The Tropical Fruit Forum

Hi Jeff,

I like the cris cross idea and I can see the roots can spread in all directions. what should be the depth of this trench? How about a 2 feet deep hole at X and 1.5 ' deep * 5 ft wide  trench in all 4 directions. Can I manage this with renting a back hoe? I don't want to rent a trencher and trying to keep low on rental expenses.

At the moment I am planning on having Sugar apple , Jack fruit trees.

What about coconut trees? I am planning to put these around the farm and what should be the depth and width of the hole for coconut trees? I also have some mango trees.

Please let me know if certain type of trees need bigger and wider holes.

Thanks everyone for throwing some light .

Vernemented, I will plan to take the course. Also , how wide and deep the trench will be ?

Hi Pineislander ,

That’s exactly what I need . Are you in Homstead area too ? Where can I rent the esccavator?

If a rent a loader with backhoe , will that do the job same way ? The reason I said loader is that I can use front loader to dump dirt and compost in the soil . I never used this equipment before , pardon me for trivial questions.

Thanks

Hello dear friends and tropical fruit lovers,

Out of love for tropical fruits, I bought a three acre farm in Homstead area though I live in Minneapolis. This land has not been cleared for long time and full of cane grass up to 8 feet. I flew to Miami and started the project to clear the land and ran into lot of challenges every single day being as I am new to the area and don't really know anyone. I was happy to come across this forum .

In the 1 week I was in Homstead, I was able to clear the land, got two bore wells dug, setup irrigation with gas water pump and drip line and planted 30 trees of 11 varieties.  I struggled to dig the holes for the trees. This is one of the main challenges ahead for me. Started digging manually and quickly found out that I can't do much manually, rented a jack hammer in Home depot to break the lime rock but still not much of progress. Can you guys help me with below questions?

1. What is the best and quick way to dig holes? Next time I go to Homstead in April, I am planning to rent a backhoe or an escavator. Which one is better? I am planning to dig 3 feet deep 3 feet wide holes to give more space for the roots surrounded by lime rock. what is the norm here for holes size for fruit trees like mangos, sugar apple, coconut, jakfruit, guava,mulberry, Barboda cherry, jaboticaba, sapote?

As I dig these big holes, I am planning to bring some dirt soil and fill in these holes. Any places to pick the just cheap dirt soil?

2.Also, as i mentioned I had big tall grass. My bush hog broke when I start clearing the grass. So I ended up driving tractor over the grass and let it lay down. I see the grass turning brown and hoping that it will kill part of the grass and it will act as cover. I know this is not long term solution. I am just buying some time. I made holes in the middle of grass and planted 30 fruit tress and had mulch around trees. What are the cheaper option or places to pick mulch or get it delivered. I think I will need a lot of it. I am planning to stay organic , so no chemicals option to kill the grass for me. I am planning to cover with cardboard around trees and mulch on top to at least kill the grass around the trees.

Since I already lay down the grass, what is the option for me to kill the grass and stop it from coming again. If I use rototiller , does that help? or what about disc? or covering landscape cloth?

I would really appreciate your help and guidance to my questions above.

Thanks