise against it is because it is usually not required and just wastes time and money. Plant your tree, mulch, fertilize and water and your tree will do great.


It is a bit unclear if you plan to mulch first and then plant? If so, do it the other way around.


I have often inoculated the soil for new trees with different mychorizza and stuff but I am not sure if it has helped.

[Cookie Monster]

Ohh ok. I was thinking they would help knock the weeds down. Most of my shizzle is fairly well established, so it may not be a problem?

I actually dont recommend it, they dig up everything, especially around newly planted trees

[davidgarcia899]

@ Alexi yes chicken wire will keep them out, but you have to lay it on the soil otherwise they'll just jump in.

@ Cookie Monster if your trees are established its not as much on a problem, but they'll still dig especially when ever you mulch. I find it annoying, thats why I locked my chickens up

[FlyingFoxFruits]

I've seen some growers put Chicken coops right in the crotch of a jaboticaba tree.  I suppose it fertilizes the tree...but you might get some white runners on the fruits underneath the cage.  Probably want to wash them off.

[Saltcayman]

Yes, chickens are good. They knock the weeds down, fertilize and aerate... If you want to contain them, build a coop with no bottom that you can drag from place to place to spread the free nitrogen.  Dave

Ohh ok. I was thinking they would help knock the weeds down. Most of my shizzle is fairly well established, so it may not be a problem?

I actually dont recommend it, they dig up everything, especially around newly planted trees

[davidgarcia899]

Yes, chickens are good. They knock the weeds down, fertilize and aerate... If you want to contain them, build a coop with no bottom that you can drag from place to place to spread the free nitrogen.  Dave

Ohh ok. I was thinking they would help knock the weeds down. Most of my shizzle is fairly well established, so it may not be a problem?

I actually dont recommend it, they dig up everything, especially around newly planted trees

In my opinion they are more trouble than they are worth

[SWRancher]

I actually dont recommend it, they dig up everything, especially around newly planted trees

Does building a chicken wire fence around each tree help with that problem?

Yes, thats exactly what I have done with mine and it works fine.

[CTMIAMI]

If I were starting my grove today I would add agricultural biochar. You would save tons in fertilizer and fungicides. I see the difference in the current avocado groves in which prior trees were burned, going back when they decided to burn all the lime trees. The ones in the area where the trees were burned are 3-4 bigger and healthier, almost incredible. 

[davidgarcia899]

If I were starting my grove today I would add agricultural biochar. You would save tons in fertilizer and fungicides. I see the difference in the current avocado groves in which prior trees were burned, going back when they decided to burn all the lime trees. The ones in the area where the trees were burned are 3-4 bigger and healthier, almost incredible. 

Couldn't you add it now and it would slowly work its way down into the soil. For a while I was making charcoal and mixing it in when I planted new trees and spreading it before I would mulch. To be honest I havent seen any changes. Maybe I didn't apply enough

[FlyingFoxFruits]

If I were starting my grove today I would add agricultural biochar. You would save tons in fertilizer and fungicides. I see the difference in the current avocado groves in which prior trees were burned, going back when they decided to burn all the lime trees. The ones in the area where the trees were burned are 3-4 bigger and healthier, almost incredible.

Great advice Carlos.

I've heard this from lots of wise growers.

[nullzero]

I have noticed good results using crushed mesquite charcoal in the container plants. Everything planted with about 5-10% biochar is extremely healthy.

When I plant in ground, I intend to use a full bag of mesquite charcoal and crushing it all up and mixing into the hole for planting a tree in ground.

[bradflorida]

Thanks everyone for your replies.  Biochar or charcoal sounds like a promising idea.   

Anyone know where I can purchase biochar?  Perhaps though it will e more convenient and or cost effective to just buy charcoal and crush it up. 

Brad